Thursday, July 23, 2015

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: ANT-MAN




The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic:
on ANT-MAN (2015, 117 minutes, PG-13)

Superheroes come in many shapes and sizes. This one is a bit small...

Some critics found ANT-MAN entertaining and light-hearted. Others found it lacking, using cliché story points and seemed quickly pasted together. I found both to be true.

The jokes were plenty and kept with the Marvel formula. The film is good for a filler in the MCU and a fun-flick. But I found it to be an average addition to the collection. The simplistic approach to Ant-Man plays out well enough but I believe the director switch-a-roo may have been too much. Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, THE WORLD'S END, SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD) was to direct and was the major contributor to the screenplay. When Wright left, Peyton Reed (YES MAN, THE BREAK-UP, BRING IT ON) took over the project in mid-stream and did not fallback to regroup. We will never know if this was a good or a bad move on Marvel's part.

.... don't read further if you want to like the film and not be swayed by an over-thinking critic ...


Truth is, I enjoyed it without putting too much thought on the subject. The effects were great and were the strongest part of the film. Paul Rudd, disliked by many, was not as bad as people feared. This role fit his personality and he pulled it off, so suck on that haters. The bad guy, Darren Cross / Yellowjacket, played by Corey Stoll, was plain horrible, and I don't mean in the nice way. They made him out to be a particle-twisted, mad scientist. It felt like the typical approach from Marvel, to not have morally-ambiguous antagonists, keeping with a clear excuse to not have 'naughty' humans responsible for atrocious acts. Think about it; if you're not a deranged alien, you are either insane, mind-altered, or overly power hungry. They should have taken a page from 'Daredevil'! Marvel missed their chance to have an interesting villain, and will never catch up to DCU with this continued softballing.

The proof of rushing the production is with Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly's roles and how they were portrayed as both their father-daughter relationship and contributors to the overall story. Knowing that these two fine actors can perform, I felt they were disconnected from their parts. I was not convinced, like I was watching clips from practice shots and the actors not fully vested in the roles. The transfer to screen made it more a collage of emotions with abrupt changes than a seamless development in their characters.

Like I said, it is worth a watch and better than some of the MCU films, but you will not find the strong writing you get from the CAPTAIN movies or the humor from GUARDIANS, and definitely not as octane-paced as an AVENGER movie. ANT-MAN will always be trapped in the second-rate category thanks to the need to compare it with the other MCU films, and the possible flubbage in not regrouping after a change in director.

Grade: B-

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