ANT-MAN (12A)

4 stars

Every successive movie triumph for Marvel becomes a building block for their next enterprise. So the fortunes accrued by Iron Man and the Avengers movies allows them to dip into the vaults for the lesser know Ant-Man, a character who may not be a household name, but who audiences will doubtless come to love in this and future movies.

Back in the day (which was the 1960s when Ant-Man was created, and which is the 80s when we join it here), Ant-Man was the alter ego of Dr Hank Pym. Pym (Michael Douglas) worked for SHIELD on a shrinking formula that he refused to hand over to them, and this gives us a nice chance to imagine what an 80s superhero movie starring Michael Douglas might have looked like.

In the present day we meet Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), just released from prison and doing his best to go straight. He’s a cat burglar and safecracker, although more of a Robin Hood figure than a proper criminal, which is why Pym targets him to be his helper.

Following a series of rather funny tricks and tests which are basically Hank auditioning the unwitting Scott to be the new Ant-Man, Scott ends up in the original shrinking suit. Zapped down to the size of an insect inside the suit, he has super strength and speed, and can communicate with ants to help him on his missions. This ant-eye action is very well realised, creating an entirely believable sense of scale as the tiny Scott interacts with the suddenly terrifyingly huge world around him.

The worst that could be said of Ant-Man is that it’s lightweight and occasionally routine, playing to a formula we’ve seen in many a movie, where a tech is developed which then becomes an application for the military and the chance for some unscrupulous businessman to get rich. In this case Pym’s one-time protégé and now great rival Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) has been working on his own version of the shrinking suit, which is why Scott is being recruited to try to steal it off him.

It doesn’t feel throwaway and, like the similarly glib yet ultimately worthwhile Guardians of the Galaxy, certainly earns its place as a piece in the bigger picture. Specific references to Avengers: Age of Ultron tie us in in lots of ways, old and new, including a great moment when Scott realises the extent of the danger and quips “Why don’t we just call the Avengers?”

The need then is to give it a bit more substance, and Ant-Man is bolstered by a fathers and daughters motif running through it. Pym’s daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) still blames him for the death of her mother, with the added complication that she works for Cross. Scott meanwhile is estranged from his own young daughter due to his time in prison, with the promise that he can see her again if he helps Hank.

As always, well cast actors feel at home in their new roles, judging the tone just right and providing slick entertainment. The jocular Rudd is a great fit, and having someone of the heft of Douglas to back him up doesn’t hurt, though the veteran star is more than capable of making with the funnies himself.

Perhaps it’s a little sparing with the action, heavy on training montages but taking a long time to get to any set pieces of real scale. But that’s more than made up for with the sense of fun, and when the big sequences do come they're bursting with wit and imagination, the miniature scenario allowing it to go places others simply can’t.

As superhero origin stories go, Ant-Man is a rock solid if hardly perfect effort, and the Marvel machine ensures that these guys will be back, and they’ll be bringing their friends.

Director: Peyton Reed

Running time: 117 mins

THE GALLOWS (15)

1 star

Many modern horrors, particularly those aimed at teens, are designed to bilk unsuspecting Friday night audiences before they really know what’s hit them. But The Gallows is one of the most cynical examples yet, a witless, dismally executed cash grab unburdened by story or filmmakers who care.

The mythology its makers are trying to build concerns a play called The Gallows, a performance of which resulted in one of the cast being hanged on stage. Now 20 years later they're rehearsing the play again at the same school, leaving us with mostly squabbles between petulant teens as the movie forgets it’s supposed to be a horror.

It’s cobbled together from camcorder footage, which as usual allows it to be cheap and tatty rather than taking the time and expense to make a real film, and this juddery style makes it close to unwatchable.

By the time it does remember to introduce some actual thrills, as four friends get trapped in the school with a noose-wielding psycho, there’s just a lot of running around in the dark accompanied by loud noises that couldn’t possibly have been made by whatever they're filming.

It’s carelessness like this that takes The Gallows beyond simply bad to actively insulting, and it’s easily one of the very worst horrors of the last few years.

Directors: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing

Running time: 81 mins

TRUE STORY (15)

2 stars

Given its title, True Story is, as you might imagine, based on a true story, but given that its leads are Jonah Hill and James Franco, it’s not as you might imagine a comedy.

Hill plays Mike Finkel, a journalist at the New York Times who is fired for embellishing an article then subsequently receives a call about a Christian Longo (Franco), who is accused of murdering his wife and children and has been calling himself Mike Finkel. Desperate for work, Finkel agrees to write Longo’s story in the run up to the trial in a lacklustre drama that’s all very portentous and gloomy, yet lacking any real weight.

The question of Longo’s guilt or innocence is about the only thing holding it together after a while, but it’s not as though the information that’s held back makes him a more compelling character. It’s hard to blame Hill, who does what he can with the underdeveloped material, but Franco tries for dead-eyed and just looks sleepy.

There’s probably an interesting story here, but it’s not discovered in this telling, which is presented in the broadest strokes and full of poor directing choices, emerging as really quite pointless.

Director: Rupert Goold

Running time: 99 mins

THE SALT OF THE EARTH (12A)

4 stars

Acclaimed Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado is the subject of this excellent documentary that’s part biography, part showcase of his remarkable career. Mostly it’s a fairly relaxed amble through his life and work and the stories he has to tell of the places and people he encountered over four decades of travelogue and social photography.

What we are afforded is a window into worlds, excavated as he disappeared for months and years at a time into the forests of South America or war-torn Africa.

On top of the incredible images by Salgado, director Wim Wenders films it beautifully and adds a Herzog-style narration, while co-director Salgado Jnr. takes over for a trip to Siberia that feels slightly out of place with the rest of it. Mostly it’s about his anthology projects, and always it’s about people, their suffering, their histories and simply their living .

Much of it can be harrowing and difficult to take in but, as Salgado says, everyone should see these images to see how terrible our species is.

Directors: Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado

Running time: 110 mins

THE WONDERS (15)

3 stars

An Italian family with four young daughters scrapes together a living as beekeepers and honey-makers on a rural farm. It’s hard work and tough going and the honey is their livelihood in this ambling drama that’s as much about a mood and a place, though the people are oddly compelling despite little actually happening.

Well marshalled youngsters and strong performances all round help, while a hint of the surreal is added with a nearby film crew who are part of a TV programme and a competition to find the best local produce.

Rough and ready and without concessions, it’s the kind of thing that could be quite off-putting with its lack of focus, but it exerts a curious hold even if it tests the patience after a while and what it all means remains up for debate.

Director: Alice Rohrwacher

Running time: 111 mins