by Francis Friel

Synopsis:
Michael Douglas used to be Ant-Man but years of being Ant-Man (plus years of grieving/covering up a dark tragedy) have messed him up so he gets Paul Rudd to be Ant-Man.

Review:
Marvel is absolutely knocking it out of the park recently.

The Winter Soldier, Guardians, Daredevil, and now this jam (Ultron didn't happen).

Peyton Reed is one of the most underrated directors around, in that I feel like absolutely no one knows who the hell he is, but I've liked everything I've seen from him and this is my new favorite.

Michael Pena, as always, owns every scene he's in, and while he's been playing the same role in movie after movie (his comedies, anyway) it never gets old to me. He's got some of the most effortless charm and timing in Hollywood right now and I'm glad he's jumping on the Marvel train.

Corey Stoll continues to perfect his Gigantic Fucking Douchebag routine flawlessly and Evangeline Lilly is perfectly cast (in an admittedly kind of thankless role). But, without giving anything away, it's safe to say she'll be returning to the MCU at some point. She even gets a little L O S T callback in one shot.

Michael Douglas is good as Pym, even though his story is essentially the exact plot of Iron Man, but whatever.

This movie even steals a play from the Inception/Interstellar book (which those movies already stole from 2001) and nails it in a single scene where those other two spent what felt like 30 minutes trying to get the same point across.

There's even a "musical" sequence that rivals the "Time In A Bottle" scene from Days of Future Past. It doesn't quite top that other sequence but it's pretty great.

And the first (of two) post-credits scene addresses a common fan complaint of the MCU in general and shows that maybe Feige's been playing things closer to the chest than we've given him credit for.

My favorite of the bunch on all levels is still probably Guardians of the Galaxy, but Ant-Man is without a doubt one of the best Marvel joints to date.

And Neil Freaking Hamburger shows up for a second.

Great one!

Overall Score: !!!!!