It’s official:
Paul Rudd is really tiny. Not that kind of tiny, get your mind out of the
gutter. Marvel Studios goes big with their latest movie Ant-Man which is the
first new property since Guardians of the Galaxy and serves as the full stop to
Marvel’s Phase Two. However, the big question is, has Marvel gone twelve for
twelve, or have they finally come up short?
When master thief
Scott Lang is approached by Dr. Hank Pym to assist him in a dangerous but
necessary heist, Lang must use an incredible shrinking suit that can make him
as small as an ant but increase his speed and strength. The heist involves Paul Rudd’s character having to steal another
shrinking suit that could very well be used for nefarious purposes by Hank Pym’s
former protégé Darren Cross. The
movie is filled with all the humour you’ve come to expect from Marvel this film
hits many of the notes of the original Iron Man movie and gives Marvel that
much needed kick that made many of the Phase Two films feel a little stagnant.
Look, to be fair,
this film had lots of issues in the lead up, with Edgar Wright leaving just
before the beginning of production and Marvel Studio struggling to find another
director, with quite a few directors turning the film down. Even though Ant-Man
is a founding member of The Avengers, he is still a relative unknown and a bit
of a B-grade hero so this film did have the potential to be Marvel’s first big
failure. However, with all this working against it, how does it size up?
Now it is a tall
order to expect this film to not be bogged down with lots of Marvel
Cinematic Universe baggage but this film does stand on its own two small feet
as a standalone film. Sure there are plenty of Marvel easter eggs layered
throughout and some subtle and not so subtle references to the expanded
universe but everything seems to work so well in Ant-Man. What makes this even
more surprising is the fact that the film has four writers: Edgar Wright, Joe
Cornish, Adam McKay and Paul Rudd however this has really worked because each
writer has played to their strength. You can see the elements of Wright’s
influence on pushing the narrative forward in inventive ways and Paul Rudd’s
ad-libs really give the movie some genuinely funny moments that don’t feel like
a Joss Whedon quip-fest.
Some of the other
great elements to the movie are the supporting cast. Michael Douglas brings
real gravity to the character of Hank Pym and delivers some huge plot points
with that fantastic voice of his. Evangeline Lilly plays Pym’s daughter and it is great to see Marvel bringing in
some more strong female characters, her role in future films should be
something to look forward to. The villain of the piece, Corey Stoll, is
actually interesting, and for once, a developed villain - probably even more so
than Ultron - admittedly, it did take a little while to get past his not
snorting lots of cocaine and paying for hookers. However, it is scene-stealer
Michael Pena that will put the biggest smile on your face with so many
energetic outbursts that you’ll want to see the film a second time just for
him.
Visually, this film is really stellar with the crew utilising special macro-cinematic photography that really brings the world of the film to life. Many scenes may look like they are CGI-enhanced, however the crisp and clear imagery from these cameras give you perspectives of bath tubs that you are never likely to see in your life and the detail in computer motherboards and servers look like their own self-contained vibrant city-scapes. This is used brilliantly to brings us down to Scott's level, however it also provides some great visual gags in the film when the moment needs it.
The most
refreshing thing about this movie is that Ant-Man has finally broken the rut
that Marvel found itself in with regards to climaxes. There is no “death from
above” trope and the final battle, though on a small scale by comparison,
actually has much more personal stakes involved for our hero. This feels more
like Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man film or even The Dark Knight or The
Wolverine with regards to climaxes that character driven - here’s hoping Marvel
can bring this feeling into future films.
Small talk aside,
Ant-Man is a real breath of fresh air for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in
combination with the “heist-movie” themes, this will easily keep the comic book
genre from becoming stale.
Ant-Man gets Four
out of Five Stars (or Four out of Five puns about size - which there are plenty
in this film)
Spoiler-Free End Credits Note: Without spoiling things, the two end
credit stingers for Ant-Man both have genuine meaning for future films, which
once again is refreshing to see after all the jokey-stingers within Phase Two.
In addition, the Civil War stinger will leave you wracking your brains for how
it fits into next years Captain America movie.
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