Tiny new Avengers rock! Check out Kidzworld’s Blu-ray review for Ant-Man. Does it have cool extras? Would you want to gift and collect this holiday season?
By: Lynn Barker
In Ant-Man, upstanding, family man cat burglar/engineer Scott Lang tried to take down an evil corporation and got arrested and sent to prison. Now he can’t even keep a job at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store. Can this well-intentioned but unlucky dude become a tiny superhero?
How does this thing work?Courtesy of Marvel
Unlucky Genius
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) gets out of prison where he served time for stealing money from a bad guy corporation to give back to the people, Robin Hood-style. A likable family man with an electronics degree but a “cat burglar” rap sheet, he wants to keep a job so he can visit his young daughter Cassie (Scott and Cassie’s mom are divorced). After being fired from ice cream store Baskin Robbins, desperate Scott falls in with his old cell-mate Luis (Michael Pena).
Ant-Man Scott with his young daughterCourtesy of Marvel
The First Break-In
Luis and pals want to steal some goods from rich scientist’s home and need Scott for the job. Scott succeeds but inside the man’s safe is only a weird suit and some strange liquid in jars. Huh? The heist leads to Scott meeting the rich scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), inventor of the “Pym Particle” which reduces the distance between atoms. It allows a human to shrink to ant size while amplifying his or her big person strength.
Hank Pym wants Scott to be the new Ant-ManCourtesy of Marvel
The New Ant-Man?
Hank, who was Ant-Man when he was young, needs Scott to become Ant-Man and steal back his formula from Hank’s now evil protégé Dr. Cross (Corey Stoll of TV’s “The Strain”) who has used it to create Yellow Jacket suits for a tiny army which he wants to sell to the Avengers’ major enemy HYDRA. It’s up to Scott, buddy Luis and pals and Pym’s estranged daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) who is working with Cross, to save the formula and keep a tiny army from falling into the baddies’ hands.
Bad guy Cross sells his super soldier ideaCourtesy of Marvel
Ant-Man Trailer
Special Extra Features
We got the combo pack with Ant-Man in 3-D, regular Blu-ray and Digital forms. Since we don’t have a 3-D player yet, we are reviewing the Blu-ray.
- Extras abound in this set. The “Making-Of” Featurette is called Making of an Ant-Sized Heist: A How-To Guide – This is a pretty complete extra featuring all the actors talking about their roles and shooting the heists in the movie. We go on location for some of them. This covers everything from the funky poop-colored van belonging to character Luis to the details on the Ant-Man suit. Somebody asks “How do you pee? I don’t see a zipper”. Funny. Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd talks about his year-long training and learning martial arts. Anthony Mackie who plays Avenger Falcon appears to talk about his scenes with Paul. Pretty cool overall.
- Let’s Go to the Macroverse is all about planning and shooting the shrinking sequences throughout the movie with new digital tech. One camera shot low from an ant POV. The tiny toy train scene in the daughter’s bedroom is covered. Filmmakers talk about studying different types of ants to make them real in the film. Sweet!
Ant-Man checks out his ant armyCourtesy of Marvel
- WHIH Newsfront – This is interesting but not really necessary. It contains several of the fake news broadcasts throughout the film (all about Scott’s original crime etc.) There is a fake interview with baddie Cross etc. Okay to watch once.
- Deleted and Extended Scenes – As usual, these are interesting. There is more background to set up the story so good to check out once.
- Gag Reel – I love these. This one contains more physical silliness than line flubs. It’s cute but more is always better.
- Audio Commentary with Director Peyton Reed and lead actor Paul Rudd – This is really enjoyable! It is rare lately for an audio commentary to include the lead actor and Reed and Rudd play off each other very well. There are some secrets revealed and these guys can be very funny. Very well worth a listen!
Paul Rudd and director Peyton Reed discuss a sceneCourtesy of Marvel
Wrapping Up
The film looks and sounds great on Blu-ray and the extras on this set are quite fun and cover everything from the tiny cinematography to stunts, costumes etc. The audio commentary is really cool and reveals some neat on set secrets etc.
Whoops! Where am I?Courtesy of Marvel
The film is a little too long and is yet another hero origin film and basically a heist movie. Ant-Man is saved not only but some cool tiny world effects but by some great performances by all actors especially by Paul Rudd as the title character.
Ants are just cool! This movie drives that home. They can work together beautifully, lift many times their weight etc. There is a flying one Ant-Man names Antony and a large one eventually kept as a pet by Ant-Man’s daughter. Makes us all want to treat them with respect. From now on when Avengers assemble, they will have to look down to find their micro-small new member.
Ant-Man's wacky friend LuisCourtesy of Marvel
Should you gift or collect this Blu-ray set for the holidays? Yep. The whole family and your pals will enjoy. We go 4 stars.
Ant-Man Blu-ray Rating:
Ant-Man Blu-rayCourtesy of Marvel
Ant-Man is now available on Blu-ray + DVD!
Kidzworld received this cool limited edition Mini-Blu-ray!
We need an ant-sized Blu-ray player now!
Have Your Say
Did you see the original movie? Are you into the humor and the tiny special effects? Do you want to get or gift the DVD/Blu-ray for the holidays? Leave a comment!
