I was very apprehensive about Ant-Man. Not only is Ant-Man one of Marvel’s least important superheroes, Scott Lang’s Ant-Man was even less appreciated than Hank Pym’s one. Plus, Edgar Wright quit just before production started and that was a big blow. But, I should have remembered this is Marvel. And Marvel delivers, every single time! Like last year, when the little-known Guardians of the Galaxy created a bigger sensation than the best Avenger film till date Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this year the least likely hero has stolen a march over the grander and more anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Yes, shoot me, but I liked Ant-Man more than I did Age of Ultron (though I enjoyed both immensely). Here’s why:
♦ The, erm, smaller focus was a welcome change from the giant multi-starrer adventures that Marvel Phase 2 films are becoming. Ant-Man keeps it focused and spends time on building a few characters and doing justice to each.
♦ The film incorporates various genres — superhero, comedy, adventure and heist — and does each of them well. In fact, it is the heist format that keeps the film fresh and makes it fun.
♦ The humour. Ant-Man is a hoot with a lot of funny moments, some coming from hero Paul Rudd but most coming from an absolutely fantastic Michael Pena, Rudd’s accomplice who went to prison for stealing an ice cream vending machine (Pena clarifies it was two!). Everything he says draws a laugh, except, maybe, the first few lines of the first scene with Paul right at the beginning of the film. And those tip sequences are pure gold!
Rudd himself doesn’t do a bad job with the humour, especially the self-deprecating kind. One of my favourite sequences is his untimely appreciation of an emotional father-daughter moment between Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Van Dyke (Evangeline Lily). Oh, and there is the first time he activates the suit and shrinks to ant-size.
♦ The actors also do a fine job of laying out their characters — from Douglas’s patient scientist Hank Pym to his impatient and competent daughter, Lily’s Hope. And who would have thought that Paul Rudd, the man who plays soppy, cute characters in rom-coms made for watching on rainy days, could become a slightly sexy man and an apt superhero action figure! I mean he is still cute but he’s got that edge that is kind of sexy. And the villain of the piece Darren Cross aka Yellow Jacket (Corey Stoll) is a pretty menacing fellow.
♦ The transformation from normal to ant-size and back is brilliantly done as are the shots when Ant-Man is ant-sized, whether it is him getting acquainted with the ants, him and the ants working and frying the circuits in Cross’s building or the fight sequences where he is dodging bullets or kicking the bad guys to kingdom come.
♦ For a change the fight doesn’t destroy cities or countries and causes minimum human casualty. There is an incredible fight sequence inside a briefcase, yep, a briefcase, and the main showdown happens inside Scott’s daughter’s room where the hero and the villain fight inside a Thomas & Friends set-up. It seems like they are facing life-threatening danger and then you see the toy train toppling. They are ant-size after all.
♦ There are plenty of Avengers tie-ins from references to their dropping cities out of the sky (Age of Ultron) to a fun sequence with the Falcon and of course the post-credit scene (psst! those of you following casting news will know that Ant-Man is going to be part of Captain America: Civil War).
♦ I, of course, have my beef with the film. The film is pretty slow taking off till Scott shrinks for the first time and the film takes off like a bullet.
♦ Hope could have had a bigger role to play, given that Marvel is always criticised for its lack of strong female characters. Given the mid-credit scene, maybe we’ll get it next time.
There was one other worry that has been nagging me ever since I walked out of the hall. They muted out words like “shit” and “ass-hat”. I am scared for what it might mean for Deadpool, releasing in February 2016. Maybe it will be a silent film on the lines of The Artist. I have one reaction to that — sod off!
Chandreyee Chatterjee
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