Ant-Man (12A.)
Directed by Peyton Reed.
Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale and Michael Peña. 117 mins
On the day of the screening Dustin Hoffman was in the media complaining that films were in their worst condition ever, without any decent roles for actors to play. In this world I imagine actors must sit around waiting for the phone to ring and Marvel be on the other end of the line. Still, chuffed as Rudd must have been to hear he was going to join the hallowed roster of superheroes, he may have had to force the gleeful response a little when he found out which one. Not all superheroes are created equal and if you're going to be one of the hyphenated ones, Ant-man is definitely a distant second.
He's a big deal among the comic fraternity but for the rest of us this feels like a barrel being scraped, a piss being taken. Scott Lang's big ability is that he can get small. But not on his own, he has to wear the gimp suit built a quarter of a decade ago by genius scientist Hank Pym (Douglas.) His subsidiary skill is that he can control ants and get them to help him thanks to another of Pym invention. Shrinkage and insect communication: what disparate field's Dr Pym chose to pursue.
Ant-man had been shaping up as Marvel's first miss-step. First they fired director Edgar (Shaun of the Dead) Wright after he'd spent 8 years, alongside Joe Cornish, developing it and then they released some distinctly underwhelming trailers. In fact Ant-man is everything that you like about Marvel movies: that beautifully inclusive balance of comedy and drama and special effects that are impressive but not the whole point of the film.
And releasing it after Age of Ultron was a master stroke. During that film it all seemed to be getting a bit cluttered and joyless, enough already with these convoluted multi-strand plot. It seemed like Marvel films were becoming just extended trailers for the next movies which would be extended trailers for the next, ad infinitum. Ant-man has its links to the wider stories, but mostly it is just the single tale of one character, and I bless it for that. You may not need an Ant-man movie in your life but this may be just about as good an Ant-man movie as you could imagine. For example, during the climax there are not one, but two really wizard sight gag involving Thomas the Tank Engine. Both of them bring the house down but also they are the perfect expression of the character – they wouldn't fit in any other film.
Directed by Peyton Reed.
Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale and Michael Peña. 117 mins
On the day of the screening Dustin Hoffman was in the media complaining that films were in their worst condition ever, without any decent roles for actors to play. In this world I imagine actors must sit around waiting for the phone to ring and Marvel be on the other end of the line. Still, chuffed as Rudd must have been to hear he was going to join the hallowed roster of superheroes, he may have had to force the gleeful response a little when he found out which one. Not all superheroes are created equal and if you're going to be one of the hyphenated ones, Ant-man is definitely a distant second.
He's a big deal among the comic fraternity but for the rest of us this feels like a barrel being scraped, a piss being taken. Scott Lang's big ability is that he can get small. But not on his own, he has to wear the gimp suit built a quarter of a decade ago by genius scientist Hank Pym (Douglas.) His subsidiary skill is that he can control ants and get them to help him thanks to another of Pym invention. Shrinkage and insect communication: what disparate field's Dr Pym chose to pursue.
Ant-man had been shaping up as Marvel's first miss-step. First they fired director Edgar (Shaun of the Dead) Wright after he'd spent 8 years, alongside Joe Cornish, developing it and then they released some distinctly underwhelming trailers. In fact Ant-man is everything that you like about Marvel movies: that beautifully inclusive balance of comedy and drama and special effects that are impressive but not the whole point of the film.
And releasing it after Age of Ultron was a master stroke. During that film it all seemed to be getting a bit cluttered and joyless, enough already with these convoluted multi-strand plot. It seemed like Marvel films were becoming just extended trailers for the next movies which would be extended trailers for the next, ad infinitum. Ant-man has its links to the wider stories, but mostly it is just the single tale of one character, and I bless it for that. You may not need an Ant-man movie in your life but this may be just about as good an Ant-man movie as you could imagine. For example, during the climax there are not one, but two really wizard sight gag involving Thomas the Tank Engine. Both of them bring the house down but also they are the perfect expression of the character – they wouldn't fit in any other film.
