There was one thing, ONE THING that I wanted from this movie…
AND THEY DELIVERED! Really, I thought it was too much to hope for! I avoided Spoilers, so I didn’t know I’d been getting my wish until it actually got to that scene. I was so happy when it happened. All is right in the world.
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GARRETT MORRIS CAMEO!!!
Is there something WRONG with a Garrett Morris cameo!?!?
]
Bienville I assume this is why you were so excited?
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/superhero-party/n8670 — jump to about 4:30
I also tried to stay spoiler free and found both the opening scene cameos and the one about 2/3 of the way through a great way to tie Ant-Man into the overall MCU. There is both a mid-credit and end credit scene BTW.
I knew very little about the Ant-Man comic/character going in, other than what I’ve picked up here & other geek outlets; I thought this origin story flowed well and explained what it needed to for the novice while (apparently) still giving plenty of nods to those better informed. While Darren Cross felt like Obadiah Stane Lite (down to the bald head) and wasn’t as well fleshed out as I would have liked, Stoll still did a great job with the role. And Lang fits right in with the Tony Stark/Peter Quill archetype - a smartass who, when faced with adversity, is able to pull off the hero role.
Yes, the film failed the Bechdel test (communicating with the ants doesn’t count 
), but Hope van Dyne was more than just a pretty face. While she was no Black Widow (at least not yet?), she was vital to the success of Lang and Pym’s plan and could kick ass when needed. Loved Douglas’ performance as Hank Pym - I don’t think I’d seen him work the comedic bits so well since “War of the Roses”! Luis (Michael Pena) was also a lot of fun. While I still would like to have seen what the finished product would have looked like with Edgar Wright at the helm, there were still plenty of Wrightean touches to the film. (Luis’ recollection montages in particular!)
I liked it well enough but don’t really feel the need for any more Ant-Man movies. My curiosity was sated.
Rudd and Douglas were very good in it and Evangeline Lilly and Stoller were fine enough. Good laugh lines, if not as funny as Guardians.
Action was ok. In half the fights one side is essentially invisible so it is just a mime act and in the other half it is 100% CGI, since the people are in suits.
Story made absolutely no sense and the “physics” of things makes even less sense than usual.
Much is made that Ant-Man can hurt people even when in his small state because his punches have the power of a full size man focused on an area the size of an ant’s fist. Except he doesn’t still weigh 200 pounds. His density doesn’t increase. He’s the size and weight of an ant but somehow has the inertia of a 200 pound man in his fits (but not other part since he can stand on someone’s head and they aren’t bothered).
Also, much is made that the way the “Pym particle” works is that it reduces the space between atoms. And then they go “sub-atomic”. Apparently you can take all of the atoms in a human body, remove the space between them and end up with a still functioning human body much smaller than an atom.
As for the larger story, the plan they have for stealing the tech from Cross would have apparently resulted in the deaths of dozens of innocent people if it had gone without a hitch. The plan was to get in and out of the building without notice and then apparently blow it up. If Cross hadn’t caught on an started a big fight the building would have still been occupied and those bombs were on timers.
(this ignores the fact that apparently taking Cross’s version of the suit and destroying some information on computers would have destroyed Cross’s ability to recreate the Ant-Man suit technology. Apparently they just wipe the minds of people who make that stuff and megacorporations keep their secrets on a single computer in the basement.)
(this also ignores the fact that if they had the ability to plant a few bombs around the building and completely implode it into nothing, why was it necessary to sneak into the super secure vault and steal the suit. It would have been destroyed with the building.)
(this also ignores that ants are apparently not constrained by the space-time continuum and can magically be wherever they are needed, even if it means already being inside the place they are very laboriously sneaking into.)
So it was an amusing ride I was willing to go along with but it is probably best that I not spend on extra second thinking about it. And it also feels like the gimmick has been explored, big-small-big pow. Don’t feel like there’s much more to be discovered.
Did like that:
I saw it tonight with my family and I thought it was very entertaining.
I had low expectations after seeing the trailers, but I was pleasantly surprised. Also loved the easter eggs an shout-outs and Michael Pena was hilarious.
I enjoyed it as well. I think that it’s really a heist movie helps it a lot. We don’t need a ton of origin story or backstory of minor characters, because what matters is the way they pull off the heist. Sure, there’s the fight ending, but the flow works.
I went ahead and saw it in 3D. I wouldn’t recommend it. There’s nothing wrong with the conversion, and it’s actually the kind of use of 3D that I like in that basically all it did was add depth, but it’s not really worth the extra charge. And I say that as the weirdo who brings his own clip-on 3D glasses to any 3D movie that uses circular polarization.
I’m a huge Antman fan and I kind of feel the same way. I wouldn’t mind a sequel that was basically Fantastic Voyage with Hank, Hope and Scott shrinking to aub-atomica trying to find Jan, but that’s about it. (I think that must be on someone’s mind since they went to great pains not to show Jan’s face) I also loved that we got to see Janet as Wasp even for a moment and the in-universe promise of Hope putting on a suit of her own (I liked that they said it was a work in progress so we may see her soon, we may not)
I agree with you about the plot-- it don’t make a lick of sense. Also, how did Cross get into the Yellowjacket suit? I assume we’re to assume he had fixed his shrink gun and used it on himself while he was off screen for a moment?
I also like the Pym Particles make you a little crazy–I did think they were going to homage the famous slap scene in the comics by having Yellowjacket slap Hope away.
BUT-- over all that was a lot of fun.
I knew the tank keychain would end up being a real tank.
My prediction that in the climax Scott would have to grow super big kind of/sort of came true.
I liked the grow discs being color-coded with blue.
I think we may see a blue “Goliath” suit in future movies
I also liked it. I liked that it was a smaller story and that it took place in a different corner of the MCU. I am curious if the Yellow Jacket fluid Hydra got away with is being saved for being dealt with in a future movie or the Agents of SHIELD TV show.
I was surprised the second Tag scene was as substantial as it was. I was guessing it would be a little joke involving the Giant Toy train or Giant Ant, instead it basically set up the Conflict of Civil War: Cap will want to save and reform Bucky and Stark will want him brought to justice.
ETA: We know how Cross shrunk. He successfully shrank the Lamb. He had replicated the Pym Particle.
Right… in a lab with equipment.
Not in helicopter while fighting another guy.
I’m not saying its a plot hole since it was easy to assume what happened, it was just abrupt and weirdly timed. During the 3 seconds he’s off screen, he gets out his shrink gun, shrinks himself and climbs into and activates the Yellowjacket.
more likely he unshrunk the suit - climbed in and re-shrunk - it was def out of left field.
His “aha” moment with the sheep was that you had to shrink the living inside of something non-living (aka “the suit”).
What was going on in the second post credits scene? they found wintersoldier and they need to do…something and they can’t call Stark because…reasons?
They can’t call Stark because he’s signed onto the “Accords” that regulate what superheroes can do. That’s part of Captain America: Civil War, which I now assume Ant Man will feature in.
Oh, “accords” totally missed that being said. Thank you!
I missed the accords as well.
I saw it with my kids Friday afternoon and I thought it was pretty good. I thought it was better than Avengers II but not as good as Guardians of the Galaxy. I did like that it was on a smaller scale, Ant Man wasn’t trying to save the earth or something, just basically stop the bad guy’s tech. Sure the tech getting to Hydra would have repercussions, but it was a little smaller and personal.
Michael Pena’s stories were great. The one at the end of the movie was hilarious and had a nod to Spidey.
I admit the science really didn’t make sense, but it was super hero science so it gets a bit of a pass.
I really enjoyed it – really fun and funny ‘little’ (relatively speaking) summer popcorn flick. It might be one of my favorite MCU movies so far. The only ones I’m sure I enjoyed more were the first Iron Man, the second Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the first Avengers.
Just saw it. Its a fine movie. A very good one too. Several twists were telegraphed miles away, but they knew about it and made the journey to twist enjoyable. The actors seemed to be having fun too.
I just wish they had avoided shoe horning the male and female leads into a romantic scene at the end, because it made zero sense.
I’ve not seen any of the Marvel films since Ironman but I liked stories about miniaturisation and people being shrunk ever since I read a comic version of The Borrowers 50 years ago.
We went to see this last night and we had a blast; it was great fun and didn’t take itself too seriously. The references to the rest of the Marvel Universe were fairly low-key apart from one fight so prior knowledge wasn’t particularly necessary to enjoy it. I’d go see a sequel if it was mainly just Antman but the chances are that he’ll be more integrated with the rest of the ongoing Marvel films…
Saw it yesterday, I really enjoyed it. I liked that it had stakes but they weren’t world destroying ones; there was a scene of Ant-Man running and the building being destroyed around him, but it was while he was small and the building was the scale model.
I agree the science was super ridiculous and didn’t make sense. I didn’t understand if tiny ant man would weigh the same as when he was big so that he’d be super dense, or what exactly happened to his weight. Or regardless of that, how being tiny he’d still be able to punch someone so they’d fall down. I would think if anything he’d literally be like a bullet and rip right through them, but I guess that would be too gruesome for this type of movie.
I disagree about their plan. Michael Pena was a security guard, and he pulled an alarm of some sort, and that’s what got people evacuating. In the original plan he would have pulled the alarm and Hank and Hope would have calmly walked out with all the other people evacuating the building. Related to that, I liked how Michael Pena walked back to get the security guard he punched out.
I’d read a lot about how it’s more of a heist movie, and that’s an accurate description. It still ends with a physical fight between the good guy and bad guy, but even that takes place in a girl’s bedroom instead of out in the streets while buildings collapse around them.
I didn’t mind that too much. That would have been nice for them to just be respectful colleagues and friends at the end. But they also didn’t have them do a passionate kiss after he saves her from the evil villain and the day is saved and they’re standing in rubble like some movies do.
Can someone explain the Garret Morris and Spiderman cameos/references? I didn’t notice or get either one.
I also left before the end-credits scene, foolish me, trying to find it on YouTube with no success.
Good fun movie, nothing exceptional. My favorite bit was the fight on the (toy) train with the physics continuously being surprising to the participants.
Garrett Morris played Ant-Man in a 1979 Saturday Night Live sketch
And Spider-Man is part of the Marvel movie universe now, and will have his own Marvel movie and show up in some of the others, so he can be referenced in the Marvel movies now.