November Movies

Just looking at some films I've seen this past month that I didn't have enough thoughts on to post entire reviews, so here it goes:

Doctor Strange: This Marvel film was probably the biggest thing this season in terms of coverage and the amount of people who went to see it (obviously). The Doctor Strange character is rather unknown so I was happy to see that people will give lesser-known heroes a try, though the fact that it's all based on brand recognition is kind of a downer. The film had some very interesting visuals at times but nothing I would say is necessarily groundbreaking on any level.

There's plenty of forced, awkward humor (I think I only chuckled at two lines, and they were the more subtle lines in this film) and just bad Hollywood cliches (the useless random love interest is one that jumps to mind). I did appreciate the clever climax that wasn't just the villain and hero punching each other but overall the plot felt rushed, the villain was awfully contrived (and such a waste of the excellent Mads Mikkelsen), etc. Doctor Strange was a fun, schlocky superhero film but nothing more than just good. 6.5/10 stars.



Arrival: Denis Villeneuve is a newer talent that has now, year after year, proven himself as a terrific director and worthy of being selected for the Blade Runner reboot. I didn't love this film like his others, but it was a smart, subtle science fiction film that would've fit right into the catalog of slow burning, creative sci-fi films of the 1970s.
Amy Adams was effective in her lead role and I'm now very excited to see what she does in Nocturnal Animals. The cinematography isn't as jaw-dropping as in Sicario, but it is sweeping while being reined in, and while there were elements that felt reminiscent of his previous work (the muted and dour color scheme of Prisoners and one dream sequence felt right out of Enemy), it stands on its own and is far better than the majority of the alien invasion films of the past, focusing on a perspective rarely ever given a proper treatment which is that of communication with the aliens.
In keeping with that, I enjoyed how the film communicated story information to the audience; it does it in a not totally unique but very intriguing way which pays off in the end. Arrival is an innovative and fresh science fiction film that I would recommend to most everyone. 7.5/10 stars.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: While I was excited as anyone to revisit the nostalgia and wonder of the Harry Potter series, I can't say this film delivered on that monumental promise. This year was one of disappointment for fans, as the abysmal Cursed Child play also was released this year and was panned by critics and die-hard followers alike, and I can't say this film makes up for that. Eddie Redmayne is very charismatic and quirky in his lead role as Newt Scamander, so he was one redeeming quality. The cast is stellar, and I have to say, I was surprised by the quality of acting from Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol (better known by her stage name Fine Frenzy), as Fogler is known for dumb comedies and Sudol for her music career. However, their love story was incredibly rushed and odd.
Katherine Waterson, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, and Samantha Morton are fine actors in their other works, but here, they all turn in one-note performances that I could predict where they would go from the moment they appeared on-screen. The resolution of the plot is very schlocky and rushed, and a lot of the acting, except for the lead four characters, if very wooden and/or the characters are one-dimensional. Like why would Jon Voight's son who is running for office (played by Josh Cowdery) belittle a bunch of religious protestors who are potential voters by calling them "freaks" to their faces?
The movie is kind of cute and fun but that's about it. It's nice for kids, and I tried to remind myself the original Potter films aren't particularly subtle or objectively great, either and this one really is more for families. I appreciated some of the humor and fun cameos (by Ron Perlman and Zoe Kravitz, especially), but the constant name-dropping of Potter lore and the very rushed and convenient climax (with some destruction scenes more reminiscent of a lazy summer film) made Fantastic Beasts a let-down. 5.8/10 stars.

Allied: Robert Zemeckis, like Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg, has been hit-or-miss as of late and is no stranger to schmaltz. With this, I appreciated a totally fictitious story set during a historical event (something you don't really see a lot, funny enough), but overall the story isn't interesting enough to fill the whole two hours. Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard have decent chemistry and there are some well-done scenes of tension (there's a small battle towards the end, a scene with a Nazi SS officer in Casablanca, and a scene involving a phone booth early on that were all serviceable as suspense sequences), but the cast is failed by a poor script.
There's also a strange aside that Brad Pitt's character has a military sister (played by Lizzy Caplan), who is in an open lesbian relationship in 1940's London with Game of Thrones' Charlotte Hope, which didn't add anything to the story and felt very off as homosexuality was illegal in the U.K. at the time. The score is bland, the story is alright but very predictable, and the "tragic" ending is pretty lame- as it was hard to really connect with the characters all that much- but it was somewhat relieving that Allied's mystery and the final set-piece avoid the tired gun-fights and explosions so often seen in mainstream action/war climaxes these days. 5.8/10 stars.

Rules Don't Apply: I was expecting this to be just the run-of-the-mill Oscar bait film released on Thanksgiving (like Allied), but, although that may have been its intention, it was surprisingly funny and quirky and I appreciated that, even at his old age, Warren Beatty can still deliver an above-average performance (his adaptation of Howard Hughes is more comedic than Leonardo DiCaprio's but still exudes a lot of pain in the latter half), and uses more modern editing techniques to milk more humor out of the film. Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich have a nice little romance and they do have a pretty realistic argument at the film's "climax," though it's washed out by an overbearing and unnecessary score that could have been absent from that scene. Overall, the acting was good, the music was fine (the original song which shares the film's title was surprisingly sweet and touching), and the humor was better than expected. Rules Don't Apply may not break all the cliches of an Oscar bait film, but it has enough of a heart to actually be worth a viewing. 6.5/10 stars.



(Images: Wikipedia)

X-Men- Apocalypse: A fun, albeit overblown and uneven, chapter in the never-ending franchise

Today, I look at the latest installment in the X-Men series, what I thought to be the final, but which clearly shows there is no end in sight for this saga.

X-Men, Apocalypse:
Ten years after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Charles Xavier is running a successful mutant academy and mutants are becoming more integrated into society. In this new alternate timeline, Mystique is on the run, now a hero and martyr for mutant rights after her selfless acts at the conclusion of the past film. Magneto is living a quiet life under the radar in Poland as a factory worker, as he is now a wanted man for trying to kill President Nixon and destroy Washington, D.C. During this time of peace, a cult in Cairo, Egypt awakens the ancient mutant Apocalypse, the world's first, who is all-powerful. Quickly learning of man's history and capacity for destructions, as well as the creation of their own "superpowers" (nuclear weapons, technological advancements), Apocalypse decides to recruit four followers (his "Horsemen") and imbue them with advanced abilities, and plans to cleanse the Earth of those who he views as weak and unfit to live in the same world as him. With the help of CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Xavier's old flame), the retired X-Men must find a way to stop Apocalypse from tearing the world apart.
    One thing I appreciated right off the bat with this film was the alternate timeline plot that Days of Future Past allowed. Now that the original series of films has been annulled, the series can proceed down numerous new paths without worrying about getting tangled up in continuity (though there's still some here, such as the age of the character Angel not fitting with either timeline).
     One thing I found laughable was the lack of aging on characters. Now, obviously the actors haven't aged, but the makeup team didn't even attempt to make them look older. They already clarified Mystique ages slowly so that doesn't bother me much. More like Beast, Moira, Xavier, Havok, Magneto, etc. all looking roughly the same age they did in First Class, which took place 20 years prior to this one. Apparently if you just make Magneto more unshaven and slap mullets on Havok and Xavier that equals aging. Even Quicksilver hasn't aged at all. Being a teenager/college-aged in the previous film made him living in his mom's basement plausible, but ten years later?!! With his abilities he never thought to go out and make a name for himself or do something? His mom (also the same as she was before) never bothered him about this? He even acknowledges, jokingly, what a loser he is and how nothing has changed in his life. Why? Because people like young, fun, carefree Quicksilver. (They also never clarify how or why exactly Magneto ended up with his mom, who just seems way below Magneto's league. Of course, their fling happened years prior, as Magneot is Quicksilver's father, so maybe they just make her look older and drained.)
    These ages lead to problems with the age of Havok compared to his brother Scott. Scott/Cyclops is in his late teens in this film, whereas Havok looks a few years older, but really should be middle-aged by this point, making their parents elderly, but they look to be in their 50's. Just issues like that got in the way for me.
     I think Jennifer Lawrence is a fine actress, but she just doesn't do it for me as Mystique. I think she's got the look right, and certain scenes work, but her youth makes some of the speeches she gives come off as naive, cringey, and undeserved. And her new status as a freedom fighter seems completely out-of-character (Mystique in the comics and original timeline is a cold-blooded killer and her original movie counterpart rarely speaks even), and kind of political. I don't think anyone is deluding themselves that Mystique has only gotten a larger role due to Lawrence's current mega-star status. Luckily, she's downplayed in this movie compared to last time (where she was the instigator of the entire plot and was placed the same size as Wolverine on the poster), but still has more screen time than the character would've had otherwise.
    The rest of the cast are a lot of fun, and just seem to be having a great time doing these movies. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy both have their more dramatic moments, particularly Fassbender, who is able to bring a lot of emotional weight and grounds the film more in reality. Where Ian McKellen made Magneto both charming and very intimidating and shifty, Fassbender humanizes him and makes him more tragic, as if every time he tries to leave his violent past behind him and live a normal life, violence seems to find him.
    Sophie Turner is good as Jean Grey, though at times her character feels like her role on Game of Thrones. Luckily, her character her is nowhere near as aggravatingly naive and arrogant as her part on the HBO series has become, and has more of a genuinely powerful feel to her. Tye Sheridan also does a surprisingly great job as young Cyclops, who gets more development here than he did in any of the original films (poor James Marsden). Kodi Smit-McPhee was great as the partial comic relief Nightcrawler, who has been sorely absent from the series since Alan Cumming's fantastic portrayal in X2. However, of course the shining star of the cast is Evan Peters as Quicksilver. Taking one of the X-Men I was most aloof about in other media and making him into my favorite film character is a terrific feat, and he has yet another spectacular and entertaining slow-motion sequence in this film, topping the excellent "Time in a Bottle" scene from the previous film. I wasn't expecting them to do it again, but I hope it becomes a sort of tradition as the series progresses. Peters is just having a blast, and it rubs off of me as a viewer, and he provides much-needed comic relief in a world where everyone is always just talking about mutant politics and how hard it is to be themselves. Even though his comic relief is sometimes misplaced (the dramatic low point during the second act is tainted by his goofy antics), but is so well-executed and his character so lovable I excuse it. Lucas Till returns as Havok, getting a lot more screen time than the last movie. Here, rather than being Cyclops' younger brother, he takes the part of the older, and in the limited screen time they have, they have a lot of chemistry as a believable brother pair. Rose Byrne was bland here as Moira MacTaggert, who only serves as exposition and as love interest to Xavier here. She was a lot better in First Class, where she seemed to have more to do, and Byrne is usually a good actress, so I was disappointed. Lana Condor appears in a borderline cameo role as everyone's least favorite mutant, Jubilee. Hopefully in future films she has more screen time and can change the negative perception the character has from the animated series and comics.
     As for the villainous characters, Alexandra Shipp and Ben Hardy are fine supporting characters as the troubled characters Storm and Angel, and both of these characters, in their limited development, are leagues more interesting than their counterparts in the originals. Shipp's accent is also far more convincing than Halle Berry's embarrassing attempt at one in the original X-Men. Olivia Munn reportedly gave up the role as the girlfriend in Deadpool to play Psylocke, as she felt it was a stronger female role. Psylocke is a waste of space here, just thrown in to pander to fans who have waited for her appearance in a film for decades. She has few lines of dialogue, and spends most of her time strutting and hopping around in a latex suit (fun fact: fashioned at an LA sex shop), and has one fight scene with Beast and then skulks off camera as a sequel tease. She's not a character at all, she's a plot device and piece of eye candy. It's pretty pitiful, so let's hope to a sequel to shed more light on her and flesh her out a bit more.
     Now, the big question is of the titular big bad: Apocalypse. Oscar Isaac is a fantastic performer, so he is able to create a palpable sense of menace and dread when he's on screen. His determination to kill and lack of conscience or reason makes him so terrifying, and he is definitely one of the more memorable villains in the series, alongside Ian McKellen's Magneto and Brian Cox's William Stryker. However, as many have stated before me, his motivation (at least for the most part), seems very unclear. It kind of leaves it to the audience to pick up the pieces and determine for themselves his motive. He wants to cleanse the Earth. Why? Does he see humans as weaker than he is? Does he want only strong mutants and humans to live beside? Is he upset that humans didn't progress how he wanted and are trying to replicate his power? World peace by cleansing out the bad people? All of these options seem valid. His appearance is also hilariously reminiscent of Ivan Ooze from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie. So he's a weakly developed villain, but Isaac's strength as an actor makes up for it, so he's kind of a mixed bag.
     The action set-pieces in this film are, like other installments, not as prevalent as in other films, but the first few are pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, the action peaks early on with the Quicksilver scene being the midpoint climax, and there is a scene shortly after it I won't spoil with a cameo in it, but it's also really awesome and surprisingly bloody for a PG-13 film. However, the final battle, while it had moments (thanks to Quicksilver namely), didn't do it for me overall. I felt it was kind of schlocky and too CG-heavy. I felt the films were at their best when they had more reserved, personal climaxes, where the action was more grounded in reality, and more multi-layered and not one huge video game-esque melee battle. I also felt the earlier films exhausted the best set-pieces for the most part, as I feel they had sequences that really played around with the mutant powers and really showed what these characters could do, while also being a thrill to watch. Here, it's just a bunch of people in bright costumes throwing CG beams and heavy rubble at each other, and feels just not right. I couldn't tell if too little or too much was going on, and you know it's bad when you can't even determine what's wrong with something because it's so fucked.
    X-Men: Apocalypse is solid summer movie material. Is it one of the best in the series? No. But there have been worse. Much worse. That's why the intense backlash this film has gotten shocked me quite a bit. It may be a slightly mixed film, but by no stretch is it bad. It's well-plotted and written for the majority, and has a lot of fun, technically astounding scenes, and characters you can actually really get attached to and like, which is more than can be said for much of its competition lately. 7/10 stars.

A Spoiler-filled but very entertaining review/discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjNSCLQGzLA  (RedLetterMedia)

                                 (Image: Wikipedia)




Notes (SPOILERS ahead):

-The end credits scene foreshadows the new R-rated Wolverine film, which I am excited for, as it will provide the character with a much-needed but somewhat bittersweet final chapter, as it will be Hugh Jackman's final appearance as the character he began playing nearly two decades ago.

-The spoiler-heavy action scene I mentioned earlier is actually where Wolverine escapes Stryker's compound as Weapon X, mad with rage and amnesia. Bryan Singer makes a cameo as a guard Wolverine slays on his way out. Funny enough, I was actually thinking to myself right as the scene began how refreshing it was to have an X-Men film where Wolverine is absent. *sigh* Regardless, a very cool and violent scene reminiscent of the mansion raid scene in X2.

-The way Apocalypse is killed in this film made sense, but ultimately was kind of bland for me. All the very powerful mutants just blasting him with CG lasers and rubble until he disintegrates with Jean's Phoenix power. Also, I find it amusing that now, in regards to comic book movies, with all the resurrections and retconning that happens, particularly in this franchise, whenever a character is killed, I always see in the synopses on Wikipedia "the character is seemingly killed/destroyed." Same goes for here. Apocalypse was disintegrated into fucking air. I don't think he's coming back.

-There's a totally random and out-of-place scene where some mutant teens go see Return of the Jedi at the mall cinema, and have this conversation about which of the trilogy is the best. They all debate between Empire and Star Wars, before Jean Grey says "At least we can all agree the third is the worst." I was confused with the random bashing of Jedi and why the scene was included, until I quickly realized Singer was not-so-subtly taking a jab at X-Men: The Last Stand (originally the conclusion to the trilogy, and the first film he did not direct). I appreciated it, but also felt that anyone not familiar with X-Men movies would be thoroughly confused as to what the reference was all about. This scene does kind of make me question why mutants are so respected now in this new timeline, because Nightcrawler is able to walk around the mall publicly and no one bats an eye at a blue boy with fangs, a tail, and giant three-digited feet and hands? In a world where bigotry still exists against other humans, I highly doubt in one decade mutants would become this integrated, even though they establish the new timeline's people are a lot more progressive than in the old one.

-Blob, played by "Giant" Gustav Claude Ouimet, cameos early on, continuing the tradition of these films of just shoving in recognizable faces from the comics into cameo roles.

-The scene where Magneto's family is killed by clumsy police officers while trying to arrest him is heart-wrenching and well-executed. While I predicted what was about to happen, Fassbender's performance is so convincing for a comic book film that it saved it from being just a cliche tug at the heart-strings. The way in which he executed the officers is also really clever but also unnerving.

Deadpool: Finally, something new from the comic-book film genre

Today, I review the incredibly popular new film Deadpool, which I saw two weeks ago.


Deadpool:
Wade Wilson is a wise-cracking former military guy who runs a business where he is paid by people to rough up those who have wronged them. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, he is approached by a mysterious government operation which promises to save his life in exchange for his body for science experiments. Thinking the payments will go to his wife, he agrees. After being turned into a mutant with regenerative abilities, he finds out the people running the facility, led by the sadistic mutant Ajax, plan on selling the mutants as slave soldiers to foreign powers, and if not, simply kill them, and that no payments are being made to their loved ones. Wade escapes the facility, but the process leaves him horrifically burned. Seeking vengeance on Ajax and his associates, he becomes the fast-talking vigilante "Deadpool," who begins a state-wide killing spree searching for Ajax, all while attempting to reconnect with his wife, who believes he has left her or is dead.
    I've never really been a big fan of the Deadpool character. I find his humor often obnoxious and feel he appeals mostly to teenaged boys for his edgy humor style. However, the trailers for this film made me excited to see a balls-to-the-wall, funny, gruesome comic book movie. And I got that.
    Despite not every joke landing for me, I found myself laughing quite a bit at this movie, as well as being impressed in the creative way the directors handled the smaller-scale action sequences.
    The storyline is a typical origin-type movie, nothing too special, but the humor and non-linear style were somewhat effective in covering this up. Ryan Reynolds had to prove himself as Deadpool after the atrocious portrayal in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and his role in the equally bland Green Lantern (both of which the film jokes about). Reynolds is extremely charismatic in the role, bringing to life Deadpool's quirky and flamboyant humor, and his penchant for extreme carnage, but never making him feel either too noble nor too cruel. The film's tone juggles the lighthearted humor with the graphic bloodshed really well, never feeling like it went too far.
    The climax was a little too small-scale, only featuring a small band of mercenaries and a rather dull location, but I'd take a more reserved climax over the bullshit "save the city/planet from the blue laser cannon" which has plagued the genre for the past several years.
    The cast were serviceable, even if Ed Skrein's villain Ajax suffered from underdevelopment. T.J. Miller and Leslie Uggams bring some added humor to the cast as Wade's best friend and blind housemate, respectively. The two X-Men featured: Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapičić) and the obscure Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) also were welcome additions, serving as some quirky and noble balances to Deadpool's unfiltered violence and ruthless attitude.
    Some of the jokes (especially one at the end) were very predictable, and if you aren't familiar with comic book movie history or lore, some of the references may fly right over your head, but ultimately, I think fans of the comics book genre will be pleased, and general audiences can have a laugh at most of the movie as well.
    Deadpool is a fun popcorn movie that packs in gore, profanity, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc., all usually no-no's for the comic book film genre, but I think that's what has made this film the biggest R-rated film of all time. Aside from the hype and excessive promotion, I think people wanted something new and fresh from this stale genre on movies. And I guess it took a movie where the protagonist beheads people, gets sodomized with a dildo, and calls people "cocksuckers" to show people that comic book movies can do more than just the usual "hero saves the city story." Ultimately, I did't love Deadpool, I thought the film had highlights but I'd be strained to say I'd ever watch it again as a whole. However, the movie is very entertaining on a superficial level and on a first watch and I was sometimes pleasantly shocked by how far it took certain jokes or action scenes. Reynolds carried the movie on his shoulders, and this may be his career-defining role, other than Van Wilder. I really respect the film and enjoyed it for the simple fact that it's something new. Though knowing Hollywood, soon every comic book film will be like this, and kind of defeat the point. 7/10 stars.

Two other terrific reviews which cover everything else I could've said but didn't have the time to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXEhfeESgCY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2C2Svm-r1M



                                                          (Image: Wikipedia)

Fantastic Four: I think this is a great example of how superhero films are hitting another dark period

Today, I look at the latest failed attempt at making an adaptation of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's classic superhero team. (Sorry this review is almost two months late.)

Fantastic Four (or Fant4stic):
Reed Richards, a young genius who has recently discovered the secret to interdimensional travel, is enlisted as a help on a research project at the Baxter Institute in New York by Dr. Franklin Storm and his children Sue and Johnny, and is also assisted by his childhood best friend Ben Grimm and Sue;s former flame and genius computer scientist Victor Von Doom. When a trip through their portal goes horribly wrong, the five of them end up with strange and horrible superpowers, and the government begins training them to be biological weapons.
    I actually didn't get the hate behind this movie. I thought it was a decent, surprisingly dark and moody superhero film, with the occasionally bad-looking effect. I actually enjoyed it a fair amount -- until the last twenty minutes, when I realized how rushed the finale was, and cliche, and totally uninspired and worthless and dull. And it made me resent the rest of the movie.
   Before I heard the bad news that this film bit the big one, I had no interest in seeing it. After hearing the stories about young director Josh Trank's completely unprofessional behavior on set, and his getting kicked off the new Star Wars spin-off as a result of this film, and hearing about the bastardization of the main villain, I couldn't wait to see this epic bomb.
   But when I saw the film, I didn't mind it for the most part. The main cast (Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Reg E. Cathey, the latter two being Wire alumni) were fine, and although Toby Kebbell was a little over-the-top (and came off like a more serious Gilfoyle from Silicon Valley) he was a decent interpretation of Dr. Doom. Speaking of which, let's get the positive out of the way: from what I heard, the original premise for the film was supposed to be a David Cronenberg-esque body horror film that would show the real ramifications of the type of powers that the Four have. There are still elements of that film in here, especially in the scenes immediately following the cosmic accident and a scene with Dr. Doom at the end blowing up people's heads with telepathy (which I found shockingly violent and awesome).  Certain updates of the story (interdimensional travel instead of space storm. Johnny being black) stayed in the script, others didn't. In the original script, Dr. Doom's name would be changed to Victor Domashev, something a little more realistic to fit he tone of the film. Fanboys didn't like this, and bitched so much the producers made Trank change it back to Von Doom. I wouldn't have minded the change, and felt it would have been appropriate. The Thing's CG work looks good and fells like a good use of digital effects.
    Now for the problems: the climax has no fucking build-up... at all. They build up this plot about the government trying to make the heroes into weapons, and then they just drop that plot, make the heroes reconcile their differences, and introduce a brand new villain in the last fifteen minutes! The new Doom was pretty cool I thought... until he just opens up a blue laser portal for NO reason and is defeated like a bitch in ten minutes. Not to mention the whole second half moves way too fast compared to the pace of the first half, all the character motivations feel like they move too quick and there's no build-up. Say what you will about the Tim Story films, but at least they BUILT to something. In my opinion, this film could have been vastly improved by the plot being stretched an extra forty minutes, building up the team's bonding, and played up the slimy government agent as the villain, eventually reintroducing Doom in the finale and having him take over Latveria as a stinger ending.
   Fantastic Four is a shameless cash-grab, and a poor example of when a director has bold ambitions and a big budget, but not enough experience to handle it. The ending soils a pretty decent superhero film with potential, and if the sequel proves to be anything like this, I see no future for adaptations of this superhero team. It's like the brand-name is cursed. 4/10 stars.



(Image: Wikipedia)

Ant-Man: Yet another Disney/Marvel cash cow

Today, I look at the film no one wanted to make, and fewer wanted to see.

Ant-Man:
Scott Lang is an expert thief who has just gotten out of San Quentin. He wants to reconnect with his young daughter, but his wife and her new SFPD husband don't trust him. Scott is roped into one final job by his friends so he can pay child support and see his daughter again. Unfortunately the mark is the home of elderly scientist and former superhero Hank Pym, who then enlists Scott's help to steal back his old "Ant-Man" tech from his former protege and head of Pym Technologies Darren Cross, who plans to sell it as a military weapon.
    Despite being initially excited for this film, I was troubled recently by news of its' production. Edgar Wright, one of the most talented comedy writers and visually striking directors of this generation (and one of the few comedy filmmakers who uses the medium of film effectively), wrote the script for this film and was slated to direct, considering this was a passion project of his for some time. Suddenly, months into production, he dropped out for unknown reasons. Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Firefly, The Cabin in the Woods, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) then went on to say that Wright and Joe Cornish's script was the best Marvel script he had ever read. Marvel stated this was due to creative differences, which really means Marvel wanted to make a whorish cash cow full of references to other Marvel films which would most likely function as a two-hour ad for the next film, and Wright wanted to make a relatively stand-alone film (much like the first Iron Man), that felt too unique from the other Marvel films (which worried Marvel/Disney, because originality and having a personality is risky). Wright's script went under several re-writes, with the film now have two more writers, Adam McKay and star Paul Rudd. Whedon expressed sadness over this change, as he felt the original script was such a perfect one. During this clusterfuck of changes, Patrick Wilson and Matt Gerald (from Marvel's Daredevil) were also cut from their roles in the film.
   Paul Rudd does play an effective Ant-Man, and Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas are good leads as well. Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale, Wood Harris, Michael Pena, T.I., and David Dastmalchian make up the supporting cast, and with the latter three providing some nice comic relief. Corey Stoll plays Yellowjacket, the film's main antagonist, who is everything that is wrong with Marvel villains as of late: no subtlety to the role and no real origin (he's Saturday morning cartoon levels of evil from his first scene), no payoff to his character, no discerning characteristics other than his costume, hammed up to the extreme, more emphasis on looking awesome than developing the character, and (SPOILER alert) he is killed off so he cannot appear in any sequels. And the worst part: Stoll, much like all the villainous actors in the MCU, is underutilized and is not well-cast. Despite being a fine actor, Stoll was obviously miscast in this role. He's pretty good at playing gruff or stoic villains, not Lex Luthor-type machiavellian manipulators. Better suited for this role would have been someone like Aidan Gillen or Mads Mikkelsen (I would've also suggested Idris Elba, if he was not already in the MCU), but Stoll was cast because he's in two successful TV series. John Slattery and Hayley Atwell make cameos in the film, as do Gregg Turkington and Martin Donovan. Stan Lee also appears for his obligatory cameo.
   I was actually surprised with this film's ability to restrain from constantly shoving Marvel references down my throat... for about the first third. Then, it was a constant flurry of Marvel references and winks at the audience until it made me want to throw up in my mouth. The time when Yellowjacket cheesily title drops not only Ant-Man, but also Tales to Astonish in about thirty seconds of each other at the start of the film is when I knew this was going to be bad.
   The action sequences are blandly shot and loaded with cartoonish CGI, and while these sequences are entertaining, they push the boundaries of even the Marvel universe, to the point of laughability. In fact, many times I was howling with laughter, not because of any of the actual jokes in the film, but because of the campiness and silliness of the entire film. I mean, I know it's Ant-Man, but I think Wright would have handled the material with more maturity and subtlety. Peyton Reed, the director Marvel replaced Wright with, is known for his films Bring It On, The Break-Up, and Yes Man, so basically he's a director-for-hire with no visual flair or personality, much unlike Wright; also unlike Wright, he has no experience directing an action film. I don't hate Reed's films, I just find them bland and it angers me that he was replacing such a talented filmmaker. And just like with this film, Reed was told by the studio to edit down the content of his successful Bring It On to appeal to a wider audience and avoid an R-rating.
    Ant-Man has its' moments, but is ultimately a cheesy, cartoonish example of when a studio has too much creative control over a film or franchise. I know Marvel has their next thirty-or-so films planned out, but I think they won't make it that far if they continue this trend, because I think fans will just stop going if they continue making bland products like this. I have ceased calling it a film because Marvel doesn't treat it like one. Film is an art form, but Marvel treats it like a product, something that only exists to finance their next line of products. Or maybe I'm wrong, considering the amount of fanboy praise this has been getting, I think people are so blinded by their love of Disney and Marvel and Pixar and all this other stuff that they won't admit to themselves when these studios fuck up, so they just say they love it. Regardless, I'd one day like to see Edgar Wright's untampered script, just to maybe get a glimpse of what he had envisioned for this film. 2/5 stars.


                                                (Image: Wikipedia)

Even the poster looks bland, like something a teenager could put together in a weekend.


SPOILERS:
So Falcon (Anthony Mackie) appears in the film as a way to tie The Avengers into this yet again. One thing I did enjoy was Lang mentioning how if Pym just called the team everything would be solved. The mid-credits sequence has Hank giving daughter Hope his wife's old Wasp suit, teasing her as the superheroine (also, it irked me how Pym tells Hope that her mother died a hero, when the correct word would be heroine; I know that's like me being a grammar Nazi, but it still bothered me). The end credits scene has the Winter Soldier held by Captain American and the Falcon, who says that if Tony Stark won't help them, then maybe "a guy" will. The end-credits scene is in Widescreen, unlike the rest of the film, which makes me suspect it's really more like a scene lifted from Captain America: Civil War, which would be insanely lazy.