Channel Awesome
Big heroes come in small sizes. Doug and Rob review the newest Marvel movie. 2015’s Ant-Man.
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You do realize that Ant-Man is a founding member of the Avengers, right?
Not in the MCU.
yes he is… see the movie before saying stupid things XD
I just saw the movie nine hours ago. Although Ant-Man existed and was doing Avenger-type work long before the Avengers as we know them came together in the 2012 film I saw no evidence of any other Avengers during said era aside from the first Wasp. I saw no team that could be considered an early Avengers besides those two and there was no mention of any team called ‘The Avengers’ in the flashbacks I saw.
Unless you can point me to some evidence of the contrary, based on what I’ve seen I must agree with MaskOfFate. The MCU Hank Pym was not a founding member of The Avengers. The efforts of him, his wife and other likeminded individuals working with S.H.I.E.L.D. inspired the creation of the Avenger Initiative and eventually The Avengers as they’ve come to be known, in whole or in part.
Considering what I’ve heard about Edgar Wright’s original script (namely Evangeline Lily and Micheal Peña’s not having nearly as much to do, as well as no references at all to the Quantum Realm) I think I prefer the rewritten version to what Wright would’ve given us on his own. But that’s just me.
Plus, I don’t find the Avengers tie-ins nearly as intrusive as Rob does, and it’s kind of neccessary considering Ant-Man’s gonna show up in Civil War too. I understand where Rob’s coming from, I guess, but the way he rants about it you’d think the mere acknowledgement of the Avengers ruined the movie.
Also I wrote my review shameless plug;
http://www.ponderbig.com/ant-man-review/
I didn’t find it intrusive at all. I think the movie would have suffered if they didn’t add in the tie in to the Avengers. Each one to me added to the movie while adding to the Universe. I think the movie would have been less without the tie ins. It added a lot to me.
I think it you do need the avengers references for anything happening on Earth – it would be kind of unbelievable if there was no impact from the Avengers and what they’re doing in the rest of the world, mainly because they are so well known (they saved New York from an Alien Invasion^(TM)!!). I can see why some people might find it annoying, but from an in-universe standpoint I think it makes sense.
Also, most of my non-MCU knowledge of the avengers and ant-man comes from The Avengers – Earth’s Mightiest Heros (which was a great show because it actually had consequences and let characters just disappear for a while instead of maintaining the status quo all the time).
I also liked this movie. Not as good as Marvels best films but it was still entertaining and I’ll definitely will check it again when it comes out.
One thing I thought about though (mild spoilers): Why would Cross want to so desperate to copy the Pym-particles to create a weapon WHEN HE ALREADY HAS ONE?
I mean come on! A weapon that not only instantly kills your target but shrinks it down to a small puddle of goo? Small enough to be wiped up and flushed down the toilet? Assassins would pay so much for a weapon like that. Instant death and easy to remove the body. And, since it apparently works like an aerosol, you don’t even have to be there for the murder. Just put Cross-particles inside a body-spraycan and the victim kills him/herself after a shower. Bang! Instant gold!
But oh well. My head-canon is that the chemicals messed with his brain so he didn’t see that opportunity.
I always liked the idea of an ant man, even before Iknew about the comics. I remember when I was a kid I thought about how cool it would be to have a human with the strength of an ant (kinda like how Spiderman can swing from buildings and juump really far because he’s basically a human sized spider). That’s not really what I got in this movie, but I still think what they did was a really clever idea for a super hero,
Oh, come on, the fight with Falcon was one of the best parts of the movie. But yeah, the third act of Iron Man really drags the movie down. It’s the reason why I consider it mostly okay.
Honestly, I think Marvel was simply tired of Wright constantly stalling the project and started to put some pressure on him to finally do what he promised to do instead of waiting for his vision. Also…as far as I can tell the second script was better. Because in the first one the villain had even less screentime, Hope was practically non-existent, the roles of the side characters got a little bit expanded and the theme was the mentor/pupil relationship and NOT the father/daughter theme which gave the movie its heart.
Yuuuuuuuuuuuup
I’m with Rob.
I read that Edgar Wright got booted of the movie, because he wanted to make Ant-Man a film that was not taking placei in the MCU. and the script that was written didn’t feel to the tone the MCU had set up.
Ant-Man is my fourth favorite Phase 2 Marvel film, so what Peyton Reed changed about
it was really awesome and kept it connected, Avengers mentions and more about that
weren’t that annoying
Regarding GRRM’s post about similar powers, while I agree it can get repetitive, I think there’s a lot more reason for that sort of thing with Ant-Man, for the reason Rob sort of pointed out: to get maximum creative use of Ant-Man’s powers, you really need a foe who can do what he does.
You know they don’t mention ( SPOILERS STOP IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET ) that the girl that talked to falcon said “We got all kinds of people now like people swinging around and crawling walls” That is mentioning spiderman telling us he’s coming in 2018? WHAT THE FUCK GODDAMMIT WHY WHY SO MUCH AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
He’s in Civil War, so technically he’s coming next year.
Overall, it was okay but here is a list of things:
Didn’t:
1. The Policeman Paxton being the new husband to Lang’s wife (that’s too cliche)
2. Villain was weak. Seriously, Cross shrank/atomized that one guy for no good reason other than “he showed concern”. Cross’s Yellow Jacket suit had far more character than he did.
3. Why didn’t Hank Pym shrink other stuff than the tank on his keychain? You could have a handheld equivalent to Batman’s utility belt!
4. Last minute romance to Hope Van Dyne. Was really annoyed with this one!
Things I liked
1. Scott Lang’s character. George R. R. Martin did say they did do his character justice and the director/writers/actor did. Especially with Scott’s relationship to his daughter Cassie.
2. Action sequences and how well they used the ants for many different purposes. The heist felt like it really was something out of a spy movie (only in smaller form)
3. Hank Pym’s character they got right. Do you realize how many times they screw up that guy’s character in the animated series? Quite a lot of times. And I’m not going to even mention the comics, he’s almost as bad as Reed Richards is when it comes to that stuff.
4. The surprise of the Avengers place and Scott Lang having to fight Sam Wilson aka The Falcon. We all know that Stan Lee’s cameos are getting stale so it was a nice surprise to see an entire sequence on bringing back the Avengers and not just ignoring them.
Mixed:
1.Hope Van Dyne: at points, you did feel for her. And on others, there was stuff like calling the police on Scott Lang despite knowing her father testing him that really irritated me about her.
2. Luis’s hit or miss comedy. The “back it up” comedy bit went on for too long after the 3rd time. Plus he felt a bit borderline stereotypical. He wasn’t terrible or anything, but he had to pull it back
3. The prison breakout. On the one hand, it seemed like a good legit idea. But on the other hand, I don’t understand why Hank Pym couldn’t have waited until a far less conspicuous time to have done that (like when the police station wasn’t as on alert).
This movie was simply awful. I can’t believe so many people including you NC liked this. seriously?
It was one of Marvel’s worse yet.
So many cliches and stereotypes. we’ve seen it all before. in like a million movies.
Antman himself has no redeeming qualities and he is not likeable. he and his friends are just low life thieves. they never learn anything or change their ways. I mean really? he stills the costume? that’s our hero ladies and gentlemen. and he has a kid. gets out of jail, loses his job so….does the same thing that got him into jail with his same loser friends…..yay?
the villain is soooo cookie cutter evil. evil just because. no rhyme or reason as to what the fuck his plan actual is. he is just evil because stuff….ooh and things. stuff and things. evil corporate things.
It’s a freaking heist movie made for and about ants.
the jokes are forced and shoved in with poor comedic timing. plus you see them coming a mile away.
the action steps up in the third act but it takes sooo long to get slightly interesting that I was bored half to death by the time they got to it.
Did you guys realize Antman got knocked out by a taser to the nipples? knocked him out cold. how fucking lame is that?
that latino guy isn’t as funny as he think he is just because he talks fast in a street spanish accent. and the way how his rant was the ending to the film was so wack.
ugh, this movie is vanilla bland and easily forgettable.
come on Doug you should have better tastes than this.
(ps to all the fan boys – rub some industrial strength butt hurt cream on it)
*steals*
Stupid trolls like you amuse me. I relish the idea that you honestly think your opinion is so grand that it will make me upset. So you didn’t like the movie? Big fuckin’ whoop. You are allowed to dislike things. I loved it. Big fuckin’ whoop. I’m allowed to like things. And if YOU don’t like that? Tough. Shit.
And seriously? Industrial strength? You honestly think you’re THAT big of a deal? That you made THAT big of an impact on our lives? You sad, little nitwit. I’ll be forgetting about you in about five minutes. Enjoy your obscurity. And learn to spell.
He lost his job because of his past history, not through any fault of his present behavior. You can’t hold that against him.
Also, um, he has tons of redeeming qualities. He’s loyal, he loves his daughter. He’s brave, smart, resourceful. He Is a quick learner, adaptable. Willing to risk himself for the benefit of others.
The amusing thing (and they reference this in the movie itself) is that the full title for Ant-Man’s series (the third Ant-Man, I believe) is ‘The Irredeemable Ant-Man’.
“Anyone who doesn’t agree with me is either a butt hurt fanboy or has bad taste!”
Yeah, that makes me take you seriously…
I really liked Ant Man. My mom is a huge comic nerd, so of course she loved it, my grandmother and I less so, but we both really liked it, more than we thought we would. It was very well done.
Y’know, it’s Ironic that Peyton Reed got hired after Edgar wright got booted off for creative differences because HE HIMSELF was kicked off a marvel movie for creative differences. That was fox’s first Fantasic Four movie, y’know the one the critic complained had too much bickering and not enough action and many people defended by saying that’s how the comics were. Peyton reed wanted a more Whedon-esque blend between sci-fi and comedy to balance those two aspects out, even hiring a executive producer from Buffy to write it. For example, the movie would’ve opened with the team fighting either bad guys or a monster (depending on the budget) only for them to be chased off by fans afterwards. Oh, and it would’ve had John C. Riley as the Thing and Jude f-ing Law as Dr. f-ing Doom! That casting alone gets a thumbs up in my book!
can I just say that I’m MASSIVLY glad for the avengers tie ins, it’s been one of my biggest gripes to date with alot of these movies is they all are happening in the same universe, but other then brief tie ins it’s never felt like it was all connected, you have avengers 1 and then they all go off and do their own movies almost forgetting each other. I mean it doesn’t have to all be civil war type tie in, but I’m glad for little nods and cameo’s.
Ok, I really don’t get how the movie was “rubbing it in your face” that much. Rob went so far overboard. They reference it to justify the “why don’t the Avengers come and solve everything” that everyone complain about in all the solo movies. They have the fight with Falcon that is fn’ cool, and it ties in with Pym’s ark because he’s basically stealing from Tony Stark. And at the end it has that private joke to tease Ant-Man in the Avengers, yes. ONE SCENE. One scene narrated by the comic relief of the movie, tying in with an earlier joke. That’s it.
Oh yeah, and the after credit scene, that’s a teaser for Civil War. It’s a teaser, it’s really not a part of Ant-Man, people want to hear from Civil War, it’s kind of a big deal…
Ant-Man will join Avengers in Captain America – Civil War.
I really didn’t get why I should be rooting for the title character. He was a thief and that alone made him a bad parent. Worse yet he goes back into his “criminal profession” right after getting out of jail. He’s not really showing any redemption or wanting to change for the better.
The jokes fell flat. I don’t know why everyone loved his side kick. I guess any Hispanic that talks fast is funny in itself to most. He’s a likable actor, but nothing in the script was particularly funny.
No one mentions the most dramatic scene in the film (which they built up for) was ruined by a stupid joke. It’s this kind of thing that makes these MU films so pointless and soulless. Imagine if Han Solo quipped some funny line right after Ben Kenobi died?
I’m glad they minimized the MU influences and more or less let this film be it’s own thing. The first 15 minutes or so was very clunky.
It was a decent popcorn flick. Not great nor terrible. Enjoyable enough despite it’s faults.
“Worse yet he goes back into his “criminal profession” right after getting out of jail.”
Not true. He gets a job (at Baskin Robbins, who no doubt paid well for the privilege), and then loses said job because of his criminal history. Indeed, the fact that he’s working in that position despite his considerable credentials (which he brought up in the scene before) indicates he probably did a lot of looking.
I stand corrected. I forgot about that scene. (I try to block out blatant product placement scenes as much as possible!)
He stole money that was stolen from other people and gave it back, and when got out he got a job and only went back because he was fired (through no fault of his own, mind you) and he wanted to provide for his daughter. Did even watch the movie?
I can’t listen to these anymore. I like your guys’ videos usually but this is getting too out there for me. I get such a headache and it’s just not worth it. Rob talks too much and he talks over his brother a lot. I don’t feel like this is so much a coordinated video on varying opinions (as the show started out as), so much as a ‘let’s talk over each other louder’ to prove who’s right. I wish this show was more organized, more introspective and less speculative, and less rude. That would improve this free-for-all format greatly.
I don’t think that I’ve ever seen Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Wow, I don’t know if I could ever get sick of the MCU. Ant- Man was really good. Not Guardians of the Galaxy good but still very good. It was funny and they took an admittedly stupid concept and made a great movie out of it. They even took the time to tie it into the overall Marvel universe which I appreciated, as opposed to Rob. Bravo to them! 😀 Oh, and the 3D was good, too.
I liked Ant Man but the one huge gripe I have is having Hank Pym be old and having Scott Lang be the actual Ant Man in the movie. After Avengers 1 I started reading the original Stan Lee era comics through Essential and Ant Man/Hank Pym and Janet Dyne/Wasp were both founding members of The Avengers next to Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor. Yeah. Actually Cap was still under ice in the original comic when they were formed. But that kind of makes me mad. Cause both Hank Pym and Janet Dyne were young people when the group started. I’ve heard though that Edgar Wright always wanted to make Hank old. Frankly I think Marvel should’ve just fired him when he said he wanted to do it that way. I don’t care that Hank is now abusive to his wife Janet in the comics now. There’s plenty of material where he’s not like that! Ugh! I’m sorry but after having read all those Avengers comics about them after Avengers it does make me mad that he’s an old man close to death in this movie.
Much as I love the MCU movies, I’ve got to agree with the ‘two villains’ (sic) gripe:
Captain America vs Red Skull (two guys powered by super-soldier serum)
Hulk vs Abomination
Thor vs Loki (though they mixed it up a tiny bit with the Destroyer armour)
Iron Man vs Iron Monger, Iron Man vs Crimson Dynamo / Whiplash
As somebody I know points out, it starts to feel less like heroes saving the world, and more like a bunch of power mongers cleaning up their own messes.
So I rolled my eyes when I saw the trailer for this one and saw Ant-Man vs Yellow Jacket.
Then I Lol’d at the epic battle on the train tracks. 😀 Not since Top Secret!…
Then I saw the movie itself and loved it!
In my theatre, when the train came by, a little kid stood up and went ‘IT’S THOMAS!’ 😀 so cute.
(And that’s another thing about this movie – I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable taking a kid to it.)
About the Avengers references (which I didn’t find as intrusive as Rob did) – what I would point out is, they don’t even mention the Avengers in every *issue* of every Marvel comic, let alone every second panel. You’d think a movie could go by without mention of them. (I don’t know about Ant-Man, though; I only have a couple of issues.)
But I don’t mind if they do get mentioned.
I like the post credits scene in the movie. my guess is that Ant Man will be used in avengers and/or secret war as some sort of a side character and won’t be a central point to the original four. so by establishing the connections now, we don’t have to worry about in the avengers movie when they are all suddenly working together w/o any explanation, which is what the avengers does have a tendency to do (ultron opened with them all together)
Remember when you guys said the Fantastic Four reboot might suck? Yeah…