*HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ANT-MAN* If you have not seen Ant-Man yet you should stop and go and read my regular Spoiler Free review of Ant-Man HERE. Below the image is heavy spoiler territory so you have been warned.
If you have read my original review, you would have seen that i really enjoyed Ant-Man and gave it an 8.3. That being said i really loved the action in this film, especially when Ant-Man is breaking into Pym Industries and fighting Yellowjacket, having the ability to transform from small to big at will made for very unique and exciting fight scenes. The fact that these fight scenes also implemented some humour really added to the enjoyment of the scenes, like when Ant-Man is fighting Yellowjacket on the train track or during his surprise battle with Falcon. Lets talk about that cameo because i thought it was an incredibly smart way to include an Avenger in this movie without it seeming too forced. It really made sense with this story by having Ant-Man think he is visiting an abandoned Stark building, only to be dropped in the middle of Avengers HQ. The fight was full of humour and action and did a great job at setting up the relationship between Falcon and Ant-Man that plays a small part later in the film and i assume a more involved part in Captain America: Civil War next year.
Lets talk about the villain of this movie, Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket, played by Corey Stoll. I will start by saying i thought he was a pretty good villain both before and after his ‘transformation’. Before his transition into Yellowjacket you could argue that he is portraying a generic bad guy but he was more than just that, rather than showing, they explained his backstory and why he is trying to take down Hank Pym. The fact that they reveal that the two of them worked alongside each other and the reason for their anger and hate is due to Hank’s inability to trust Darren with his secrets gave a very legitimate reason for why he would be going against Hank. One thing i was not a huge fan of initially was the revelation that Darren wanted to create an army of Yellowjackets to take over the world, i felt that was very out of character, going from having a grudge against one man to having one against the entire world was just an excuse to have another worldwide threat. But when it is revealed later that the suit is messing with his mind and turning him into just pure evil, that was a good enough explanation for me to the point where i could buy it. Now, after his transition to Yellowjacket he lost any of the history that made the character interesting and just became a plot device for some awesome final fight scenes. Now the fight scenes were awesome as i mentioned but he became a very one note villain who didn’t stand much of a threat and was destined to lose.
Now lets talk about the supporting roles, most notably Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), and Luis (Michael Pena). Michael Douglas was incredible as the scientist Hank Pym, he really captured the kind of character Hank Pym is, a man who has dedicated his life to protecting the secrets of the suit and in doing so has lost someone who he loved. He was very smart, and at times funny and Michael Douglas put everything into perfecting the role and now when i look at him, i think of Hank Pym, that is how good he was. Hope van Dyne was a very interesting character, she wasn’t given much to do on her own but her relationship with her father, Hank, was a fantastic part of the film. Showing how she transitioned from hating her father for his past decisions to coming to accept that what he did was really for her protection gave this film and those characters that little bit of emotion to make them more interesting. Now, lets talk to one of the biggest surprises about this film and that was Michael Pena as Luis, he was absolutely hilarious, every time he opened his mouth i just could not stop laughing, he was so quick and witty with his one liners and he provided most of the comedy in this film. The sections where he was telling the stories and it was showing the people he was talking about moving their mouths like Pena was saying it was a genius thing that the film makers did.
They did a great job at connecting this film to the larger Marvel universe without it seeming force. The Falcon cameo as i mentioned before was great but also the small mentions of The Avengers, and the Starks were great to show that although this movie is its own story it is still a small look at the world the Avengers are a part of. Even the quick Spiderman reference towards the end was a nice quick little addition that you have to be listening carefully to hear. The two end credits scenes i thought were really good, the first revealing that we are going to soon see Hope van Dyne don the Wasp suit was an awesome tease to the future of the Marvel universe. The second scene was awesome because it revealed a couple of things about Civil War next year. One being that Captain America and Falcon have found and caught The Winter Soldier who got away at the end of the last Captain America film, and the fact that Cap decides not to notify Iron Man of his discovery is a hint at the distrust forming between the two. And of course Falcon mentioning that he “knows a guy” is obviously hinting at a return for Ant-Man in next years Civil War.
So that is my spoiler review for you guys, i hope you all enjoyed it. Be sure to sound off in the comments about what you thought of the movie or if i missed anything important that you wanted to hear about. Thanks for reading.
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