ANT-MAN | Review

There are a lot of things that you could say go right in a movie, but isn’t it so much more fun to say what went wrong?

Now, the main thing that is wrong with this movie is that, for me, Paul Rudd can do no wrong, which has led me to watch a few of his unwise decisions, like I Love you, Man (which, ok, to be honest, wasn’t half bad). Point is, I will watch anything Paul Rudd touches. In fact, slightly poetically, I watched this movie on the weekend that was the anniversary of the first movie I ever saw him in: Clueless, the epitome of teen movies, one of my favourites to this day.

So I lied – that is not the main thing that is wrong with this movie. I just needed space to certify my undying love. What is really wrong with this movie is that it is just one of the many Marvel disappointments of the year.

Avengers 2 was atrocious. Let’s all admit it. Because of that, I wasn’t feeling particularly excited about anything Marvel is doing (I’ve learnt my lesson, and been heartbroken, now I am in the bitter phase, which involves aggressively looking forward to Suicide Squad). So I knew not to be too excited about this one.

Hank Pym discovers a chemical that will change the landscape of warfare as the world knows it. And he knows it – so he chooses to keep it hidden and become a hermit. But not everyone agrees with his plan, and when his protege replicates the chemical, his hand is forced to find someone who can protect the world the way he used to.

There is a nod to the Avengers in the movie which I have a problem with. Don’t read the comics and expect the film to stick to the story – you know the movie is for the money (which is why it is even more surprising that the marketing for this movie was so wack. It’s like they didn’t even care. There was no furore whatsoever in comparison) and so will sound almost nothing like the book.

The casting was fine. The villain was obvious. The romance was weak. The humour was good, and there were a couple of great supporting characters – but it isn’t the type of movie that Marvel should be making. Especially for a character like Ant Man. They very clearly needed to just put out a movie – any movie – so they did. An entertaining one though it was, it was only about a 6 ½ rating worth of entertainment.

The author blogs at akello.co.ke