Ant-Man - Review

"Baskin Robins always knows."

Great use of product placement there. No one is going to forget that anytime soon. Including me.

The Plot

After being released from prison, burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) decides to go straight for the sake of his daughter. But when he is unable to keep an honest job due to his crooked past, as well as pressure from his ex-wife (Judy Greer) and her fiancé (Bobby Cannavale) for child support, Lang has no choice but to go back to his old habits to make ends meet. Re-teaming with his friend, Luis (Michael Peña), and his new crew (Tip "T.I." Harris and David Dastmalchian), Lang plots to rob a vault thanks to an anonymous tip through the grape vine. What he discovers in the vault changes his life forever, as he discovers he has been recruited by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to become the second Ant-Man to stop Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from replicating the Pym Partical shrinking power. With Pym's daughter (Evangeline Lily) and several species of Ants as his allies, Lang must conduct the biggest, yet also smallest, heist job of his life.

Review

The film community is well aware of the production woes of this film. However most of the people who will watch this movie won't care. So I won't bother to write a long extensive lamentation of having one of my favorite directors, Edgar Wright, attached to this project then leaving it due to a disagreement with Marvel. Because again, the general audience doesn't care. I care, but they don't. So what does the general audience care about? Is the movie good? That's what they care about. And frankly, good is the word I'd use to describe it.

Ant-Man is a pretty good cliched Marvel film which has the major benefit of feeling more like a small independent film that happens to have superheroes in it. Which is probably the most welcoming aspect about this film within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While indeed the crisis could cause massive amounts of destruction upon the world, it didn't feel like the world was going to end. Which is usually how Marvel movies are. Villain threatens the world, hero saves the world. And by world that usually means the planet. But in this film, the world is a small one. Very small. Which is much more fitting given what the title character's power is. Shrinking.

In a sense, the film is a Marvel film with all the now famous Marvel tropes shrunk to a smaller scale. The characters are not larger than life but rather very small compared to the rest of the world. They are businessmen, cops and thieves. Individuals who you see or probably know about in everyday life. Yeah, Michael Douglas is a tech genius, but he's no Tony Stark. Which works really well in having everyone be pretty much everyday people who happen to be battling over something very powerful. But because they are like everyday people, that doesn't make them memorable people.

Paul Rudd does a great job playing this overly cliche role of a good thief who doesn't like killing, only stealing, for the sake of his daughter. His comedy is not exactly my cup of tea, but he was definitely a passable lead for what role he is given. I'm sure he'll probably blow me away in another outing, but for now he was just okay. Evangeline Lily was a great supporting character, though her description is pretty much stated by a character in the film as "mean pretty lady." Throw in a dash of "father and daughter issues" and you have her character, Hope Van Dyne, in a nutshell. She was good. Then there is Corey Stoll as the villainous Darren Cross. Despite having an added layer of doing evil things in order to please someone, that still doesn't stop him from being a standard Marvel villain. However, there are some standouts.

Michael Douglas as Hank Pym is probably one of my favorite performances in a Marvel film to date. Pym is known in the comics for being a heavily complex character, and occasional wife beater, and while the wife beater part is gone he is still pretty complex thanks to Douglas. He was the most fascinating character in the film, and makes me crave for an Ant-Man prequel about his days as the original Ant-Man side by side with his wife who was The Wasp. But he isn't the only Michael in the film who was a standout. Michael Peña, who plays Luis, is probably the big highlight of the movie. Him and his crew played by rapper T.I. and David Dastmalchian of The Dark Knight fame were responsible for most of my favorite parts of the film. Especially Peña's character, as he reminds you so much about that one friend you know, making him the most likable character in the movie. I wish there was more of them, but in the end they were utilized very effectively.

But what about the action? Well....there isn't a lot of action. This movie is a heist film, so the action is more dedicated to characters, and ants, breaking into things rather than battling other characters. But that doesn't prevent it from being boring. The shrinking action is breathtaking with smart uses of the power put on full display. Particularly one scene involving a certain Avenger that will make up for the long absences of action. They are used at the appropriate times, but they are not the focus of the movie. But when they happen, they are brilliant.

Final Thoughts

I was hoping that this would be a movie that I would love after the disappointing Avengers: Age of Ultron. While it does make for a good film, I don't think it is a great film. Or a movie that I would actually go about to buy. Mainly because I believe I set myself up to have expectations lowered. But as reviews started piling it calling it the best superhero movie to happen in a long time, my low expectations became sky high. I wish I could've kept my low expectations, because this sudden burst of high expectations made this movie enjoyable for me, but not to the level that everyone else feels. An admirable small superhero movie within a larger superhero movie universe. Good job, but its just not for me.

SCORE: 7/10 - Entertaining, but ultimately don't think I'll care about it after

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Review

"There are... no strings on me."

This is it... Finally! A Villain that can finally go down in comic book cinema history as one of the great ones! A Villain that will finally show that MARVEL knows how to create credible threats!............... Or so I thought.

The Plot

The Avengers are back! Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are now a fully functioning team operating on their own terms in taking down the remnants of HYDRA! But when Iron Man, Tony Stark, discovers a method of creating an artificial intelligence that can police and protect the world, he enacts on his desire to create a "suit of armor around the planet." But that program calculates that the only way to save the world, is to cause humanity's extinction. That program is Ultron (James Spader)! Aiding him in his vendetta against the Avengers are enhanced twins, Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who have a bone to pick with Tony Stark, but unaware of Ultron's true intentions. Can the Avengers stop this robotic threat?

Review

I'm just going to flat out say this. The movie is....good. Maybe even okay. But it is not the excellent game changing film that it was expected to be. There are a lot of things this movie does good, but there are a lot of things that the movie.... doesn't do wrong but horribly executes with bad editing. The pacing is completely all over the place and doesn't have the build up the previous film had. However in this film's defense, the opening of this film is a thousand times more exciting than the previous one.

Okay, I shouldn't compare it to the first one. But the problem is, because of how the Marvel Cinematic Universe functions, you not only have to think about the first one but also the third and fourth Avengers movies coming in the future. The film suffers from cramming in too many story lines from previous films as well as setting up what is going to happen next. This hurts the main plot of the Avengers going up against Ultron, because there are so many things in the mix that wasn't really necessary to the plot. And while those seeds are necessary going forward, I didn't feel like they were warranted to the story, which should have been about developing this ultimate threat: Ultron.

James Spader can do no wrong as far as voice work goes. This Ultron's personality is a far cry from his comics counterpart, mainly because he does have a personality in this film. I loved that director Joss Whedon tried to do something different with the robot villain archetype by not having him be robotic, but rather more human. He is portrayed as a dark mirror to Tony Stark, but lacks the menace that was displayed in the trailers. His actions are, but his personality just doesn't fully match up. He is still one of the best villains ever put on screen in the MCU. But he is nowhere near as good as Tom Hiddleston's Loki in The Avengers.

But speaking of Tony Stark, let's talk about The Avengers! You know them by name, and you know who play them. They're all great. Hemsworth amps up the comedy as the outlandish alien god, Thor. Evans does great as Captain America. And while Ruffalo does a good job playing Dr. Banner and the Hulk, it feels like his character devolved instead of evolved. Last time we saw the Hulk, he was in full control of his anger, but in here, he still has a problem with his anger and devolves back to the character he was in the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie. His character has a small progression with Johansson's Black Widow, whom we finally learn her backstory, but the romance aspect between them wasn't handled too well. The only two characters who really feel like they've grown are Downey Jr.'s Stark and Renner's Hawkeye.

Stark is still reliving the trauma of what he experienced in The Avengers and the fallout from Iron Man 3. It is his paranoia about not wanting to experience such trauma ever again that causes him to create Ultron, which works brilliantly well for him. But the real standout of the team is Hawkeye, because in here we not only get to see him as the sarcastic character he is known to be, but also get a sense of who he is and why he wants to be an Avenger. He is pretty much the most developed character among the original core team, but there are new kids on the block. And one of them steals the show.

Paul Bettany is probably best known as voicing JARVIS in the Iron Man films, but in here he appears in full physical form as Vision, a fan favorite who is directly linked to Ultron. He is arguably one of the best parts of the movie, despite being quickly developed, it felt appropriate and well handled. Which is more than Ultron's enhanced human henchmen, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Johnson and Olsen do what they can with what they're given in bringing the iconic twins to life. There is the stigma of Evan Peters playing a far superior and effectively used Quicksilver in X-Men Days of Future Past that completely downgrades Johnson's portrayal of Quicksilver. Still, Johnson does fine, but it definitely is not a highlight. Neither is Olsen, who does a good job playing creepy, but comes off really campy with her fake Russian...Sokovian accent.

Final Thoughts

All in all though, despite lacking a sense of development for all the players on the board, as well as rushing way too many plot lines in a mad dash to the finish line, the film still works fine. It is an entertaining piece of cinema that will probably go down as one of Joss Whedon's weakest film outputs, unless something else he directs comes along to take that title. But even though it is not the strongest film in the Marvel catalogue, it still delivers the promise of spectacular entertainment with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I don't know if I'm willing to watch this movie again in theaters, but I'll definitely be buying the Blu-Ray. And hopefully, just hopefully, Whedon's original 3 hour Director's Cut makes its way on Blu-Ray to clear up all the mess wrought upon this film. Still good though.

SCORE: 7.5/10 - This was not easy to do...and it really shows in the final product

X-Men Days of Futures Past vs Watchmen

CLASH OF THE RETRO ALTERNATE TIMELINES!!!

**SPOILERS**

This article spoils a great deal of both films. If you do not wish to be spoiled please look elsewhere. If you have seen one and don't care for the other then I can't really stop you from reading this. So, let's begin!

All out honesty, if I'm going to compare Watchmen to another film it should be The Incredibles. If you have seen both films, just think about that for a moment. Yep. Same story. Different execution. Different ending. And if I'm going to compare Days of Future Past to another movie it should be Terminator 2. Again, if you've seen both, think about it. So why compare Watchmen, the faithful adaptation of the greatest superhero comic of all time, against Days of Future Past, the inaccurate adaptation of one of the greatest and shortest X-Men stories of all time? Well that's because both films are set in alternate time periods. Well, 1/3 of Days of Future Past takes place in the year 2023 but a dominant portion still lives in the retro world. Believe it or not there are things that they have a lot in common.

COMPARISONS BEGIN

The Death of a Hated Figure brings doom

Bolivar Trask and Edward Blake

Both of these films are triggered by the death of someone. In Days of Future Past, that death was Bolivar Trask. In Watchmen, that death was Edward Black aka The Comedian. Both occur at the beginning of the story and propels the narrative. However where they diverge is that Watchmen is about finding out who killed The Comedian and Days of Future Past is about stopping the murder from happening. But the consequences of this figure's death brings about something apocalyptic. In Days of Future Past that would be the unstoppable Sentinels of the future. In Watchmen it is the death of 15 million people around the world. In a sense they are both apocalyptic with massive scale consequences. Though it could be argued that had The Comedian not died in Watchmen the ending would still happen, but this is more about his death sends the characters on their journey the same way preventing Trask's death put the X-Men on theirs.

We're not doing so good

Charles Xavier and Daniel Dreiberg

In Days of Future Past a young Charles Xavier has fallen from grace after feeling like he is no longer needed. In Watchmen a large majority of the former superheroes still find difficulty adjusting to their lives. While the former Nite Owl II aka Daniel Dreiberg may suffer from a psychological case of erectile dysfunction; which is not as serious as Xavier's drug addiction to get rid of his powers and walk; they both do have that sense of losing a part of themselves without realizing it is who they really are that will save them. Daniel realizes he can't live without being Nite Owl and Xavier realizes he can't live without the wheelchair. It is clear that Xavier is in a more darker place than Daniel but both of them still had to confront the facts: they are who they are and they should not change that.

Prison Break? That's illegal you know

This is more of a plot coincidence than an actual thematic similarity. But both movies do feature a scene where the heroes have to break out arguably the badass of their stories in order to progress the plot. Days of Future Past has the gang plus a newly recruited Quicksilver breaking Magneto out of the Pentagon. Watchmen had a sexed up adrenaline rushed couple break out Rorschach from prison. And yes, one looked cooler than the other. I'm not going to deny that. And you already know which one is cooler. Its just funny how they both have a prison break though, right?

The Badass never compromises

Rorschach and Magneto

You know who I'm talking about. No, not Wolverine. Young Magneto and Watchmen's Rorschach are the uncompromising "badass" characters in their respective films. Both of them have almost a black and white world view. Magneto does blur the black and white with shades of gray, but he still maintains the view that mutants are superior to humans. Rorschach on the other hand only and literally sees the world in black and white. His view is that evil must be punished, even if that means going to the extreme. Both of these characters are incapable of seeing anything different. When everyone else has fallen, they kept going with their causes. But that doesn't mean they're incapable of having friends.

Why can't we be friends?

I had to. Both films have a dynamic between a pair of characters with completely opposing views yet have a strange mutual respect towards each other. Daniel and Xavier can be viewed as fallen White Knights that have to pick themselves up again. And as I've stated before Magneto and Rorschach are the badass uncompromising Dark Knights that stay active in their cause no matter what. Yet both pairs need each other. Daniel and Rorschach both want justice but see different ways of going about it. Xavier and Magneto both want to ensure the future of mutant kind but have completely different methods of how to do so. Despite this, both pairs find a way to still remain friends. Though Daniel and Rorschach are not on opposing sides, the two of them are the only ones who can tolerate and understand each other. And even though Xavier and Magneto are on literal opposing sides, they do care about one another. But granted, if Rorshach and Magneto had to kill Daniel and Xavier, I strongly believe they would.

The "Villain" wants World Peace

Bolivar Trask and Adrian Veidt

Trask has similarities to The Comedian's intellectual rival: Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias. Both of these characters want world peace. Trask wants peace for humanity by focusing all their hatred towards mutants rather than each other. Ozymandias wants to achieve world peace by faking an alien invasion framing the all powerful Dr. Manhattan with the deaths of 15 million people. Their methodologies of redirecting everyone's hatred and fear towards another party are very similar yet very logical. They're not evil, but they're not above creating an evil for the world to turn against. In a sense they acknowledge that good and evil are only concepts but concepts that everyone believes in. So if the way to unite people is to turn someone into the source of all evil, then of course people will unite for a cause.

It all works out in the end (?)

Both films have happy endings....ish. Days of Future Past ends with the dark future being averted and everyone who died in the original timeline comes back to life. But the change in the timeline may have awakened Apocalypse. While Watchmen ends with the United States and Soviet Union calling off their Cold War to preach world peace. But Rorschach's journal being found by a newspaper intern may trigger an unraveling of the conspiracy to save the world. In other words, both protagonists seemed to have temporarily averted disaster. But as we all know, peace never lasts forever.

Final Thoughts

If you've been following me you'll notice that this versus is completely different from my Godzilla versus and Prehistoric versus. Here I don't really delve into who did it better (except the prison break sequence) but more about what they have in common. I can easily make an argument how Days of Future Past is better than Watchmen. Just look at Rottentomatoes. But then I could've easily made an argument why Watchmen is a far superior film to Days of Future Past. At least they stayed true to the comics. But unlike the American Godzilla films that have similar goals and similar plots, these two films may have similar elements but completely different plots. One is about hope, the other is about reality. I just found it interesting how they match up in so many places and thought I'd point that out. Apologies if you thought this was going to be a complete bashing of one film over the other.

Because we clearly know who the winner is (> . >) X-Men Days of Future Past