"It's not some cute tech like the Iron Man suit."
-Hank Pym
Back when Iron Man was released in 2008, one of the most anticipated films I desperately wanted to see, and one I thought would most definitely arrive before the Avengers movie, was about Ant-man. My introduction to him was through the Ultimate Avengers movies (they're animated) and I loved him. He was such a cool character because he could shrink, but then went back to the drawing board, reversed his tech, and became Giant-man. Then, in the comics he had so many mental breakdowns, becoming a villain (Yellow Jacket), anti-hero, basically he's the most messed up person in the Marvel universe. Then, the Avengers came and went and I was disappointed. Now, eight years after Iron Man (or is it seven?) I finally got my dream. The trailer was released and I immediately loved it, the shrinking effect was cool, Yellow Jacket was badass, and it was going back to Marvel's roots at keeping the film simple.
One of the marketing strategies to separate this film from the rest of the Marvel Universe was that this is a heist film, and with Scott Lang (the current ant-man in the comics), a notorious thief, I couldn't expect a better premise. Then again, I have scene better heist movies, and when you get down to it the film did feel like it wanted to focus on the superhero figuring out his powers more than doing the heist (which I think a lot of us want anyway, I mean what isn't fun exploring your Ant powers?). I was expecting more suspense and build up with the heist, but at it's core it's a superhero film so I guess I shouldn't have expected an actual heist film to begin with.
To be all honest, I think I'll have to watch this film again when it comes out on blu-ray and DVD because I just couldn't get into it. I kept comparing it to Iron Man and seeing how everything tied into the universe that it felt like I was watching a movie instead of fully immersing myself to enjoy it, but I also think that's Marvel's fault. At twelve films that are supposed to act like sequels to each other it's almost astonishing that more people are not doing it too. Shared Universes are fun, but what Marvel overdoes is the fact that everything is connected, so some films feel like they're not having their "stand alone" potential. However, as a stand alone Marvel film this is one of the best. It definitely felt like a phase one movie to me (and that's a good thing, phase two has been "eh" to me) and to be perfectly honest there is only one scene that references the Avengers, and then it's back to Ant-man world. The reason I say this is like a phase one movie, is that phase one truly felt like stand alone movies that referenced each other (wink wink) while phase two felt like everything had to be referenced and poked at (nudge nudge).
The acting is one of the best in Marvel's line up. Michael Douglas is amazing as Hank Pym and I really do hope that he has a bigger role in upcoming movies. He command so much power and presence on the screen that I wouldn't mind having a Hank Pym solo film. I thought his daughter (played by Evangeline Lily) did a good job; however, I did think her mood swings toward her father shifted too quickly and thought it was rushed. Paul Rudd is great as Ant-man. He has as much personality as Tony Stark did in the first Iron Man film, and he could possibly be the Iron Man replacement character after Robert Downey Jr leaves for good.
The trailer showed the film having lots of humor, my favorite scene being the train crash. And while this film did have humor, and I was starting to enjoy myself I a lot because of it, it didn't really come into play until a good chunk into the film. Don't get me wrong, they was humor from the very beginning, but I personally didn't find it very funny until maybe the mid-point.
Back to what I was saying about this feeling like phase one, the reason I wanted this to be in phase one is that while this is a great film, it really started to show Marvel's touch. What I mean by that is looking at all the Marvel films they are basically the same. They use the same formula, they use the same tone, they're forming a brand and it's making me tired. I love Marvel films, but they're just repeating themselves at this point. The only thing that they're trying to do is make the films funnier than the last, or adding new/spectacular special effects. One of the biggest criticisms critics and fanboys alike always say about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that their villains are the weakest part of the movies (excluding Loki of course). They always appear once, they're evil for evil's sake, they focus on "developing" the hero more so than the villain, and the same can be applied to Ant-man. He was an interesting character at first, he looked up to Hank Pym, idolized him, wanted to make him proud so he tried to copy him, but in the end when he became Yellow Jacket he was a mindless bad guy. Somehow he knew how to use the suit and could fight on par with Ant-man. When the do the first fake-out "I defeated the villain" scene I recognized that this was a mentally turning point for him to be even badder, but I'm not sure why. The film doesn't do a good job explaining why he went from an ego maniac to super villain so drastically.
Now that I'm writing this, Ant-man is extremely similar to Iron Man if you think about it. And while I don't mind that, it kind of concerns me for the future of Marvel films. Will we see more original takes on these heroes? Or just watch Marvel recycle ideas?
I don't really want to keep going because A.) I don't want to put spoilers in my review and B.) I feel like this is running really long anyway. So I'll start closing up.
Ant-man is a good film, it's what you expect Marvel to throw out and can be either a fanboys greatest experience to a comic movie this summer, or a really fun family film to take the kids to. The acting and likable characters really elevate this film, while the cliche Marvel formula is used yet again in this to push the "brand" which in turn makes me exhausted in seeing, basically, the same thing Marvel has put out over and over again. Ant-man brings to the table some really cool effects, but if you're looking for more out of your comic book movie experience I'd probably would be underwhelmed with this movie. Also, this film does have a mid-credit scene and a post-credit scene so make sure to stay after the film to catch all the fun stuff.
EDIT: Kudos for first Marvel film to insert the usage of "Pussy" (the cat kind obviously ;)
-Hank Pym
Back when Iron Man was released in 2008, one of the most anticipated films I desperately wanted to see, and one I thought would most definitely arrive before the Avengers movie, was about Ant-man. My introduction to him was through the Ultimate Avengers movies (they're animated) and I loved him. He was such a cool character because he could shrink, but then went back to the drawing board, reversed his tech, and became Giant-man. Then, in the comics he had so many mental breakdowns, becoming a villain (Yellow Jacket), anti-hero, basically he's the most messed up person in the Marvel universe. Then, the Avengers came and went and I was disappointed. Now, eight years after Iron Man (or is it seven?) I finally got my dream. The trailer was released and I immediately loved it, the shrinking effect was cool, Yellow Jacket was badass, and it was going back to Marvel's roots at keeping the film simple.
One of the marketing strategies to separate this film from the rest of the Marvel Universe was that this is a heist film, and with Scott Lang (the current ant-man in the comics), a notorious thief, I couldn't expect a better premise. Then again, I have scene better heist movies, and when you get down to it the film did feel like it wanted to focus on the superhero figuring out his powers more than doing the heist (which I think a lot of us want anyway, I mean what isn't fun exploring your Ant powers?). I was expecting more suspense and build up with the heist, but at it's core it's a superhero film so I guess I shouldn't have expected an actual heist film to begin with.
To be all honest, I think I'll have to watch this film again when it comes out on blu-ray and DVD because I just couldn't get into it. I kept comparing it to Iron Man and seeing how everything tied into the universe that it felt like I was watching a movie instead of fully immersing myself to enjoy it, but I also think that's Marvel's fault. At twelve films that are supposed to act like sequels to each other it's almost astonishing that more people are not doing it too. Shared Universes are fun, but what Marvel overdoes is the fact that everything is connected, so some films feel like they're not having their "stand alone" potential. However, as a stand alone Marvel film this is one of the best. It definitely felt like a phase one movie to me (and that's a good thing, phase two has been "eh" to me) and to be perfectly honest there is only one scene that references the Avengers, and then it's back to Ant-man world. The reason I say this is like a phase one movie, is that phase one truly felt like stand alone movies that referenced each other (wink wink) while phase two felt like everything had to be referenced and poked at (nudge nudge).
The acting is one of the best in Marvel's line up. Michael Douglas is amazing as Hank Pym and I really do hope that he has a bigger role in upcoming movies. He command so much power and presence on the screen that I wouldn't mind having a Hank Pym solo film. I thought his daughter (played by Evangeline Lily) did a good job; however, I did think her mood swings toward her father shifted too quickly and thought it was rushed. Paul Rudd is great as Ant-man. He has as much personality as Tony Stark did in the first Iron Man film, and he could possibly be the Iron Man replacement character after Robert Downey Jr leaves for good.
The trailer showed the film having lots of humor, my favorite scene being the train crash. And while this film did have humor, and I was starting to enjoy myself I a lot because of it, it didn't really come into play until a good chunk into the film. Don't get me wrong, they was humor from the very beginning, but I personally didn't find it very funny until maybe the mid-point.
Back to what I was saying about this feeling like phase one, the reason I wanted this to be in phase one is that while this is a great film, it really started to show Marvel's touch. What I mean by that is looking at all the Marvel films they are basically the same. They use the same formula, they use the same tone, they're forming a brand and it's making me tired. I love Marvel films, but they're just repeating themselves at this point. The only thing that they're trying to do is make the films funnier than the last, or adding new/spectacular special effects. One of the biggest criticisms critics and fanboys alike always say about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that their villains are the weakest part of the movies (excluding Loki of course). They always appear once, they're evil for evil's sake, they focus on "developing" the hero more so than the villain, and the same can be applied to Ant-man. He was an interesting character at first, he looked up to Hank Pym, idolized him, wanted to make him proud so he tried to copy him, but in the end when he became Yellow Jacket he was a mindless bad guy. Somehow he knew how to use the suit and could fight on par with Ant-man. When the do the first fake-out "I defeated the villain" scene I recognized that this was a mentally turning point for him to be even badder, but I'm not sure why. The film doesn't do a good job explaining why he went from an ego maniac to super villain so drastically.
Now that I'm writing this, Ant-man is extremely similar to Iron Man if you think about it. And while I don't mind that, it kind of concerns me for the future of Marvel films. Will we see more original takes on these heroes? Or just watch Marvel recycle ideas?
I don't really want to keep going because A.) I don't want to put spoilers in my review and B.) I feel like this is running really long anyway. So I'll start closing up.
Ant-man is a good film, it's what you expect Marvel to throw out and can be either a fanboys greatest experience to a comic movie this summer, or a really fun family film to take the kids to. The acting and likable characters really elevate this film, while the cliche Marvel formula is used yet again in this to push the "brand" which in turn makes me exhausted in seeing, basically, the same thing Marvel has put out over and over again. Ant-man brings to the table some really cool effects, but if you're looking for more out of your comic book movie experience I'd probably would be underwhelmed with this movie. Also, this film does have a mid-credit scene and a post-credit scene so make sure to stay after the film to catch all the fun stuff.
EDIT: Kudos for first Marvel film to insert the usage of "Pussy" (the cat kind obviously ;)
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