It’s had a troubled production, with original writer Edgar Wright leaving shortly before principal photography began, replaced by Peyton Reed, best known for the comedies Down With Love and Yes Man. Starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Michael Douglas as Doctor Hank Pym as his mentor from whom he will inherit the role of Ant-Man, the next film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe also stars The Hobbit‘s Evangeline Lilly, The Strain‘s Corey Stoll, Blue Jasmine‘s Bobby Cannavale and Riddick‘s Jordi Mollà. Based on the Stan Lee character who first appeared in Tales to Astonish in 1962, no doubt the great man will be making his traditional cameo. The team have seen the first trailer and opinion is split.
Les Anderson – I like it. It has a slightly generic feel to it which is probably due to the paucity of finished effects shots. I’m also pleased to see it features the now-obligatory pack-shot of the leading man – Paul Rudd, of course, is no stranger to whipping his shirt off.
There aren’t that many obvious effects shots in the trailer which worries me a little. It suggests they’re going to be taking it right up to the wire to get it all finished. However considering the last-minute changes to the creative staff it certainly looks polished and assured. I’m hoping it’ll be suitably offbeat while still retaining Marvel’s market-leading production values.
I’m looking forward to it.
Matthew Rutland – What are we going for here Marvel? Big dramatic score that builds to a crescendo, but supposedly the Scott Lang (Paul Rudd’s character) dialogue is meant to be humorous? The prophetic words of Michael Douglas as the iconic Marvel character Hank Pym (who, unlike the movies from Marvel studies, was the actual original creator of Ultron) coming across as more of a Hollywood in-joke as opposed to an actual speech. No Wasp in the movie?
And let’s not forget the whole sorry and personally very disappointing Edgar Wright debacle. Seriously, if Marvel or DC don’t snap him up soon to work on another superhero movie, I will truly despair. The guy is perfect for the genre, and I pray he gets a big deal with DC.
This film just feels like its over-reaching itself. The casting choices are dubious, Paul Rudd has carved a niche as some kind of douche slacker and has never impressed me in his roles, and I see nothing new here. Not every hero has to be this brooding anti-hero, didn’t Guardians of the Galaxyteach us that? But no, and a lot of the humour that this needed looks to have been lost too.
On the plus side, well… umm. I expect this will get a lot of praise, and it seems very professional, but whilst polished, it seems almost too perfunctory and I’m not feeling any magic in this. Even Evangeline Lilly just feels more like a Scar-Jo generic female bad-ass.
I have a lot of money on this (metaphorically speaking) and Doctor Strange being the films that begin the end of the Marvel dominance. Shame, as originally this seemed like it could be the most promising. Oh well…
Michael Flett – I have a problem with shrinking. Doctor Who has done it a couple of times, Carnival of Monsters and more recently Into the Dalek, but it’s always bordered more on fantasy than real science fiction so they get a bit of leeway with silliness.
Real science fiction is supposed to have some awareness of the way the world operates, how you can bend the rules to tell your story, what you can and cannot do. And shrinking just doesn’t work, be it in Fantastic Voyage, Innerspace, Deep Space Nine‘s One Little Ship or here. Molecules behave in a certain way, and shrinking them will change that behaviour, and things go bad.
It’s not quite as bad as in The Incredible Shrinking Man – how does he eat, how does he breathe, when the molecules of his body are now no longer compatible with oversized molecules of food and oxygen? At least here – and in some of the other example I mentioned – he apparently has a breathing apparatus, and they had a ship or a submersible around them to give them a supply of “shrunken air,” but still.
It borders on silly, and Marvel have worked hard to create a universe which reflects our own, and wanton silliness derails that. I’m sounding like Graham Chapman, aren’t I?
I like Paul Rudd, though honestly the only two things I think I’ve ever seen him in are Clueless and The Shape of Things, two roles which couldn’t be farther apart – and apparently he’s been hitting the gym, just like Rachel Weisz urged in The Shape of Things. He’ll be good, but it’s another indication that they’re playing more heavily for the comedy in this one.
It worked with Guardians of the Galaxy, but that had a great ensemble and a more outlandish setting – this could come across as (oh, look, he has a daughter – what purpose does she serve in the trailer?) an annoyingly heteronormative fish out of water comedy. Still, it could be worse – it could be a romantic comedy. With Jennifer Aniston. I believe he’s done those before…
Oh, Michael Douglas. I remember you from Romancing the Stone. Unfortunately I also remember you from Behind the Candelabra, and you were utterly astonishing, and I don’t think I’ll be able to keep that out of my mind when I see this. But I digress…
The film looks very generic. Yes, it’s only a teaser, but with Edgar Wright at the helm (big mistake letting him walk after all the work he put into it) it would have been unique, now it just feels like another Marvel film.
They all look the same, and cookie cutter films, no matter how good they are, eventually get to be as dull and predictable as McDonalds. That’s why Guardians and Winter Soldier have been the only two I had on preorder on Blu-ray (steelbooks, get in!) because they broke the mould and were more interesting because of it. I know a lot of folk didn’t care for Scott Pilgrim but I thought it was brilliant, using the camera and the editing to tell the jokes, and that’s the kind of verve which is utterly lacking here.
The dialogue is about him being a hero, but the fact that they’re having to persuade him so obviously means they’re desperately trying to sell the audience as well. Instead of the trailer telling me that excitement is afoot – which Guardians did right off the bat, and I was as ignorant about them as I am about this – all I get is a great big lump of mediocrity.
Bad early buzz can kill even a good film – oh, for John Carter to have a second chance – and the studio have a lot of work to do if this is going to be something other than their first failure, and if they had something better to be showing us they would. At least the final line at least indicates that they know how preposterous the the whole thing is.
It’s a hard sell to an audience; a comic title with almost no wide penetration into public consciousness but without the star power ensemble of Guardians of the Galaxy, The only Marvel film other than Avengers: Age of Ultron to be released in 2015, concluding Phase Two, much is riding on it; does teaming it with the juggernaut of the Avengers signal confidence or a sheepish admission that something better is just a few weeks away?
Al Phillips – It looks cool.
Kevin Gilmartin – I’m not sure how I feel about this. It does look nice, but it has a whiff of crap eighties B-Movie about it. The closing line of the trailer at least suggests that is not taking itself seriously; something which I think it’s going to need.
Many of the new generation of Marvel fans, whose only contact with the universe is through the films, probably haven’t heard of Ant-Man until now. You can be sure that with the others they’d heard of at least Cap, Iron Man and Hulk.
Hopefully this won’t end up being the beginning of the end. It’s got the unenviable task of following Guardians of the Galaxy in the Marvel roster and when stood beside that it’s got a lot to prove.
Adam Dworak – Oh my god, that is just vile. What is this, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids twenty years later? It looks awful.
Ant-Man is scheduled for release on 17th July 2015
Ant-Man trailer – reaction
There aren’t that many obvious effects shots in the trailer which worries me a little. It suggests they’re going to be taking it right up to the wire to get it all finished. However considering the last-minute changes to the creative staff it certainly looks polished and assured. I’m hoping it’ll be suitably offbeat while still retaining Marvel’s market-leading production values.
I’m looking forward to it.
And let’s not forget the whole sorry and personally very disappointing Edgar Wright debacle. Seriously, if Marvel or DC don’t snap him up soon to work on another superhero movie, I will truly despair. The guy is perfect for the genre, and I pray he gets a big deal with DC.
This film just feels like its over-reaching itself. The casting choices are dubious, Paul Rudd has carved a niche as some kind of douche slacker and has never impressed me in his roles, and I see nothing new here. Not every hero has to be this brooding anti-hero, didn’t Guardians of the Galaxy teach us that? But no, and a lot of the humour that this needed looks to have been lost too.
On the plus side, well… umm. I expect this will get a lot of praise, and it seems very professional, but whilst polished, it seems almost too perfunctory and I’m not feeling any magic in this. Even Evangeline Lilly just feels more like a Scar-Jo generic female bad-ass.
I have a lot of money on this (metaphorically speaking) and Doctor Strange being the films that begin the end of the Marvel dominance. Shame, as originally this seemed like it could be the most promising. Oh well…
Michael Flett – I have a problem with shrinking. Doctor Who has done it a couple of times, Carnival of Monsters and more recently Into the Dalek, but it’s always bordered more on fantasy than real science fiction so they get a bit of leeway with silliness.
Real science fiction is supposed to have some awareness of the way the world operates, how you can bend the rules to tell your story, what you can and cannot do. And shrinking just doesn’t work, be it in Fantastic Voyage, Innerspace, Deep Space Nine‘s One Little Ship or here. Molecules behave in a certain way, and shrinking them will change that behaviour, and things go bad.
It’s not quite as bad as in The Incredible Shrinking Man – how does he eat, how does he breathe, when the molecules of his body are now no longer compatible with oversized molecules of food and oxygen? At least here – and in some of the other example I mentioned – he apparently has a breathing apparatus, and they had a ship or a submersible around them to give them a supply of “shrunken air,” but still.
It borders on silly, and Marvel have worked hard to create a universe which reflects our own, and wanton silliness derails that. I’m sounding like Graham Chapman, aren’t I?
I like Paul Rudd, though honestly the only two things I think I’ve ever seen him in are Clueless and The Shape of Things, two roles which couldn’t be farther apart – and apparently he’s been hitting the gym, just like Rachel Weisz urged in The Shape of Things. He’ll be good, but it’s another indication that they’re playing more heavily for the comedy in this one.
It worked with Guardians of the Galaxy, but that had a great ensemble and a more outlandish setting – this could come across as (oh, look, he has a daughter – what purpose does she serve in the trailer?) an annoyingly heteronormative fish out of water comedy. Still, it could be worse – it could be a romantic comedy. With Jennifer Aniston. I believe he’s done those before…
Oh, Michael Douglas. I remember you from Romancing the Stone. Unfortunately I also remember you from Behind the Candelabra, and you were utterly astonishing, and I don’t think I’ll be able to keep that out of my mind when I see this. But I digress…
The film looks very generic. Yes, it’s only a teaser, but with Edgar Wright at the helm (big mistake letting him walk after all the work he put into it) it would have been unique, now it just feels like another Marvel film.
The dialogue is about him being a hero, but the fact that they’re having to persuade him so obviously means they’re desperately trying to sell the audience as well. Instead of the trailer telling me that excitement is afoot – which Guardians did right off the bat, and I was as ignorant about them as I am about this – all I get is a great big lump of mediocrity.
Bad early buzz can kill even a good film – oh, for John Carter to have a second chance – and the studio have a lot of work to do if this is going to be something other than their first failure, and if they had something better to be showing us they would. At least the final line at least indicates that they know how preposterous the the whole thing is.
It’s a hard sell to an audience; a comic title with almost no wide penetration into public consciousness but without the star power ensemble of Guardians of the Galaxy, The only Marvel film other than Avengers: Age of Ultron to be released in 2015, concluding Phase Two, much is riding on it; does teaming it with the juggernaut of the Avengers signal confidence or a sheepish admission that something better is just a few weeks away?
Al Phillips – It looks cool.
Kevin Gilmartin – I’m not sure how I feel about this. It does look nice, but it has a whiff of crap eighties B-Movie about it. The closing line of the trailer at least suggests that is not taking itself seriously; something which I think it’s going to need.
Many of the new generation of Marvel fans, whose only contact with the universe is through the films, probably haven’t heard of Ant-Man until now. You can be sure that with the others they’d heard of at least Cap, Iron Man and Hulk.
Hopefully this won’t end up being the beginning of the end. It’s got the unenviable task of following Guardians of the Galaxy in the Marvel roster and when stood beside that it’s got a lot to prove.
Adam Dworak – Oh my god, that is just vile. What is this, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids twenty years later? It looks awful.
Ant-Man is scheduled for release on 17th July 2015
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