Ant-Man
General Information:
Trailer
TL;DR
You need to go see this movie regardless of what I say -- or what anyone else says...regardless of your own preconceived perceptions of this film. Form your own opinion. Before reading anything below, it is a worthwhile experience in the theater to see this comic book movie.
EDIT: Stay until the theater lights come on. Don't miss the post-credit teaser.
Editorial Background & Biases:
I went in expecting this movie to be generally ok, as I doubt Marvel at this juncture is going to make a complete flop--as many have suggested would be the outcome for this film. Or rather, for this film to be the first flop or weakest at the box office out of the MCU franchise.
I also had my own notions as to why we ended up getting Scott Lang instead of a modernized interpretation of Hank Pym. Notions that were soon revealed to be exactly what I expected. What I didn't expect was how easy it was to like the film as it unfolded for me on the screen.
The Good
Paul Rudd is absolutely a fun actor to watch on the big screen. I'm not used to seeing him as a superhero. I'm used to seeing him as the everyman, a funny guy. Someone who is relatively quirky and usually some crass odd-ended character. Often times the wacky best friend. But here he shines relatively easily as a very believable successor to Hank Pym. His charisma as a simple guy who is generally good at being a cat burglar was not hard to swallow. In fact finally getting to see the character on the big screen and how he connected to us as Scott was almost, dare I say...Endearing.
Michael Douglas was excellent as Hank Pym, he fit in the role almost too perfectly. Even if the version of Pym I wanted to see was the younger scientist. I enjoyed the tidbits of the past we got to see. Much of it expository through various other characters but overall satisfying. Almost an homage to the past as the torch was being passed on. We also got a very satisfying set of explanations for the absence of Janet Van Dyne.
Corey Stoll was a great choice as the villain and he met a satisfying end in the story. The film did not try to pry heavy amounts of gravitas into his character. There wasn't any epic levels of grandeur even if the plot itself was sizeable in terms of the end-game had Darren Cross succeeded. Overall allowing him to deliver a simple performance that is both solid and enjoyable, if not believable.
The Bad
Evangeline Lilly was not bad as Hope Van Dyne but I really didn't like her character portrayal. She was stiff and awkward. She had a very heavy conviction toward Scott which turned too quickly and almost overnight. I don't know if we credit such a transformation to Paul Rudd's charisma and is very believable in the character or to a rushed aspect of the character development of the story. But she did not spark a lot of interest as a well fleshed out character. I also hated the wig. It was obvious that it was a wig. If somehow I'm wrong and that awkward alien-mop-top of a haircut was not a wig...granted--that's the look for the character in the comics (among others) but perhaps it was simply the actress. I love Evangeline Lily. She is a powerful actress but she didn't do it for me in this film. Even Michael Douglas in an interview at one time would have cast Catherine Zera Jones in the role (EDIT: Douglas is talking about Janet Van Dyne -- Thank you Wadezilla13). Whether or not that would have been better, she does have the natural look of the character as she is, without much effort in makeup and hair. Evangelines portrayal of Hope overall was simply wooden. It wasn't completely terrible as you can almost sense minor adjustments to her take on Hope as the film progressed and that felt like she was being directed by different people. Which can easily be very likely--especially for the turmoil this production suffered. If she was taking cues from director Peyton Reed and possibly from the writer Edgar Wright (at one point), and sometimes the many scenarios that occur if a producer sticks his finger in the mix; you can get varied performances in a film as it progresses. Let alone if she's getting any direction from any assistant or second unit directors working on any scenes she's partaking in. This is usually something caught and corrected in dailies. I see it because I work on Indie films and recognize this problem. I'm hoping I'm wrong and I am being pedantic.
Throughout the film there were numerous and weird over-the-shoulder shots that were very strange. For a few of them I thought someone was walking in front of my line of vision in the theater. Then I thought it might have been trickery of light with my massive IMAX 3D glasses on. Eventually I realized it was the intention to shoot this way in many of the closeup scenes the film has...and there are many. Eventually it happened less and less. However, it occurred enough times to distract and annoy me as I tried to enjoy the film. That would likely be a specific signature of Peyton Reed's style of shooting a film. Because of these weird over-the-shoulder shots a few other scenes appeared to be out of frame. Which was exceptionally hard to belive as mistakes; so just like we (comic book fans) criticize some directors for their peculiarities in film-making style (like Zack Snyder for his extreme closeup shots & J.J. Abrams for his lens flares) I think Reed has an obscure camera lens and angle he likes to shoot that is not exactly squared, centered or symmetrical in any way. But it drove me nuts in some cases as I thought his direction was trying to show me something else important taking up the screen real estate. In most cases it wasn't.
The Ugly
The once again use of the second in command, the protege gone wrong, who also happens to be bald; who ends up stealing or using the new tech in the film cliche. This is one of those issues that is essentially inescapable in comic book films. It's a classic troupe that is overused but relatively makes sense here. It actually fit more convincingly here than it did with Obediah Stain in Iron Man. It's already been done to death in Spider-Man as well and we're going to be getting more of those too!
While this is an irritating issue, it's my one real gripe with the film -- but truly isn't much to fault it over. To piggyback on this problem we also have the divorced and marrying another man cliche creating stryfe for the protaganist. At least the other man his ex-wife is marrying isn't hmself another antagonist in the film. Leading to the I showed you he was a douche and defeated him, not let's get back together cliche. While the above is cliche and overused it didn't bother me quite as the archetype Darren Cross was put into. This is me simply being realistic and pointing out a problem that exists in these films inherently at this point and while I list it in my 'Ugly' category it may be more about my opinion than it is a reality.
The Great
Michael Peña almost stole the film in a few of his narrative and necessary expository scenes. He was intelligently funny in some cases, even if a couple of the scenes were just slightly askew with what felt natural and almost cheesy. His light hearted nature and near idiot-savant character won me over. I thoroughly enjoyed what originally could have been a group of thieves and thugs to be an almost Ocean's Eleven take on honor among thieves.
Everything slowly fell into place, if a minor plot-hole showed itself there was an almost immediate, if not subtle, explanation why it was. Without giving away spoilers I'm being intentionally vague. But if you allow the film to unfold it does nicely tie together a very cohesive story. We completely understand the reasoning for Marvel to use Scott Lang and how an older Hank Pym who was part of the older Shield, side-by-side with Agent Carter made absolute sense. Something that was elusive in the promotion of the film.
Because of the direction the previous MCU films took, specifically Age of Ultron, where Stark (instead of Pym) ended up creating Ultron and subsequently Vision, it makes perfect sense to connect Ant-Man to the MCU by using Scott Lang as an unaware and originally confused protege of Pym.
…and, Amazing?
I loved the small and tightly timed fight scene with the Falcon. That was not something that was hyped in marketing and rightly so! It was more a great surprise. Many of the people who were attending the press screening I viewed were all just as happily surprised as I was and cheered his entrance. It was also nice to see that Ant-Man did not have a complete upper hand on him even though he won the day by disabling Falcon's flight suit. It was very satisfying to get to see Falcon again and it was equally satisfying to see Scott succeed in this scene--cementing him as a formidable character.
The spirit of the film is essentially what wins me over. I forgot for a small period of time that it was supposed to be connected to the MCU, that it has to fit in some form to the epic nature of the other stories. Because of the very nature of the MCU, the duality of enemies 'within' and enemies 'without' -- I didn't have to worry about both, I was able to enjoy that he was essentially going to be part of the larger filmscape as someone aiding the fight against the enemies within. Even if later he'd be a part of the larger cosmic picture, for now it wasn't necessary to think so big...pun intended.
I was able to completely escape and laugh and cheer the mini-spectacle. The direction, aside from the weird over-the-shoulder shots was superb. A general idea of movement, confirmation, action, intensity, and climax were put together well. The comedy was exceptionally well timed and gave us moments to breathe inbetween moments of possible intensity.
The miniaturized action was also quite fantastic, the ants themselves all became characters that were easy to love. Even the momentary interpretations of a microverse were entertaining and purposeful. Even if I expected as the film progressed that we would get a glimpse of this world. I was glad we got to see it and I am very curious how it will come into play in the future. If not how it gave us a possibility for the future of the character of Giant-Man as well.
What Might have Hurt This Film…
The marketing and prerelease hype may have hurt this films in terms of how people have perceived it. Aside from this--the very nature of the MCU itself may have been cause enough to cause fans to have heavy concerns for this character and his place in the MCU. Especially with the many creative changes taken by the producers, writers, and directors or the previous entries into this massive franchise. That in itself is a daunting enterprise to consider. The fans themselves may end up hurting this film if they don't go out to see it this weekend; having some odd preconceived notion regarding it's shortcomings without actually watching the movie. But that is generally due to us...reviewers, folks that write for media outlets and the like who have prejudged this film without seeing it first. I recently read a very bad article that stated "Why Ant-Man is Marvel's First Flop" -- The author of that article had not at all seen this film and was only basing it on fanboy conjectures. Along with conjectures of how the mainstream only knows Pym through animated media. A notion that while not completely off the mark is only one tiny window into what the mainstream will understand or care to understand. Guardians of the Galaxy already proved to Marvel that the audience does not need to know the comics to love these characters. Let alone their origins. While that is normally what I believe could hurt a film like this. It is likely that the anti-hype surrounding that aspect of the debate has hurt the film, moreso than the topic itself. perpetuated by various fandom media outlets.
So perhaps as an overall all of us may end up causing this film some harm. But I think it will be temporary as we're starving for more MCU films. Once word-of-mouth spreads how much fun an experience it was to see Ant-Man come to life; all of that negative hype will dissipate and likely the readership of the those who judged without tangible information. Part of why I wanted to get this review out on it's thursday prerelease date. Partly why I added a TL;DR category to my In-Depth format.
In an effot to Take 'us' out of the equation.
Overall Verdict?
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. It made me laugh and I forgot my prejudgements that hinged solely on the choice of Scott Lang instead of Hank Pym for the storyline. The film was an excellent marriage of the old school characters that connected the MCU to the old SHIELD, Howard Stark and Agent Carter to the current Post-Hydra takeover of SHIELD. It referenced the Avengers beautifully and even showcased an unexpected fight scene that was highly enjoyable. Overall--I can't really complain. It was an origin story that stood alone nicely; yet, is a small piece that we (now) understand how it fits into a much larger puzzle that is masterfully being put together by Marvel. If I doubted the studio in what it was doing before with this entry and how it played into the larger scope of the work--I will not be doubting them again.
I'm sure there are some who would consider themselves hardcore fans and will likely disagree with me, but that's the beauty of opinion, you can have one.
I walked out of the theater with a smile. The issues I listed above are not strong enough to take away from the credibility and fun factor of this comic book movie. Paul Rudd was great as Scott Lang, Michael Douglas was equally as great. Evangeline Lilly has her quirks but I think she has a bigger role to play, especially after the various reveals made in the film. Corey Stoll was a great and short-lived villain who wasn't overbearing or ridiculous in his role. He was just as menacing as he was human. Like I said in the TL;DR section. Go see this movie. Especially If you are a fan of the MCU. If things like fun and laughing are not your thing, skip this one.
4 Comic Book Movie Geeks out of 5 will think it's
Great. 1 out of 5 Comic Book Movie Geeks will disagree and begrudgingly hold on to nonsensical traditions.
For a definition of this scale click the image above
Ant-Man is now out in theaters and is projected to do over $125M in its first weekend globally -
$60M of that projection domestically. Have you seen Ant-Man yet, during the Thursday evening prerelease? Did this review help you? Tell us your thoughts (as if I needed to ask)! Share, tweet, pin, form some words and let us know where you stand on this movie.
By @EmanuelFCamacho | Editor | CBM