Marvel’s latest outing Ant-Man, which sees their smallest superhero receive the big screen adventure treatment, is an entertaining, yet notably modest affair. Ex-con Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is recruited by biochemist Hank Pym (Michael Dougas) to stage the perfect heist, all with the help of a suit that’s tiny in size but substantial in power. It’s a simple origin tale that takes a while to warm up, bogged down by some routine narrative mechanics and weak character construction. But once Lang, well played by funnyman Rudd, dons the suit and the heist begins proper, the film surges into life. The action is vibrant and inventive, director Peyton Reed making full use of the heroes size-shifting ability to instil style and overthrow the typical trappings of a superhero films third act (a model city is decimated rather than a real-life one, for example). It’s the humour though, whether visual gags, snappy one liners or puns, that’s the films winning component. Ant-Man may be a flimsy side note to Marvel’s larger ambitious, but it’s easily amusing all the same.
