This film was phenomonal. Don't say it lightly, but it was easily one of the best films yet. If I had to rank it in fact it'd probably be in my top 3. Every single thing was on point. Let me say, I went in with low expectations overall. I didn't think it'd tank, because at this point I don't think a Marvel film
can tank. They've established the credibility at this point to make certain that enough people are going to go see it, and the writing of the films has been fairly consistent for the most part. Iron Man 3 is the only film so far that I just consider to be plain ***. That being said, I was really impressed. I first have to give a hand to Paul Rudd, and then a second hand to Marvel casting. I like him as an actor, i've seen his prior work, and I think he has a solid amount of talent. And by all accounts he's a genuinely funny guy. Marvel then uses that for this film. In the same way Robert Downey Jr. captures the smug and sarcastic feel they wanted for Iron Man, I think Rudd captures the blunt, yet charming, feel they wanted for Ant Man. And both are then properly used in regards to the humor the characters wish to convey.
And humor was a big part of this movie. I think there was more laughing in this film than any previous film beforehand. (Yes, including Guardians of the Galaxy) Let me also say, a major reason that I disliked Iron Man 3 was because of the humor from it. It's not that the jokes weren't funny or that I didn't realize when a joke was being made. It's just that the way that film was marketed it had me going in expecting an extremely grim and dark film, the darkest of the Iron Man films yet, if not the MCU. The film then completely failed to give me what it had promised. That's not the case for Ant Man. It was made very clear from the start what type of film this would be and it delivers 100%. In regards to GotG, I think the comedy in this film is just plain better. A lot of it from GotG felt forced and left me feeling as if I was supposed to laugh, but not actually making me laugh. This film had me laughing alongside everyone else.
The shrinking technology is used perfectly, allowing for the special effects guys to create a host of excellent scenes. The Ant Man suit looked great. YellowJacket looked great. Even just the ants themselves looked great. I enjoyed all the action for the most part, including the final confrontation between the hero and the villain. The characters were quickly presented, established, and all filled their roles just fine. And Corey Stoll even came through as a decent villain. Not the best MCU villain by any means, but solid. Yet he also manages to have a different feel around him than the other villains previously, with the reason for why being hinted at in the film itself.
Just a minor annoyance i've had since other heroes started to be introduced was the lack of acknowledgement of said heroes in subsequent films. (Again, looking at you Iron Man 3) This is directly handled here in two ways: Firstly, Paul Rudd instantly suggests that they call in The Avengers when he is told about the major conflict of the film, and second we actually see him visiting the Avengers facility, which they adopted at the end of Age of Ultron. (And the events of that film are referenced as well) For me things like this are a nice touch, because this is a shared universe now. These heroes are public figures, so they should be mentioned and referenced in other films. And the general setup for Lang needing to visit the film at all was well done, with Pym having once worked with S.H.I.E.L.D., just as Howard Stark did, which trickles down to some of his old stuff being kept there. Just that kind of connecting the dots from different works is nice to see.
Now about the End Credit Scenes. I was disappointed by the first, when I thought it was the only one. Thankfully my friends and I decided to wait to see if their was a second one. The first, picturing the prototype Wasp suit is fine, even by itself. It's just that I felt that the film did everything in its power to hint at The Wasp appearing soon and that making the one after-credits scene just blatantly show the suit like that was a waste. Which is why i'm so satisfied that they had a second one. This one was good, and does what such a scene should do, by all accounts leading right into the next film in the lineup, which is of course Civil War.
And that's pretty much it at this point. (I did catch that reference to Spider-Man, or "a guy who swings/climbs walls", which was a nice bit as well) The only other thing I can really say is:
It's not a keychain.
