Sunday, July 19, 2015

Ant-Man Review

So the MCU's Phase 2 has finished off now, with Ant-Man being the final film there. Out of all of Phase 2, though, I will say that Ant-Man is the best. It seems the most dissociated from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and unlike Thor: The Dark World or Guardians of the Galaxy, it is a film that could stand on its own without being connected to the MCU. Let us face it, had Guardians of the Galaxy not been a Marvel film it would not have gotten the critical or commercial reception it had. Ant-Man, however, is reminiscent of Iron Man and has the ability to be its own thing. This is ironic because Sam "The Falcon" Wilson is a part of this film and connects to the Avengers, yet still, it serves to further the film and not to remind the audience that this is in the same universe as The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Even the references to that film are to further this film. That is one of the greatest parts of this.
When you on FaceTime with bae
This is a stupid meme.

Then there is the humor. If any Marvel film could be called a comedy, it would be this one. Yet where the comedy in Terminator Genisys failed, it succeeds in Ant-Man. Now, let me clarify, this film jokes that are between characters, you know, the jokes that made the last Terminator flick fail? It also has jokes that are meant for the audience and that is the plethora of them, and it succeeds, because that kind of humor always succeeds. Yet why does the first kind succeed when it usually fails? The movie does not forget to be serious when it needs to be. Had Ant-Man been smiling stupidly or pulled of a dumb one liner after saving the day, it would not have worked. Rather, when TI and Michael Pena make their funny jokes, it works because the tone of that scene is funny. What I am trying to say is, that the movie has perfect tonal shifts and that is what makes the comedy succeed.
When your mom tells a terrible joke but you need $20
Another terrible meme.

As for the story, it is very typical. It does not try to be a game changer or anything, but rather just a nice upbeat plot that makes the audience feel happy. For once I am happy that a film is not trying to be something revolutionary, but rather something nice. Where Ant-Man truly succeeds is in the effects department. No, it is not anything revolutionary like we saw in Avatar or too excessive like one may (rightfully) claim about Green Lantern, or the main appeal to the film like in Guardians of the Galaxy. No, in Ant-Man, we have nice polished effects that truly look fantastic. The ants that we see are all CGI, but their movement and quite simply, just everything about them feels real. Then there are the shrinking effects, not everything there is CGI, but a lot of it is. Now had this movie been made 20 years ago, we would have seen an extreme version of what Peter Jackson did for the hobbits and dwarves in The Lord of the Rings. We see a little bit of that in this film, but in truth, the way the shrinking is handled is just amazing.
I think my Facebook feed hit a new low
Even worse.

Honestly, yes, I do recommend you go out and watch this movie. If you look at it from a critic's eye, you will be entertained and will see that while it is nothing special, it is not a terrible movie. If you go from the standpoint of somebody who just wants to be entertained one evening, I assure you that you will be entertained.
He has more money than you
Hey Tia, it is real great to know that there are some real golddiggers out there! Or this is a Kevin James situation.... wait.

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MYK

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