New this week... Ant-Man

Visual representation of the audience upon hearing that there may be reference to Spiderman in this movie.

 

Well the time has come for me to pay my dues as a film reviewer and look at one of the Marvel Cinema productions: Ant-Man. The problem with doing this is twofold: first of all, these movies are all given pretty close care and a huge budget - even if the money poured into this one was comparatively small (Honey, I shrunk the budget? OK, I only get two more of these...) which means that, by and large, they are all close to great, Ant-Man being no exception; secondly, I could write a review that is nothing more than a serious of "small" and "insect" puns (I won't, two more, I promise) and it wouldn't remotely affect your decision to go and see the film or not because at this point, if you're watching the Marvel movies, then you're probably signed on for the long haul - and long haul it is as these films are in no short supply (Short? Get it? OK one more...).

 

So that being said, let me play you this classic from the Marvel Movie Review Soundtrack (Set to the tune of the 1812 Overture):

 

The film looks cool and the CG's alright!

The script is funny 'cos it's Edgar Wright!

Paul Rudd is clever, there's a Stan Lee cameo!

And a character from Ultron we know!

It isn't overflowing with fan winks!

But there's enough that you can miss when you blink!

The action setpieces are among the greats!

So grab some popcorn and go see it with...YOURRR MATESSS!

 

Thank you! Thank you! Next stop, Rosebud on Broadway!

 

Seriously, though you've seen this review before. Ant-Man is better than some, not as good as others but a fun film that, when all is said and done, will be lumped into the "good" category of Marvel films.

 

But Marvel (and Disney) have dug themselves a little bit of a hole in that their other projects have been so incredible that one can't help but hold their works to a higher standard, even when those works are pretty successful on their own. So with that in mind, there are some elements of the film which didn't work quite so well.

 

First and foremost, while the script is playful and funny throughout most of the film (Edgar Wright's influence lingering after his departure from the project), the remaining holes that have been filled in by replacement Payton Reed leave the film looking patchy, oscillating between irreverent humour and stodgy forced character development. For example, there is a line early in the film that is such an obvious set up for the final scene that I almost laughed (it is a literal Men in Black-esque "See that button? Never touch that button!") which, in the hands of Edgar Wright I am certain would have been played ironically but, as it is, is tragically played completely straight.

 

The action setpieces themselves are brilliant - it's wonderful to see the destructiveness of previous Avengers films played out on egg cartons and cereal boxes. But the gag of "impressive thing looks less impressive when seen real-size" is used a few too many times.

 

Finally, from a film series that has given us Loki, who will go down as one of the better cinema villains of the era, the villain (should I say, ANTagonist? That's three! Nailed it!) of Ant-Man, played by Corey Stoll is the most cartoonishly evil badguy since the Joel Schumacher Batman movies. I know it might seem like a petty gripe given that I'm talking about the villain  in a comic book movie , but seriously, this guy makes the Green Goblin look nuanced.

Spot the bad guy. Hint: he's he one that looks like Lex Luthor.

 

Overall, as I've already said, you probably already know whether or not you're going to see and even enjoy this film. For those who will come out saying "It's amazing! Marvel can do no wrong!", I'd say, "I get why you say that, but calm down, don't overdo it." And for those who will come out saying "Well, that's it, the Marvel movies have finally run out of ideas!", I'd say "I get why you say that, but calm down, don't overdo it." And then for fun I might add, "Don't get ants in your pants."

 

That's a wrap.

 

Written by: James Tibbetts

Directed by: Eli Roth

Digital Effects by: blogger.com

Catering by: James' wife

Best Boy: Tchaikovski

All opinions expressed herein are my own but by all means feel free to parrot them to your friends as if you thought of them, I mean, it's not like I'm going to know, right?

 

There you go, internet. Now why don't you go ape over me for a while?