Ant-Man ? 5 out of 5
That?s right, playas!
Another Marvel Studios film has been released and Phase 2 has been shut
and it?s no surprise that I absolutely loved this film! What can I say? I?m a huge fan and superhero films haven?t
been letting me down for several years now.
So, strap in and let?s get to talking about the latest in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe; Ant-Man.
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| Marvel Studios Welcome to the world of being a hero, Scott Lang. You are legally required to land all your jumps like this. |
Set after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, we see Dr. Hank Pym (Michael
Douglas) desperate to get his technology out of the hands of the unstable
Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). Years ago,
Pym discovered how to pull a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. This tech would leave the subject with the
ability to shrink, revert to normal size, and have heightened abilities when in
the shrunken state. Pym knew that this
tech could be used for great evil so he turns to Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a
criminal desperate to reform in order to be a positive presence for his
daughter. Lang agrees and learns to control
the tech and the suit that contains this ability (part of which is the ability
to communicate with ants) and ends up becoming the Ant-Man. Now, teaming with Pym, his daughter Hope van
Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and some of his former robbing buddies (played by Michael Pe?a, T.I., and
David Dastmalchian) set out to successfully complete a heist to take away
Cross? suit that replicates Pym tech. A
suit he soon adorns in order to become the villainous Yellowjacket.
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| Marvel Studios Yes, Yellowjacket is a bad guy but that suit is badass. |
I know I get repetitive when I defend my perfect scores for
superhero movies but I feel I have to always explain myself. I never deny that I?m bias towards these
films because I totally am. Superheroes
are just my thing and I?ve been a loyal fan of Marvel and DC superhero
properties since I was old enough to actually talk. I?ve been through the dark times and seen the
horrors they made when I was a youngling and seen the adequate items that were
made when I was a teenager and in my early 20s.
However, things all changed when Iron Man came out and things just seem
to keep getting better and better. Ant-Man just
keeps that level of quality going and proves that Marvel Studios might be
unstoppable with their shared cinematic universe.
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| Marvel Studios I think this is a metaphor for San Diego Comic-Con. |
Unlike the entirety of Phase One, Ant-Man ventures past just an origin story that establishes Scott Lang and Henry
Pym. In the same vein that The WinterSoldier went the political thriller route or how Guardians of the Galaxy became
a loving tribute to the Sci-Fi space adventures of old, Ant-Man forgoes being
just a straight forward tale of the aging hero Pym handing off his tech to the
younger Scott Lang and, instead, is a heist movie with a heavy dose of
comedy. Granted, the film is still
filled with the usual superhero origin tropes and familiar twist and turns that
heist movies go through but they never feel tired or boring. Part of this has to do with fantastically
established cinematic universe Marvel has but a lot of it has to do with the
wonderfully written comedy and the charismatic cast.
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| Marvel Studios Oh, Paul Rudd...you are too damn charming and are, without a doubt, Hollywood's most likable man! You are a national treasure...now please lift the restraining order. |
I was very excited to hear that Paul Rudd was going to suit
up and enter the MCU as Ant-Man. I?m a
big fan of the guy. I find him hilarious
and overwhelmingly charming?with the whip cream and cherry on top being the
fact that he is a ridiculously talented man.
I?ve said it many times and I stand by it; I don?t want to meet the man
who doesn?t like Paul Rudd. Rudd brings
his usual lovable persona and makes it work well with the redemption-seeking
Scott Lang. There was the potential that
Rudd might not have fit in within the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to his
comedy work but, not surprisingly, Rudd proves that he can balance his humor
with heart and complete badassery and prove that he is a welcome addition to
the universe and someone I?m excited as all hell to see fight side-by-side with
Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and the rest of the Avengers.
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| Marvel Studios We going to see Giant Man in Civil War perhaps? |
Rudd isn?t a lone wolf in this film and is surrounded by an
excellent cast. Smaller roles filled by
Judy Greer and Bobby Cannavale play just as well as the bigger roles of Michael
Douglas and Evangeline Lilly. Some of
the highlights include the great chemistry between Douglas, Lilly and Rudd in
the core of the heist team and special mention has to be made to Michael Pe?a
who provides some of the strongest laughs in the film and proved to be just an
absolutely and fantastically entertaining character. Finally, just like Rudd nailed becoming Scott
Lang, Michael Douglass proved to be insanely captivating to watch as the mentor
and creative genius Hank Pym.
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| Marvel Studios Seriously, try and take your eyes away from Douglas when he's on screen... you can't do it. He's that good. |
The only downside I had to the cast was Corey Stoll as
Darren Cross/Yellowjacket. Stoll is
never outright terrible in this role and actually proves to be quite
intimidating once he puts the suit on but early in the film he comes off a tad
cheesy. His performance made it seem
like Cross was seconds away from spontaneously growing a mustache before he
started twirling it and tied Hope van Dyne to some railroad tracks. And speaking of Hope, Lilly's performance was so good that I really wanted to see a bigger character arc for her. Her character isn't written badly at all but she was so cool that I wanted more...which is definitely going to happen as it is hinted A LOT!
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| Marvel Studios Not to spoil anything but during the button scene in the credits we learn *COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SPOILERS* |
Stoll?s performance proved to be the only real downside I
had for the film for the most part. Occasionally, the
action is difficult to watch because of the scale.
When Ant-Man is small, the action is fast and sometimes hard to focus on
because the scenes are so busy but, for the most part, the action is
satisfying?even though it?s on a much smaller scale than the previous Marvel
film?pun intended. This also leads to
the very cool special effects that successfully provided a sense of scale that
showed you how different the world looks when you?re the size of an insect and
it was just awesome to see how they created the shrinking effect and did so in
a way that honored the source material wonderfully.
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| Marvel Studios The design of the suit is so rad! And I'm not trying to be ironic by saying "rad." I really mean it, it looks very cool. |
Finally, no adaptation?whether it is a book, comic, video
game or cave drawings?will ever been 100% accurate and translated exactly. I don?t expect it to be because I honestly
think that would be boring. I want just
enough changes that makes what I?m seeing to be fresh and new and Marvel
Studios is doing an amazing job of adapting their characters so they are
familiar from the pages but different enough so they exist in a realm that can
cater to a mass audience. This story
captured the spirit of the characters extremely well?heck, even taking the
character of Yellowjacket (who is actually Pym in the comics) felt like it was
a nice mix of the source material but molded so that it fits in the MCU. What I saw on screen feels like the
characters I read on the pages but shown through a different filter for the MCU and it
works.
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| Marvel Studios Just going to say it again: Michael Pe?a is a show-stealer in this film. |
My complaints for Ant-Man are very minimal because I had a
blast watching it. The story is solid as
it tells a great heist story and blends it with themes of passing on the torch,
redemption and personal responsibility.
The humor is fantastic and helps keep the movie light enough and the
cast is an ensemble of talented people that fit right into this universe. This film, much like Guardians, was a big
risk for Marvel because Ant-Man isn?t a mainstream hero and the realities of
his abilities might be considered silly to the average movie goer but Marvel
Studios knew how to play the game and proved that this gamble was successful
and they crafted another fun and wickedly entertaining film. Now, it just sucks that I have to wait until
next year to watch Captain America:
Civil War?well, at least Jessica Jones will be coming out on
Netflix. That?ll be my Marvel fix! And then, of course, there's season 2 of Daredevil and that contains Jon Bernthal as The Punisher! Oh my glob, I can't wait for that!
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