Ant-Man certainly went through its share of hurdles before arriving in theaters earlier this year, but even with a plagued production, the final film wasn't terrible. In fact, Ant-Man is a solid entry in the MCU, enhancing its rather conventional superhero origin with zany humor and action sequences that made good use of characters' shrinking abilities.
Plenty of credit is due director Peyton Reed, who came in and salvaged the project after Edgar Wright's departure, delivering a successful picture in less than desirable circumstances. Paul Rudd, too, was a real score not only as Ant-Man lead, Scott Lang, but for his contributions along with Adam McKay to the script, aligning the film better with the rest of the MCU while retaining its quirky nature.
Still, even though Ant-Man was by and large a success, the movie isn't without its faults -- something Screen Junkies makes painfully clear with their latest installment of Honest Trailers (above) critiquing the film.
As we've all come to expect, Honest Trailers nails the general consensus of the film: Ant-Man is silly fun, but would be a total dud if not for "Paul Rudd doing Paul Rudd things." Ant-Man works best when it isn't taking itself or its crazy"'superhero shrinks and talks to ants" premise too seriously. Having Rudd at the center of it all, reacting to the inherent silliness, elevates Ant-Man beyond being a total rehash of Iron Man. (Though, as the videos points out, their plots are uncannily similar. That's just lazy, Marvel.)
Besides their good fortune in casting the perfect lead for such a strange superhero movie, the visual effects of Ant-Man were also pretty inventive for the genre. Without a doubt, Ant-Man is the best "micro-movie since Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" -- which may not be saying much, but it sure is saying something. Though, hands down, the most impressive visual effects was the de-aging of Michael Douglas. That there is movie magic!
What's your biggest takeaway from Screen Junkie's Ant-Man Honest Trailer? Was it their call back to the greatest commercial starring an Academy Award-winner screaming about insects? Because it should be. That commercial was a gift.
Ant-Man is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download.
Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.