I don't understand Ant-Man. As a character, as a comic book, as a movie - I don't get it. Sure, I know a lot of superheroes are kinda stupid when you think about it. I mean, really, what's the difference between a Spider-Man, a Batman, and an Ant-Man? Well, for one, Spider-Man doesn't ride actual Spiders. Batman doesn't fly with a hoard of bats. Ant-Man is probably the most ridiculous Marvel (or any) superhero and there's no reason for him to exist. I never saw Ant-Man in theaters. For one, one of my top three favorite directors, Edgar Wright, was booted from the film when it had been his lifelong passion project. That turned me off completely. And second, I just didn't buy into it based off the premise and the trailer. Paul Rudd is extremely affable, but just the idea of Ant-Man is so ludicrous, without Edgar Wright attached, I had no desire to watch it. However, I finally got around to seeing it - when I learned that Adam McKay took over the writing duties from Edgar Wright - and I gotta say it perplexed me. All of my predispositions about the film were still correct. It's a stupid idea. It's a stupid character. But I actually kind of enjoyed the movie. I giggle even when thinking about how I didn't hate it and how impossible a feat that is. I didn't love it either, so I wasn't one of those crazy tent-dwellers camping outside the theater three days before the premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp, but I did finally make my way to seeing it and I gotta say-- however you felt about the first film is exactly how you'll feel about the new one.
Other than pure concept and storyline, the filmmakers of Ant-Man and the Wasp did nearly everything right. It's a very funny and fun and enjoyable movie - once you get over the fact that Paul Rudd plays a character who can control actual ants and Michael Douglas has the power to train ants to act like humans. I can say that I've never seen a movie where I've watched an ant take a bath or play Rock Band drums. I never asked to see that, but I can't say there's another film like it. Ant-Man and the Wasp hits a lot of the same Marvel sequel notes. All of the major players from the first film return. We don't get any further backstory because we already got it. The "new mission" the first film ended with is the mission they're working on in this film. And it ties in nicely with the other 19 films. It's two years after the events of Civil War. Scott Lang (Rudd) has been on house arrest for violating the Accords and is three days from getting his ankle monitor taken off. Hank Pym (Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lily) are on the run from the government, trying to get Hank's wife/Hope's mother back from the Quantum Realm - where she's been trapped for the last 30 years. While trying to get the parts to make a device to allow them entrance into the realm, they cross a black market weapons dealer (Walton Goggins) and a new foe they've dubbed "The Ghost" (Hannah John-Kamen) who has her own plan for the parts they're trying to acquire. Things go south, all the characters converge, CGI action occurs and you should already know the rest. These Marvel movies, while really good the last few years, still have the same paint-by-numbers structure to them. The ingenuity and the originality comes from the colors used to draw within the lines.
The fun of these films comes from the humor within them. They also have a lot of fun changing the size at rapid pace of its heroes. This is where Ant-Man flourishes. When we're watching what could be just another BAM! POW! BANG! Marvel action sequence, it can get a little stale. But with the Ant-Man character and his new partner, The Wasp, these scenes can be a lot of fun. Jumping in and out of miniaturization in the action sequences, hitting people with enlarged salt shakers or Pez dispensers is actually a blast to watch. The first Ant-Man pulled me out of the movie every time Scott has interactions with actual ants. It's brushed over so quickly how he's able to train and utilize actual ants in his missions that it never felt justified or real and so the absurdity made it feel off-putting and cartoonish. Ant-Man and the Wasp does away with a lot of this stuff. There's no scene where Scott is running at full speed with an entourage of ants, but his mode of transportation is now a flying ant. THAT I can live with. They do train a large ant to copy Scott's every move and wear his ankle monitor so the FBI doesn't notice he's gone. These scenes are terribly unfunny (even though they're used mainly for laughs), but there's only two or three of them and can be forgiven. Otherwise, the movie is a lot of fun. A lot of the good that comes from the film is because of the casting. While I don't necessarily buy Paul Rudd as a superhero/action-star, they use him well. He's not trying to be Captain America, he's still Paul Rudd if Paul Rudd just so happened to be put in this situation Scott is put into. He's still very likable and has a good chemistry with Evangeline Lily. Lily also gets a lot more screen time than the first movie and she lends a much-needed female presence to the Marvel universe. Michael Peña, T.I., Michael Douglas, Randall Park, Laurence Fishburne, and even Michelle Pfieffer (in her limited role) all add to the fun of the film. The cast LOOKS like they're having a good time, which lends to the audience's fun as well.
The only character I didn't really buy was The Ghost. The Ghost is the "villain" of the film. Her character is sorta kinda trapped kinda in the Quantum Realm, but in our universe. She's the product of a science experiment gone wrong so the atoms in her body are constantly re-aligning themselves causing her endless amounts of pain. It also allows her to walk through walls and defy matter the way we can't. Her priorities lie in fixing herself so she can live a normal life. When she was younger she was captured by SHIELD and turned into a weapon, so that's why she's able to fight Ant-Man and The Wasp. But I never really bought her as a villain. Yes, I pitied her and I empathized with her character, but I've been able to do that in other Marvel movies and feel actual terror from the villain like this person might actually KILL the hero (like Killmonger in Black Panther). The stakes of the movie lie more in getting to Pym's wife in time than it is stopping the villain and without the stakes of a villain the movie doesn't have that tension most superhero movies thrive on. Even Walton Goggins' weapons dealer character feels more like a dopey prick than an actual threat. But, it is impressive that with low stakes, it can still have that big Marvel feel to it without an impending apocalypse plot. The movie is low-stakes, but it does have enough charm and humor and overall breeziness to stand among the Marvel greats as of late.
Like I said, I'll never buy into the idea of Ant-Man and is army of actual ants. Plus, all the science lingo is used so irresponsibly, you never really understand what they're doing and why they're doing it - you just accept it. It might as well have been spoken by the teacher from Charlie Brown. But I can stand beside a movie led by Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily as long as it keeps its eye on what works. Shrinking them down to ant-SIZE works. Watch an ant lazily sit on a cough eating Fruit Loops from the box does not. I also like that we get an explanation as to where Ant-Man is during the Infinity Wars and that the movie fits nicely into the universe. For those who don't know - and this is not a spoiler - the events of this film take place right before Avengers: Infinity War and it ends right when that movie does as well. If you just can't get past the ridiculousness of the character and didn't enjoy the first film, then this one isn't for you. It's for established fans of the series and those people are certainly not going to be let down.
B-
No comments:
Post a Comment