C&C Review - Marvel's 'Ant-Man'
Big Mistake or Small Wonder?
By Steven Carter
So this was it. The film a lot of people were tipping as the first faltering step in the relentless drive of Marvel’s marathon run. The warning signs were there, the movie was stuck in development hell for around 14 years, Edgar Wright had been linked with producing and directing this film for that amount of time until when it was finally due to start principle photography, Wright leaves the project citing “creative differences”. Considering this was essentially his baby, it must have taken something significant for him to just call it off. Perhaps he wasn’t as prepared for Marvel executives to be as involved as they were. After all he has been used to creating largely independent films like the Cornetto trilogy (Shaunn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and World’s End). Instead, Peyton Reed was quickly drafted to finish off what Wright had started.
Nevertheless, Ant-Man is by no means a bad film! We see our “anti hero” Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) don the suit after stealing it from an ageing Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Pym uses this situation to recruit Lang and help him in his self appointed mission to prevent the duplication of his invention, the Pym Particle, being sold to the highest bidder by the nefarious Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). The Pym particle is explained as a means to reduce the distance between atoms whilst still maintaining density. When the user shrinks, they essentially became stronger. This is explained plenty during the films snappy runnig time and a there's a fair amount of self-efffacing science dotted throughout the film, mainly in a comedic sense. Marvel loves comedy and Ant-Man is full of it, a lot of the beats work but some kind of fall flat, Marvel seem to think they had another Guardians of the Galaxy on their hands and while it's great to aim for those heights they may have gone a bit overboard on the comedy moments in this one.
Lang needs help with his biggest heist and calls up his partners in ex-crime Luis, (Michael Peña) Kurt, (David Dastmalchian) and Dave. (T.I) The trio seem to be there for primarily comedic purposes and cetainly add some variety to the cast, these guys aren't out and out criminals, more loveable rogues the film is definitely improved with them on screen. Hank also has some backup in the form of his estranged daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). Unfortunately the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne doesn’t feature heavily, however there is hope of a possible appearance in a future film being as her face is always covered by something whether it be a mask or a big hat.
There is clearly some tension between father and daughter over the absence of Janet and this makes for some interesting and emotional moments but before it has a chance to get too deep, a comedy moment slides it's way in to remind you of what kind of movie this was intended to be. Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lily are perfectly suited to their roles and add a nice grounding presence with all the superhero antics on screen. The way these more dramatic scenes are undercut was one of the more troubling features of the film. There's an inkling that the powers-that-be at Marvel were really keen to keep the tone aimed at younger kids and keeping them entertained. It’s as if they didn't really believe that this hero’s origin story could work on it's own at all.
The antagonist, Darren Cross, seems to be a bit of an afterthought, he at first comes across as an egotistic CEO rather like Tony Stark or Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 but then all of a sudden he turns inexplicably insane and hell bent on killing Pym. There is a very brief moment where they try to explain that exposure to the counterfeit Pym particles were making Cross insane but again, it’s like one of those cheesy get-out explanations you'd expect from an Adam West Batman TV show! Those parts aside, the story in general works. The action pieces and scenarios with Ant-Man being ant-sized are really entertaining. I did enjoy the montage of Scott Lang getting to know the various ants and essentially destroying Hank’s back garden at the same time. These are the moments that realise films true potential.
The climactic fight at the end has a very distinct whiff of Edgar Wright. The violent nature of the fight suddenly taking a humorous turn when viewed from a normal perspective. Indeed there are several moments throughout the picture that really hearken back to Wright's signature style, no surprise then that these are some of the best and most charming moments in the film. As for the costume... it looks cool! The helmet took a lot of inspiration from the Ultimate Ant-Man look. I’ve heard other critics complaining about how cumbersome it looked and how it didn’t resemble much like an ant. First of all it was made back in the 70’s/80’s, the technology wasn’t exactly contemporary when designing the suit. I’m sure we will see a more modernised suit in Civil War and subsequent films. Secondly, who wants to look like a goddamn ant?!
Overall I would say the film is an enjoyable action comedy. It can’t be taken all that seriously. Paul Rudd puts his comedy routes to good use and buffed up rather well for the roll! His story is solid and his criminal co-horts are a real stand-out, providing the best laughs in the movie. Lang's relationship with his daughter is under-developed and his heroic sacrifice during the finale is a bit of a swing and miss. By the time credits (finally) finish you have to say it could’ve turned out a heck of a lot worse had Marvel gone back to the drawing board after Wright’s departure. We're glad they didn't and you've got a pretty sweet and endearing summer movie about a dude who can turn super small! You don't see that everyday, the team at Cape and Cowl consider this film to be a solid...
