Ant-Man is the 129th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2015 Marvel superhero film Ant-Man. It was published on December 8, 2015, to coincide with the film's release on home video and Blu-ray. It is 4 minutes 21 seconds long. It has been viewed over 8.7 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Ant-Man on YouTube
"Tiny Iron Man." ~ Honest Trailers - Ant-Man
Script[]
From Edgar Wright -- until he refused to get in line (shows an article about Edgar Wright's departure from Ant-Man) -- comes a movie based on a superhero so ridiculous, you'll swear Marvel's choosing their projects on a dare:
Ant-Man
You've seen Marvel movies based on green giants (The Incredible Hulk), Norse gods (Thor), and these weirdos (Guardians of the Galaxy). Now, get ready for a hero so silly, no one can even keep a straight face when they say his dumb name, in this superpowered heist film that, against all odds, actually kinda works. I mean, it's still more believable than letting someone join The Avengers just because they're good with a bow and arrow (Hawkeye), right?
Meet Scott Lang (shows Scott Thorson from Behind the Candelabra) -- wait, nope, not that one...(shows Scott Lang from Ant-Man) yeah, that's the guy -- a master thief who gets busted every time he tries to get away with anything. His life will change when he meets Hank Pym, the billionaire industrialist who lost control of his company to a bald former ally (Darren Cross), who betrays him and plots to use his advanced suit technology for evil. And if that sounds familiar, it's because it's the exact same premise as the first Iron Man movie. I mean, seriously, it even has that "friend staring at the suit they'll wear in the sequel" moment (shows James Rhodes and Hope van Dyne looking at the War Machine and Wasp suits, respectively).
James Rhodes: Next time, baby.
Hope van Dyne: It's about damn time.
Thrill at amazing visual effects that make seventy-year-old Michael Douglas look like sixty-year-old Michael Douglas and has harmless locations pulse with epic danger, like a briefcase, a toy train set, and Michael Peña's junk (shows Luis getting in the shower as a miniature Ant-Man watches), in some of the most high-stakes fights between tiny people since Frodo versus Gollum, proving Marvel still hasn't run out of ways for guys to punch each other in the face, or in this movie's case, sucker punch (shows clips of characters getting sucker punched).
Prepare for a movie that would be really stale without Paul Rudd doing Paul Rudd things, because most of it is Hank Pym yammering on about some boring science crap...
Hank Pym: I use electromagnetic waves to stimulate their olfactory nerve center...You must retrieve this prototype of a signal decoy...I created a formula that altered atomic relative distance.
Scott Lang: Huh?
Hank Pym: She turned off her regulator and went subatomic.
...but separates itself from the other eleven MCU movies with a few unique twists, like making another schlubby comedian gets abs for a superhero role, actually getting you to care about disgusting insect monsters --
Ant-Man: Antony!
No, not Antony! Aw, man, I liked that one because he had a name -- and saying the one thing everyone's been yelling at the screen since Phase Two started.
Scott Lang: I think our first move should be calling The Avengers.
So strap in for the best micro movie since Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, as Marvel proves once again they can literally sell you anything, and they don't even have to try that hard to sell it.
(shows Scott Lang and Hank Pym repeatedly slapping their legs)
Hank Pym: Ants!
(Scott Lang and Hank Pym continue slapping their legs)
Hank Pym: Ants!
(Scott Lang and Hank Pym continue slapping their legs)
Scott Lang: Ant-Man!
Huh?
Starring I Love You, Mant (Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man); Tony Stark, Sr. (Michael Douglas as Hank Pym); Wasp Machine (Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne); The Only Latino in the MCU (Michael Peña as Luis); T.I. as Himself (Tip "T.I." Harris as Dave); Antz; The Biggest Avenger They Could Get (Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon); Thomas and the Mant-gic Railroad (giant Thomas the Tank Engine); and Disposable Marvel Villain #9 (Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket).
Honest title for Ant-Man - Tiny Iron-Man. Title design by Robert Holtby.
Tiny Iron-Man
Man, after this one, I cannot imagine these movies getting any strange- (shows a promo for the Doctor Strange movie) oh, yeah, forgot about that.
Trivia[]
HONEST REACTIONS- Ant-Man and the Wasp Director Reacts to Honest Trailers
- In July 2018, Screen Junkies filmed a reaction video to this Honest Trailer with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed. In the video, Reed admits the film had many similarities to Iron Man and explains the film's development process.
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for all other Phase 2 MCU films: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
- Screen Junkies have also produced Honest Trailers for the other MCU films featuring Ant-Man: Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain America: Civil War.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Watch the full Reaction Video with Ant-Man Director Peyton Reed on YouTube
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - Ant-Man has a 98.5% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Many sites commended the Honest Trailer for pointing out the film's similarities to Iron Man. IndieWire said the comparison was "salient," while Hypable wrote "our favorite bit of this video is the outlining of parallels between Ant-Man and the Marvel film that launched the entire MCU, Iron Man." In the same article, Hypable also praised the Honest Trailer for taking "some pretty fun, good-humored digs at the MCU" and also revealing some "uncomfortable truths" about the film. Slash Film wrote "It’s hard to argue with the fact that this story is recycled from Iron Man, and you may not even realize some of the similarities at first. But enough of the details are changed to make it interesting." Uproxx found the Honest Trailer notable for being able to "praise the movie quite a bit while holding it under the microscope." The Mary Sue had a mixed appraisal of the Honest Trailer. The site appreciated the comparison to Iron Man, but felt more should of been made of the way the film sidelines The Wasp, writing "this video’s funny as usual, but I do wish Honest Trailers hadn’t pulled quite so many punches when it comes to how often the other characters in Ant-Man get sidelined in favor of Scott and Pym’s dad-driven motivations."
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Ant-Man
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr, and Andy Signore
Edited by Anthony Falleroni
External links[]
- ‘Ant-Man’ Honest Trailer: The Best Micro Movie Since ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ - Slash Film article
- ‘Ant-Man’ is basically ‘Tiny Iron Man’ according to this Honest Trailer - Hypable article
- ‘Ant-Man’ Gets An Honest Trailer Sadly Devoid Of ‘Mac And Me’ Clips - Uproxx article
- Ant-Man‘s Honest Trailer Lampshades All the Iron Man Similarities - The Mary Sue article
- Watch: Honest Trailer For ‘Ant-Man,’ The Best Micro Movie Since ‘Honey, I Shrunk The Kids’ - IndieWire article
- Honest Trailer For Marvel's ANT-MAN - Geek Tyrant article
