No one cares about Ant-Man. But that’s okay because Marvel films
has a track record of making you care about superheroes that weren’t on your
childhood radar, the same way DC films has a track record of making you fall
out of love with ones that were. Like Guardians
of the Galaxy, Ant-Man finds
Marvel risking millions to further prove that their brand name is greater than
the notoriety of the comic that inspired the character, and while Ant-Man doesn’t hit a Guardians size homerun, it scores in
ways that I couldn’t have imagined.
So who is Ant-Man? Hank Pym was a founding member of the
Avengers team along with his wife The Wasp, serving more of the Tony Stark role
from the films, than the actual comic book version of Tony Stark. Pym’s role
over the years boils down to creating Ultron, and being the first Superhero to
be shown committing domestic violence, something played up to greater affect in
the Ultimate line. So how do you make a character that’s basically Iron-Man
meets Bruce Banner fit into a world where we already have a Tec Wizard and a
Scientific Genius on the Cinematic Avengers team? You go with option B: Scott
Lang, thief turned hero.
Ant-Man is a heist movie with more in common with Ocean’s Eleven than any of the previous
Marvel films. The quick set up is this: Scott Lang gets out of prison
for pulling Robin Hood type crimes against the rich, only to find himself
dragged back in by his rag-tag friends who want to pull off one last score. The
theme at the heart of this Disney-Era Marvel film is Fathers & Daughters.
Lang feels if he can’t provide for his little girl, he’ll never truly be
allowed in her new life where her mother and step-dad see him as just a crook.
What starts as a money grab turns into a suit grab, as the house Lang and his
Hole in the Wall Gang rob ends up belonging to Hank Pym. Lang makes off with
the Ant-Man suit, and suddenly becomes tasked with becoming the new Ant-Man to
right the aging Pym’s wrong. Darren Cross, Pym’s protégé has developed a suit
called the Yellow Jacket, and it’s now Lang’s duty to steal and destroy this
creation before Hydra gains access, and forever end the legacy of the Pym
Particle.
Plot BS out of the way, the only question that matters is, DOES IT
WORK???
The first quarter of the movie is slower than Captain America: First Avenger. You’ll
need the caffeine in that $10 soda to keep you from yawning at the obvious plot
devices thrown out in the first twenty minutes of the film. We have Paul Rudd’s
Scott Lang being set up as a loveable hero and father a bit too heavy-handedly.
Using ever stereotype to get us to like him, the movie forces Lang as “Become the
hero your daughter thinks you are” down our throats in a obvious way. This is
clearly a Disney device, where the producers knew that in order to have a
criminal as your lead you had to spoon feed the audience the reason he was a
criminal in the first place. With that aside, the movie really picks up with
the introduction of three characters: Michael Douglas’s Hank Pym, full of piss
and vinegar who plays the role of annoyed mentor perfectly, adding more adult
humor to Rudd’s dopey child-like comedy act. Hope Van Dyne, the daughter and
rightful heir to the Ant-Man mantle is played by Evangeline Lilly. Following in
the footsteps of Black Widow and Peggy Carter, we have yet another Marvel
heroine who is much more qualified than her male counterparts are. This go around
she’s not taking her role on the chin, Hope continuously proves just how better
she is at being Ant-Man than both Ant-Man’s, but Lilly’s performance never
rises to the point of annoying, just bitchy and bad ass. The final piece of the
Ant-Man entourage is Luis played masterfully by Michael Peña.
To say that Peña steals the show, would be like saying
Wolverine is a “popular X-man.” Luis brings the type of diversity into a Marvel
film that has been sorely lacking. Let’s face it, the Black characters,
War-Machine & Falcon, are decent characters, but tragically un-hip (I mean
they are military guys, not Kevin Hart, but still they are kinda dry for
brothers). Luis, as arguably the biggest Latino character introduced in this Marvel
Cinematic Universe is authentic in his presentation. This movie was co-written
by Adam McKay, best known for writing and directing Will Ferrell films, and it
shows in the set-ups with Luis, and the rest of Lang’s gang (including rapper
T.I. who does a good job in a sidekick role). The theater comes ALIVE whenever
Luis is on screen, and it's never exploitation as Ant-Man is truly about the Bay Area's underbelly rather than it's Silicon Valley. Where the jokes about Fire Ants and “Why didn’t you just
call the Avengers,” fall flat, it is the more urban and realistic comedy that keeps
Ant-Man from becoming a Honey I Shrunk the Kids, PG movie.
Where It Fails:
Yellow Jacket: Once again the Marvel villain is about as
complex as a 3rd grade science project. Darren Cross is better
suited for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D than a big budget action movie. Yellow Jacket
in costume is as even worse as he becomes a clichéd movie villain that spews
tired ass “I’ll get you” lines over and over again.
Scott Lang Really isn’t that good of an Ant-Man: Remember
Gizmo Duck from Ducktails. That’s what Scott Lang is. We see him living up to
his reputation during the initial heist of the Ant-Man suit, but when he
actually becomes Ant-Man, you get the feeling that he’s just a dork that keeps
getting lucky. Even when Spider-Man was learning, it was always important to
show that he was figuring it out rather than just catching a break. Lang’s
Ant-Man is bailed out more times than he actually figures things out.
Why You Should See It:
Ant-Man Vs The Avengers: By far the best action scene of the
film. Ant-Man breaks into the new Avengers headquarters to steal a device
stolen by the Starks. What follows is Falcon and Ant-Man one on one.
The History: Wasp plays a big part in a small role (Pun bitches!), and the
entire backstory of Hank Pym’s Ant-Man sheds light on maybe a “Secret Avengers”
during the 80’s that may be revisited down the line in future films.
AN-Thony: Ant-Man’s best friend deserves his own prequel
movie.
Cousin Ernesto: Probably the funniest scenes since Iron Man
1.
After groaning at the corny trailer with Ant-Man jumping
over guns and running with an army of Ants, the actual fight scenes from inside
a brief case to on a toy train track, actually work in context. It’s easy to
judge it as silly at first glance, but the science behind Ant-Man and the
stellar cast make it one of the better Marvel films. While I doubt kids will
want to be Ant-Man for Halloween like they want to be Iron Man, and few women
will swoon over Scott Lang like they do Thor, the character does more than just
fill a slot in the new Avengers, he’s actually earns his spot as one of the
Greats.
Four out of Five Stars.
0 comments :
Post a Comment