It's actually quite easy to tell where Edgar Wright's vision for Ant-Man began and ended vis-à-vis editorial mandate. At its core, it's a heist film. In the execution of said heists we see the same genius narrative complexity and irreverent, tongue-in-cheek sense of fun that animated films like Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). Much like how those films weren't just spoofs of their respective genres but solid entries in them in their own rights, Ant-Man is one of the best heist films I've seen in years. It rides a fine balance between being a superhero film featuring heists and a heist film featuring superheroes. Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, the titular Ant-Man, does a solid job as the typical Wrightian hero who unexpectedly gets in way over his head in circumstances beyond his wildest dreams. However, the film is significantly deadened by studio interference. You can practically see the invisible hand of Kevin Feige reach down and cram in things to make it more "audience friendly" and "more suitable for the Marvel brand": the villain is just another jealous white male scientist-cum-industrialist with an attitude problem (because we didn't get enough of those in THREE Iron Man films); a spunky supporting female character with juuuuust enough screen-time to make an impression as a cool, kick-ass hero but not enough for her to actually contribute significantly to the overall plot—or to actually get her in a damned costume for once; ubiquitous cameos to remind the audience that, yes, this does take place in the same universe as the Avengers; and a smattering of truly unfortunate CGI and laughable motion physics (a PS1 could have produced more realistic physics than one scene where a tank bursts through the wall of a building). If anything, Ant-Man gives me hope that unconventional approaches to the superhero genre can be successful. But it also discourages me with the realization that major production studios would rather implode than let idiosyncratic directors truly experiment with their precious cash cows.
7/10
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