So continuing my rewatch, last night was Ant-Man.
You know.....this a flawed, but good movie! When this movie was announced, and the process by which it was announced, made me very nervous. Like most people, when they first announced Ant-Man, I assumed it was going to be about Hank Pym and Janet. So when they announced that Paul Rudd was playing Scott Lang, I was confused but intrigued. I really love Scott Lang in the comics and I am a HUGE Paul Rudd fan. And I thought it was surprisingly inspired casting. Then Michael Douglas is playing Hank Pym. That was different. So Hank isn't the same age as the rest anymore. Hank isn't an Avenger (despite being a founding member in the comics, as well as the creator of Ultron). But sure. I like Michael Douglas. Then they said Rashida Jones was in talks and I was losing hope. I like Rashida Jones, but it was sounding too much like a Judd Apatow film with the casting. Luckily Kate from Lost was cast and I was like, okay, let's see where this goes.
So this movie is good. It has problems, that I'll discuss below, but it has VERY inspired visuals, a good story, great characters, and just an overall well written script (minus the problems I hinted at). I think the biggest problems the movie faced were based around its role in the MCU. The movie, and it's sequel if I'm remembering correctly, were both released right after an Avengers film. This after Ultron, and the sequel after Infinity War. People were high for the big team up moments. They wanted to see how all the stores affected The Avengers. But then you get an Ant-Man movie, and it largely is unrelated. So people, not all of us, but plenty, just weren't looking for that right then and there. I'd say the releases were too close. Give it 6-8 months. Give people a breather. Another problem is that by this time, Marvel movies were making HUGE money. Ant-Man isn't supposed to be like that. No one at Marvel expected Ant-Man to be a billion dollar movie. It's just a different target. But people, in general, don't get that and thought of Ant-Man as a flop because it didn't make all the money.
Anywho, things I liked and a surprisingly small list of things I didn't.
Liked
- Paul Rudd. In any movie. Ever. His charm and charisma is through the roof. I just love the man. Also dude doesn't freaking age.
- It's a heist film. Different for Marvel. I thought it was a neat story.
- The visuals were really creative and amazingly well done. Haven't seen that kind of stuff before in a super hero movie ever.
- The supporting cast are all fantastic, with Louis as an obvious stand-out.
- The final battle scene was a great mix of typical 3rd act hero movie stuff, and subverting expectations. Like when Yellowjacket is about to be hit by the Thomas the Train and is ready to die then it zooms out to the little toy falling off the track. All of those moments were just really fantastic and creative.
- Ant-Man vs. Falcon. Neat little fight. No real purpose, but it was a nice link that at least FELT a little natural and was fun to watch.
Didn't like
- Disappointed with Darren Cross. You had a lot of potential there about a good person who REALLY wanted to be acknowledged and respected by Hank, and a mixture of that craziness and the craziness of the tech drove him past the edge. Instead, you had a little bit of that, but also mainly just a bad guy with no real sense of morals. If they had made him a relatable person who was just trying really hard and went too far, that would have been a lot better. But overall, the actor brought some personality to it.
- Way too much exposition. Michael Douglas acknowledged that too. Just too much of people explaining stuff, even stuff we didn't need to hear to understand. Show, don't tell.
But yea, I really liked it.
Tonight is Dr. Strange. Not sure it's 100% the correct film for in-universe timeline, but it works well enough. Especially since Black Panther and Spidey follow Civil War too closely for me to put it in there, and he needs to be Sorcerer Supreme for a little while before he's believable in Infinity War or even Ragnarok, so I can't put it right before Thor. Ah well. Close enough.