Ant-Man is probably the only movie in the MCU I feel pretty neutral towards, it's by far not the worst film but I don't think it's the best either. I do think it deserves more credit than it gets, but it didn't make much of an impact for me. As far as the solo movies go, Ant-Man probably has the most heart and humour out of all of them. It has good action as well as a well developed scientific concept for the Pym particles and the ability to shrink. Ant-Man is used as an introduction to Scott Lang and building him up to become an avenger.
One of the best scenes in the movie is the devotion that Hank and Hope have to teaching Scott how to communicate with ants and how to control the suit. There is a lot of character development in these scenes as we see Hope finally starting to reconcile with her father. I appreciate how they handled the romantic element in this movie, they obviously didn't want it to distract from the plot of the story. When we get a glimpse at Scott and Hope kissing in the hallway, it seems almost like an after thought, but it is teased throughout the movie.
Another great scene is when Scott is sent to infiltrate an old warehouse of Howard Stark's in upstate New York, however the site of the old warehouse is now the new Avengers facility. Here we get a cameo from Falcon aka Sam Wilson, and a first look at what Scott can really do as Ant-Man. Sam Wilson's cameo is also well worked into the plot of the movie rather than just a tossed in appearance.
Where most Marvel movies fall is the villain, either they are uninteresting or they don't really feel like a real threat. I think Ant-Man also suffers from this, not as bad as say Iron Man 3, Darren Cross at least gets a bit of a back story but he is still rather boring as a villain. Cross sees Hank Pym as a surrogate father that he never got approval from and therefore tries to make Pym's life hell. This is basically a similar story line to that of Loki in Thor: The Dark World.
The fight scenes between Ant-man and Yellowjacket are absolutely epic and funny at the same time. From them fighting in a briefcase to Darren being temporarily defeated by a bug zapper, the entire fight is completely original.
Where most movies nowadays will go overboard with explosions but Ant-Man shows the comedic side of two tiny people fighting each other and how they can utilize objects around them such as a Thomas the Tank Engine toy.
Audiences have never witnessed a fight on this 'scale' before proving bigger is not always better.
All in all it's a very enjoyable movie, it doesn't take itself too seriously, the casting is perfect with Evangeline Lily playing a strong female character who is even more capable than her male counterpart. It was the perfect setup to introduce Ant-Man to the Avengers and shows how Scott will bring the heart and humour to the team.
Easter Eggs
#1 Cassie Lang
What pushes Scott to put on the Ant-Man suit is the chance at rebuilding his relationship with his daughter Cassie. She may only be a kid in the movie but in the comics once Cassie is a few years older she actually follows in her fathers footsteps. She secretly exposes herself to the Pym Particles therefore acquiring the ability to grow or shrink and takes the name Stature and joins the Young Avengers.
#2 The Quantum Realm
During the film, Hank Pym explains the danger of shrinking so small you could fall into the quantum realm, a subatomic place where time and space are irrelevant. In a flashback we see that Janet Van Dyne (Hope's mother) disappears into the quantum realm whilst wearing the Wasp suit. during the scene where Scott goes into the quantum realm there is quick flashes of imagery, if you watch closely you may spot something that even Scott himself doesn't notice.
#3 Paul Rudd
After Scott is released from prison and starts working in Baskin Robbins under the name Jack. We also see him ask a co-worker called Darby to take over his customer. A fun fact is that Jack and Darby are the names of Paul Rudd's kids.
#4 Who is to blame for Sokovia?
There is plenty of foreshadowing to Civil War and callbacks to Age of Ultron throughout the movie and we get a glimpse at how the incident in Sokovia is going to hang over the Avengers heads. Instead of the presumed headlines being "Avengers saved the day", the media seem to have turned on the Avengers as we see a passenger on a tram reading a newspaper with the headline "Who is to blame for Sokovia?".
#5 Stan Lee Cameo
As Luis is narrating about his connections, he says that his friend told him she was "Super fine!" and that the bartender, portrayed by Stan Lee, agreed, she was "Super fine!". This entire scene leads up to revealing that Falcon is searching for Scott Lang for the Avengers.
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