DAN - With the release of Peyton Reed's Ant Man this week, the
mammoth of a machine that is Marvel continues to ever-grow and
seemingly swallow everything in its' path, regardless of the competition
at hand. With Comic Con last week seemingly handing the hype trophy
over to DC due in part to the explosion of Batman and TV related goodness, cast interviews and movie trailers, particularly that of the
eagerly anticipated Suicide Squad, it seems obvious that DC are
staging an attempt to sway the Marvel machine off its' course for the
time being even though they still hold the award for best comic-related
movie ever in the form of The Dark Knight. So with DC winning the
hype-race at Comic Con, Marvel have seemingly decided to take a seat
back from the fire-fight for the time being and allow us to revel in the
formation of a new Avenger in the form of Paul Rudd's Scott Lang, the
incarcerated criminal who unwillingly undertakes the role of Ant Man
under the guidance of Micheal Douglas's Hank Pym, a retired former
S.H.I.E.L.D agent who had once previously been the occupier of the
famous Ant Man suit. Where before Marvel films have seemed to undertake a
very similar, formulaic layout, Ant Man points more towards the spectrum of Guardians of the Galaxy, particularly in terms of its' high comedic value, something of which makes Ant Man one
of the most enjoyable Marvel entries so far, and ultimately concludes
Phase Two of the MCU in a rather cool and collective fashion.
The entire reason for why Guardians of the Galaxy succeeded
so well last year was the unexpected turn it took from the rather
similar and over-used Marvel film blueprint for almost all entries in
the MCU up to its' release, with it combining a underlying comedic
element and self-mockery to the fundamental questionable concept of a
team of heroes that combined a tree and a talking raccoon. Add in a
scorching soundtrack and a well-chosen cast, Guardians of the Galaxy truly was one of the highlights of last year, let alone in its' own expandable universe, and Ant Man swiftly
follows suit by once again being another Marvel related success which
combines a huge riff of comedy, due in part to the influence of Edgar
Wright and Joe Cornish who left half-way through production, and a
wonderful cast, strongly spearheaded by the one-two of both Rudd and
Douglas. Compared to the spectacle of most MCU-related movies, it was
actually quite refreshing to see Ant Man take more of a low-key
approach, with the action only really taking place in the final act of
the film after some interesting and highly enjoyable character
development in the first two-thirds, with scenes in which the
miniaturisation was used in a hugely comical manner being one of the
many highlights of the film.
Other
highlights of the film included Ant Man's accidental meeting with a
fully-formed Avenger and the way the film included Easter Eggs and
references to the MCU, particularly its' attempt to signify its' move
away from the Avengers with Pym's statement of them being busy "toppling
a city somewhere", rather tongue-in-cheek at the destruction caused in Age of Ultron. Such levels of destruction thankfully cannot be attributed to Ant Man however
with the biggest moment of chaos being caused by an enlargement of
Thomas the Tank Engine in a scene with produced chuckles from the entire
screening audience. In terms of the problems, Ant Man does seem to bear resemblance to Guardians a
bit too much resulting in a lack of freshness from Marvel's POV,
particularly when the latter was only released last year, whilst the
plot thread of the Quantum Realm seemed a bit too rushed and
jack-hammered in to be truly interesting. All in all however, Ant Man succeeds in being a rather entertaining and much welcomed entry into the MCU, and in my opinion beats Age of Ultron for best Marvel film so far this year. Up next, Fantastic Four. What a time to be alive.
Dan's Score: 8/10PETE - Dan has hit the nail on the head. Ant-Man was another one of the MCU's films that
honestly looked a bit naff. The trailers were lacking and it felt like the whole movie was pretty much summed up within them, yet like Guardians of the Galaxy, it was a huge surprise. The journey of an ex-con turned superhero was fantastic. Instead of dropping you into a story with characters who know their powers, their limits and strengths, we actually see a someone become a hero who doesn't have infinite wealth or training to begin with.
The story was great fun. Ant-Man always seemed a but dull to me but Marvel have the uncanny ability to create characters that are so likeable and fun that make me want to run down to the comic store and dig into the back catalogue for a little more. Now as I haven't seen anything involving Ant-Man, I can only say that I enjoyed the portrayal I saw, whether it is accurate or not. Paul Rudd simply doesn't age and I'm sure for many years to come we could see him playing this role because he was great fun. His comedic wrap sheet means that he can execute lines on a whim and be extremely convincing doing so. Its the character that he can embody. Yet, considering Ant-Man is supposed to have a master degree, we really don't see much about this at all but hopefully we can see it in his next outing.
It makes me wonder how people become evil in the Marvel world. The claims of righteous acts aren't enough to justify it for me. When you watch a massive city/town lifted into the sky and the Avengers destroying this giant threat, why would you honestly think that your squishy body has any sort of chance. The ending for said villain was rather quick and honestly it felt a little rushed. The sequence was fantastic fun but it was to short compared to the entirety of the movie but nevertheless, it isn't the typical way we see Marvel villains go and is rather liberating to see it so.
Marvel are great when it comes to visuals but it does feel as if Ant-Man's budget was a little smaller in the CGI department as all the backgrounds in the miniature scenes lacked fidelity as looked very fuzzy. As for the rest, the ants look awesome and the giant scenes tended to uphold the general trend set by Marvel. The music was on point and the action was explosive and funny all at once. Is it better than Guardians? No. Is it worth your time? Hell yes. Its great and I really can't wait until he makes an appearance in other instalments and we get a lot more cameos. PS - That SHIELD
cameo was pretty damn epic! 8/10!
Overall Score - 8/10
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