Ant-Man

The latest in an increasingly long line of disappointing Marvel movies, Ant-Man follows Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang as he becomes the title character after encountering a disgraced scientist (Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym) and his skeptical daughter (Evangeline Lilly’s Hope). There’s little doubt that Ant-Man fares best in its impressively (and almost incongruously) low-key first half, as director Peyton Reed, for the most part, stresses smaller, character-based moments over the sort of larger-than-life action set-pieces that generally define movies of this ilk. It’s equally clear, however, that the palpably overlong running time prevents the film from achieving any real sense of momentum, with the erratic pace wreaking havoc on the mid-movie emphasis on the protagonists’ efforts to plan an intricate heist. (And it really doesn’t help that this portion of the movie is littered with overlong and superfluous sequences, including a tedious training montage and a pointless sojourn to the new Avengers compound.) The absence of a wholeheartedly compelling protagonist only exacerbates Ant-Man‘s less-than-engrossing atmosphere, as Rudd is never entirely able to comfortably slip into the shoes of his bulked-up, heroic character (ie Rudd is certainly not bad here, but the actor can’t quite make the seamless, Chris Pratt-like transition from comedic performer to leading man). There’s also, it has to be noted, a distinct lack of exciting action-oriented moments, as such sequences are drowned in CGI-based special effects that essentially drain them of their impact – although, to be fair, it’s hard to deny the entertainment value of a miniaturized fight that occurs within a little girl’s train set. Stirring interludes like that are few and far between the usual dumbed-down nonsense one has come to dread from comic-book fare, ultimately, and it’s becoming more and more apparent that Marvel simply has no idea what they’re doing within the blockbuster genre.

** out of ****