Post 4 - Ant Man - ...Visual proof that Paul Rudd is immortal!

Good morning comrades! Next up on our whistle stop tour of this summer's season of what have basically been a bunch of really silly blockbusters, is Ant-Man! 

The one point we can take away from the film is that Paul RUDD is IMMORTAL! HE NEVER AGES! I mean seriously! Look! -->

(I think he's a vampire!)

Any way, I digress...As you may have spotted, this summer's offerings on the cinematic altar of sacrifice have had a slightly more surreal, silly, sometimes humorous vibe to them than previous summers (e.g. Avengers Assemble, Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). And this feeling is summed up no more so than in Marvel Studio's 10th offering 'Ant-Man'. 

A story of redemption for ex-con Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), who stumbles across 'super-scientist' Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and is unwittingly signed up to Pym's (& daughter Hope's (Evangeline Lilley)) cause of defeating 'generic evil scientist-cum-business man' Darren Cross (Corey Stroll) who has used Pym's discovery of the 'Pym Particle' (a particle which decreases the space between molecules) to create a tiny soldier suit that gives the wearer immense strength. This he subsequently plans to sell to more bad-guys (HYDRA) from which they'll make an army and conquer the world...

...Ok I'll stop there for a minute...

...As you can tell, even from Marvel's fluid grasp of the scientific world (Super soldiers, Big Green Rage Machines etc.) this is a bit far fetched! And in some respects the difficult premise on which the film perches is a little difficult to adapt, and this is reflected a little in the film. 

What I mean by this is that one of Marvel's main successes over the last decade has been making their film adaptations of their massive back catalogue of superheroes and super-heroines grounded in real world contexts, and relatable to the viewers understanding as to how superheroes may or may not fit into current geo-political systems and events. Just look at Iron Man's origins in war-torn Afghanistan, or the corruption that seeps out of S.H.I.E.L.D in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 

However the above premise finds itself floating away from any form of grounding reality quite quickly. So Marvel's way to combat this is to make the film more of a Comedy/Drama-cum-Action Movie and not the other way round, which ultimately makes it into a very entertaining watch. 

Paul Rudd is extremely likeable as a more relatable superhero than Marvel's more 'holier than though' Captain America, or 'Could I be anymore sarcastic?!' Iron Man. 

Michael Douglas brings needed seriousness/gravitas to his role of ageing scientist Pym. Which it must be noted, the film needs, without which it may have run away with its ridiculousness too much.

Evangeline Lilley and Corey Stroll have characters that are a little too 2D for my liking, and could have done with filling out a little more. Yet if Marvel gets its way, and as shown by its usual post-credits palette cleanser, my wish might just come true for one of these!

Where the film makes its money is in Michael Pena, who plays Scott Lang's sidekick, and delivers some of the funniest plot-developing, story-telling monologues I've seen in a film in a long while! 

Marvel should also be congratulated on making a success out of a film that has long been in stuck in the womb, and didn't have the easiest of births. One of the films greatest strengths is the comedic timing of it's dialogue which can be put down to; one, initially giving the reigns to a proven director in Edgar Wright (of 'Cornetto Trilogy' Fame), and when his and Marvel's 'marriage' broke down, two, giving the film (and it's re-workings) to Rudd himself, Peyton Reed & Adam McKay. 

The comedy ultimately works! It's what makes the film, and has allowed Marvel to set up another (if slightly smaller) franchise. But with Ant-Man due to be initiated into the much larger Captain America: Civil War next year (otherwise known as The Avengers 2.5 due to its cast size!), I'm not so sure how he'll do and look fighting alongside the literally and metaphorically bigger superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have the feeling as a character he may be a little lost and out of place there...but we'll see!

Which if you compare this to how Fox have virtually destroyed this summer's Fantastic Four by handing it to unproven talent, and over-meddling in it whilst it's still 'cooking, you have two very contrasting films, that are on the polar opposite ends of the large spectrum of success that movie studio's call a 'film's takings'. 

(Ant-Man Opening Weekend: $57 million. Fantastic Four Opening Weekend: $26.2 million).

Honest Trailers - The Fantastic Four

Ultimately Ant-Man's not a perfect film, it has a slow start, has a bit of inconsistency in the quality of the Ant action (some being hyper-real, and some, such as Lang's first venture in the suit, lacking in visual quality/looking a little tacky) and the script does give for some redundant additional characters who don't add much if anything to the story. 

Yet the film is a nice little action comedy that is a refreshing addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and shows that as a studio, they have more strings to their bow than Planet-wide scale action/destruction, and are ultimately still the ones to beat in the current Superhero-Studio Wars!

Verdict: Somewhere between Chocolate & Salted Popcorn - maybe a half and half - A fun watch, with an immensely likeable cast, but ultimately doesn't have as good source material which which to carry itself as well as other Marvel offerings.