Marvel Studio's Ant Man [DVD]

Having already bought/watched almost all of the Marvel films, and most on 3D Blu-ray, and enjoyed the majority of them I got this recent 'birth' of a new character film despite having already seen the disappointing 'Captain America: Civil War' which was made later and features 'Ant-Man'...This film was the first new character film after the earlier and necessary spate of them (which started with 'Iron Man') and slots in between 'Age of Ultron' and the aforementioned 'Civil War'.Like all the 'first' of any of the 'Avengers' genre films, the plot of this film should be on to a winner as it deals with a new character and related powers - this makes the storyline more readily capable to interest the viewer and be clearly defined, as it doesn't have to rely solely on a newly-invented story to move it along....Having said that, whilst the 'Avenger' aspects of the film plot and action are excellent the back-story elements for the 'Ant-Man' persona are very run of the mill and IMHO decidedly 'cheesy'.Fortunately, the disappointing aspects of the back-story are countered (in spades !) in the positive direction by all those excellent 'Avengers' credentials I alluded to, but more importantly due to the extremely effective 3D presentation.If you read the Amazon synopsis for this film it gives a good idea about the overall theme and general direction of the story.*** The only proviso is that it gives no hint about that 'cheesy' content I mentioned ie 'divorced ex-con loser fights to go-straight/regain a relationship with his child who is now parented by a different man...'.So, we not only see how Scott Lang evolves into 'Ant-Man' but, unfortunately, also have to endure a certain amount of sentimentality not normally seen in 'Avengers' films - if there is a polar opposite to the cracking 'character-birth' Marvel film 'Deadpool' which I also recently watched then, in many respects, 'Ant-Man' is it !This is MUCH more of a 'romp' type of film as opposed to darkish drama, which I feel is what we normally associate with 'Avengers' films....Leaving that aside, what remains is a sizeable chunk of entertaining action with heap-loads of special-effects and very effective production-values.I very much enjoyed the numerous 'tiny' details associated with this new character and ultimately found the whole film a very good watch. The copious action scenes were well presented and things moved along in a plausible fashion with good structure, allowing for those occasional strays into 'cheese-land'.The production-values of the film are top-notch and there are a number of notable acting performances, firstly from Evangeline Lilly but especially Michael Douglas who appears in the type of film we don't normally associate him with; Paul Rudd might be the lead, but for me he once again 'plays himself', which makes his performance proficient (with the necessary amount of comedy) but largely unremarkable....Another unusual aspect to this film which for me demonstrates very well how far it strays from the 'Avengers' norm (even further than what we see in the entertaining 'Iron Man 3' or 'Guardians of the Galaxy' for example) is the inclusion of a couple of whimsical 'sidekick' type of characters, in the guise of cheery criminals, to reinforce the prominent 'humour' aspect of the film.Despite this difference, it was one that DID work for me - Michael Peña's performance is easily the most entertaining of the 2; he gets some cracking dialogue and opportunities to show his comedy skills.As we should expect from a modern film (but not necessarily in 3D, as I've since discovered !), on 3D Blu-ray (viewed on a 4K/UHD resolution TV) things look and sound VERY good indeed.This is the most effective and satisfying 3D presentation I have seen in a Marvel film, something which is helped by the enormous number of opportunities to utilise the depth aspect of the 3D due to extensive flying sequences as well as the big/small etc transitions associated with the 'Ant-Man' world.The picture is flawless and the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack clear and active, but most importantly I found the (post-filming converted) 3D aspects extremely effective with that notable sense of depth and no discernible classic 3D 'issues' - hurray !*** My feelings about the 3D are significant because I've since watched several more 'normal' movies in 3D (eg 2 subsequent 'Captain Americas', 'Max Max Fury Road') and I felt some weren't very effective and I also found presentation issues - most notably with 'Captain America: Civil War'...In contrast, ALL the animation films I've watched in 3D have been exceptional.There a few initial 'cut out' type 3D effects, but for the overwhelming portion of the film we have a striking number of scenes with fine detail and masses of dynamic action to show the benefits of 3D to it's best; this is even more significant to observe as I think quite a lot of the film plays out at night or areas of darkness, which are normally the ingredients which might help spoil the 3D picture.Like most big features the 3D is on a dedicated disc with no extras, so you also get the 2D disc (the one sold separately) to include the standard Blu-ray extras. The notable extras consist of a commentary track and a few relatively short featurettes - all yet to be perused.I've attached a photo of the case back with all the disc info as Amazon omits it.So, like all 'Avengers' films I found 'Ant-Man' to be well-made but this time having a bit too much sentimentality in the plot for my liking. Nonetheless, there were enough additional positive aspects (again of a slightly different nature to the 'Marvel norm') to make it very entertaining, with things elevated further-still courtesy of an extremely accomplished 3D presentation.The extras count on the included 2D is decent but it is a pity that you have to watch in 2D to hear the commentary.

The DvD was amazing thanks you very much and you are fab thanks from Andrew

A Good, Entertaining film

Boys enjoyed

One of this year's biggest movies features one of cinema's smallest heroes. If you had read that twenty eight years ago you would probably be referring to Dennis Quaid starring as Lt Tuck Pendleton as he got injected into Jack Putter in Inner Space. Today however we are referring to Ant-Man, the newest creation from Marvel Studios. Until the end of last year I had never heard of Ant-Man. Unless you were an avid reader of Marvel Comics in your youth you probably never would have either. However here he is in movie form to join what's become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like all of the Marvel Studios produced films they interconnect on a level like no other movie franchise in history and Ant-Man is no different. It's strongest connections are to Captain America Winter Soldier and Avengers Age of Ultron. This is understandable because the main line up in the Avengers movies is about to change. With the release of Captain America Civil War and the third Avengers movie which will be split into two separate films to give us Avengers Infinity War Parts 1 & 2, some of the main cast will be bowing out or at least taking a back seat. Ant-Man along with, believe it or not, Spider-Man are set to become Avengers members. Whether this is in full capacity or just the odd cameo remains to be seen but Marvel has been fighting to get Spider-Man for a while now, which has been a major headache because of the fact that Sony own the rights to produce Spider-Man movies. So, what of Ant-Man? Well it has more humour than say Iron Man or Thor. It's on a level similar to Guardians of the Galaxy. From the very beginning of the movie the nods towards other franchises is apparent. Remember the SHIELD building in Captain America Winter Soldier? The one which was taken over by Hydra forces. Well at the start of Ant-Man it's still under construction. Here we see a Young Michael Douglas, thanks to some CGI magic which looks phenomenal, playing Hank Pym. SHIELD want his research into miniaturization to be considered for battle field situations and want to weaponise it in what will eventually become the Avengers Initiative. Hank, who is also Ant-Man refuses and leaves SHIELD to start his own company, burying his research in the process. Years later one of his company's employees tries to recreate Hank's work and eventually succeeds and creates the Yellow Jacket suit. His agenda is to sell the technology on the arms market to the highest bidder. Hank does not want to let this happen so he, along with his daughter recruit ex-burglar and electronics whizz, Scott Lang to wear Hanks old miniaturization suit, become the new Ant-Man and fight back. It's a great film, different and refreshing because it's a new franchise. The effects are awesome as you'd expect and when Scott is forced to go super small beyond what is deemed "safe protocol" he enters the inner space sub atomic world of the quantum realm which looks fantastic and really toys with your mind. Also there is a real message about family bonding apparent here too which is crucial to the story involving Hank's relationship with his daughter and Scott's relationship with his. There are some nice touches in the script with little treats like a fight sequence with one of the new Avengers. Which one? Well you'll just have to see the film. I recommend that you sit through the end credits as there are two stings. One at the start of the credits and one post credits. Both are build ups to the Captain America and Avengers movies mentioned earlier. On the whole I give Ant-Man a 4 out of 5. It's a positive start to a new franchise. It handles itself well in light of the silliness of it all and is an enjoyable family film. Not to be missed if you want to keep up with the huge jigsaw puzzle that is The Marvel Cinematic Universe.