Ant-Man (4½ Stars)

I wrote a detailed review after watching the film in the cinema, so I shan't write as much this time. Apart from that, I'm going through personal problems at the moment, including my dog being sick, so I'm not in the mood to write a lot.

"Ant-Man" (the film) was a surprise hit in 2015. That's because Ant-Man (the character) is one of Marvel's lesser known comic books. It was one of the first super-hero stories written by Stan Lee in the early 1960's, but Hank Pym didn't last very long as an insect-sized hero. He soon used his size changing abilities to become Giant Man. The film shows Hank Pym as an old man who has now retired from crime-fighting. He picks Scott Lang, a cat burglar and electronics expert, as his replacement. Scott appeared only sporadically in the comics from 1979 to 2015, but after the success of the film he was given his own monthly comic.

The film was a success because it's a well written action adventure. The tie-ins to the the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by featuring the Falcon and mentioning SHIELD are an added bonus.

Of course, Ant-Man (the character) was invented by Stan Lee. It's amazing how many of his heroes from the 1960's are still featured in films today, more than 50 years later. That's a tribute to his brilliance.

Click here for my first review.