Took the children to see this yesterday morning at the Huddersfield Odeon.
IMDB says: Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
In this Peyton Reed (Yes Man, The Break-up) directed movie, Paul Rudd (The 40-year-old virgin, Parks and Recreation, and until now, probably most well known as Phoebe's husband from Friends) stars as burglar Scott Lang, who after release from prison struggles to hold on to a job due to his record. Desperate to keep seeing his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson, The Whispers, Playing it Cool) who now lives with his ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer, Jurassic World, 13 Going On 30) and her cop fiancé Paxton (Bobby Cavanale, Danny Collins, Chef).
His roommate and friend Luis (Michael Peña, Fury, American Hustle) convinces him to do one last job with his 'crew' Kurt (David Dastmalchian, The Dark Knight, Prisoners) and Dave (T.I. Harris, The Hangover, Fast and Furious 7) he gets more than he bargained for when he breaks into the home of Dr Hank Pym (Michael Douglas, Falling Down, Basic Instinct), who's super-suit he steals.
Unaware he is being used, Scott is given little choice but to 'help save the world' and becomes embroiled in the battle to stop Pym's former protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll, The Bourne Legacy, Non-Stop) selling his evil 'invention' the yellow jacket. Working with Pym and his estranged daughter Hope (Evangeline Lily, The Hurt Locker, Lost) he learns how to use the suit, lead armies of ants and fight well enough to take on an Avenger, Falcon (Anthony Mackie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Million Dollar Baby).
To tie in with the franchise, there were brief appearances from Hayley Atwell (Captain America, The Duchess) as Peggy Carter, from the new Agent Carter TV series, Howard Stark (John Slattery, Iron Man 2, Mad Men) and of course, Mitchell Carson of Hydra (Martin Donovan, The Sentinel, Insomnia).
Unlike most of the reviews on IMDB, I thought that Rudd was excellent as the misunderstood ex-con trying to turn his life around for his little girl and his lovely one-liners were right up my street. I enjoyed the way that the backstory was played out through Luis' tall tales, enhanced by his 'street speak' and for me, he stole the film. I thought there were some fine performances within the confines of the script. I love the sarcastic humour that the film employed and the little nods along the way to the franchise and for my children and I, we preferred this movie to both Guardians of the Galaxy and Age of Ultron.
Trivia: Paul Rudd purchased a giant ant farm to watch how the ants worked together and was so inspired by them, he kept the farm after filming had completed, Michael Douglas has said that one of the reasons for taking the role is so that his kids could see him in a Marvel movie, posters for 'Pingo Doce' the Brazilian soda company Bruce Banner worked for in The Incredible Hulk, 2008, can be seen in the San Fransisco scenes, Scott Lang suggests calling the Avengers to help, but in the comics Ant-Man was an original Avenger and Darren Cross jokes that the concept of shrinking a man sounds like a tale to astonish and Ant-Man made his debut in the Comic "Tales to Astonish" #27 (Jan. 1962).
Don't forget to stay for the end of the credits as there are two extra scenes, one mid-credits and one right at the end.
Tagline: This July, heroes don't come any bigger. 8/10
#AntMan
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