Movie review | ‘Ant-Man’ surprisingly good, so probably won’t fare well at box office
Ant-Man ****
As a hopeful skeptic, I went with fear, trepidation and crossed fingers to see Marvel’s new superhero 3D action flick, “Ant-Man.”
To start with, the superhero genre movies were getting stale; too much flash, and not enough substance, plus this was a movie called “Ant-Man,” hence the skepticism. The hope came in the form of “Ant-Man” stars, Paul Rudd (who doesn’t love Paul Rudd?) and Michael Douglas, who’d I always counted among my favorite and most reliable actors.
Where “Ant-Man” succeeds, as others in the genre have grown predictable, is in the slow, deliberate, set up and good, solid storytelling. That the script was co-written by Rudd, I think helped showcase his witty, dry sense of humor.
Rudd’s co-stars Evangeline Lilly (Kate, from “Lost”), the 39-year-old Corey Stoll as villain Darrin Cross, along with comic relief from Ant-Man sidekicks Michael Pena and rapper T.I (Tip Harris) round out a really great cast.
The 3D effects were outstanding, the continuation of the Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. storyline had the comic books geeks in the crowd fawning and cheering. That this release is doing poorly (so far) at the box office just goes to figure. It may be the best of all the Marvel releases and fare the worst.
What do those stars mean?
* Really, really, really bad. Don’t bother.
** Pretty bad, with one or more redeeming scenes.
*** Pretty good, but maybe not great, worth seeing for most
**** Really great, a winning combination of story, casting, and directing
***** The rarest gem, an all-around perfect motion picture
This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Movie review | ‘Ant-Man’ surprisingly good, so probably won’t fare well at box office."