Above: Evangeline Lilly plays Hope van Dyne in Marvel Studios' film. Photo ©Marvel Studios
There are those
out there who are waiting for the Marvel movies to trip up, people who are
expecting the studio’s unprecedented hot streak to end and anticipating
that their iron-grip on the box office will slacken. Many have predicted that “Ant-Man” will be
that stumble; after all, it is a feature with a troubled production history
that stars a decidedly offbeat superhero.
And yet “Ant-Man”
is not failure—it’s just not an Earth-shattering epic like some of the more
recent Marvel movies. And you know what?
That’s okay. Sometimes it’s good to step
back, take a breath, and return to the well that made your experiments with
comic book-based filmmaking a success in the first place—before everything got
so frantic.
“Ant-Man”
introduces us to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), a scientist who long ago invented
technology that could shrink a man while increasing his strength and agility,
along with a specialized helmet that let him talk to ants. Now, Hank is retired and has taken the secrets
of his tech with him, lest they fall into the wrong hands. As it turns out, those hands belong to Hank’s
former protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who has created a more vicious
version of the his mentor’s Ant-Man suit called Yellowjacket and is on the
verge of selling it to HYDRA (the pesky fascist cult that often crops up in
Marvel movies).
Enter electrical
engineer and recently-paroled burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), whom Hank and his
daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) recruit to become the new Ant-Man and
steal the Yellowjacket prototype from Cross’s heavily-guarded research lab. It’s a crucial mission, not only because it
offers Scott a chance to better himself by saving the world from Cross's
irresponsibility, but because it gives him a way to earn redemption in the eyes
of his ex-wife, Maggie (Judy Greer), and his young daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder
Forston).
It should be
mentioned that the players in this saga are solid, but not quite on par with
the stellar casts of the other Marvel films. Mr. Rudd brings a necessary everyman charm to
Scott, but his character’s need to grow up prevents him from being as comfortable
in the role as he could be. That said,
it helps that Mr. Douglas makes Hank as authoritative and gruff as he needs to
be, and that Ms. Lilly adds Hope to the list of Marvel women who should really
get to do more stuff (there are some fun supporting performances too, like
Bobby Cannavale as Maggie’s fiancé, as well as Tip “T.I.” Harris, David
Dastmalchian, and the always great Michael Peña as Scott’s thief buddies).
Still, the
surprise standout comes from our antagonist. Marvel is pretty hit-or-miss when it comes to
villains, but Darren Cross turns out to be a surprisingly engaging character. True, his motivations are paper-thin (he seeks
both profits and the respect of his former mentor). But not only is the Yellowjacket suit a
well-utilized villain weapon, but Mr. Stoll plays up Cross’s mentally-unhinged
psychosis to great effect and becomes a fun, sometimes funny bad guy.
That said, the
movie’s most troubling flaw is exactly what many viewers expected it to be: its
script. The writing here isn't as
cohesive as it could have been—the original version of “Ant-Man” was developed
around the same time as “Iron Man,” with a script from geek god Edgar Wright
and frequent collaborator Joe Cornish, with Mr. Wright slated to direct. However, Mr. Wright left the project due to
creative differences and replacement director Peyton Reed had to punch up and
rework the script alongside Adam McKay.
That might explain
the unevenness of the film. The first
act of “Ant-Man” is overlong and over-expository, a somewhat clumsy stab at
explaining the back stories and personalities of both our former and future
Ant-Men. As for acts two and three, they
come off as a bit rushed. And while
there are worse criticisms out there than, “I wanted more of this
movie,” I really did want more of this movie.
That said, those
last two acts are a terrific showcase for the Ant-Man suit in action. The giant world that Scott (and
eventually Cross) experiences when he shrinks is fully-realized and wonderful,
reframing familiar locations like Scott's apartment or his daughter's room into
monolithic locales prime for exploration. During fight sequences, it’s a ball seeing
Ant-Man shift between sizes mid-battle, send his army of radio-controlled ants
to do his bidding, and even face off against a returning player from “Avengers:
Age of Ultron.” If nothing else, Mr.
Reed and the production team should be commended for making a man with the
power to shrink seem like the new coolest thing ever.
At the end of the
day, “Ant-Man” is a smaller-scale origin story that introduces a new hero to a
universe that already has plenty of them. It’s often uneven and it’s over too quick, but
it’s also a fun, funny, and fantastic voyage into the invisible world
around us. Definitely check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment