Ant-Man

A thief (Paul Rudd) discovers a suit that allows him to shrink to the size of an ant. He’s caught by its ageing owner (Michael Douglas) who asks him to go on a mission to seek and destroy some dangerous rival technology made by a jealous protégé (Corey Stoll).

At this point we just need to lay down and let our comic book overlords stroke us into a gentle stupor. Like it or loathe it these films are going to keep coming. Despite the ever increasing number of Marvel super heroes, it’s always good to get an origin story once in a while.

This is a fine example of one. The back-stories are just compelling enough to give the film a solid foundation, yet we never linger for too long on any of the boring stuff. Ant-Man has all the cool montages we know and love without being a plot-less picture (looking at you, Iron Man) - quite interesting stuff happens, quite a lot of the time.

Mix that in with some witty dialogue, solid performances and creative action scenes and Ant-Man is a winner. It’s still got that bland sheen characteristic of the Marvel movies and no one cares what happens at the end, but it ranks among the better ones they’ve come out with.

It’s hard to see these films as more than just an invitation to go and see more Marvel stuff. The lack of a real ending in anything they’ve ever made is frustrating. However, Ant-Man charms the audience into forgetting the depressing fact that the real universe will end before the Marvel one does.