The Watchers

The Watchers
Showing posts with label michael pena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label michael pena. Show all posts

Friday, 17 August 2018

Review: Ant-Man And The Wasp (UK Cert 12A)


SPOILER WARNING! This review discusses and/or mentions a few important plot points. If you would prefer not to have these spoiled, please stop reading now and come back once you've seen the film.

Following on from his part in the battle between the Avengers on the Leipzig airfield in Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang has been sentenced to two years' house arrest in lieu of going to prison. With just days to go until freedom, he gets drawn back in to helping Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne who believe they can rescue Hank's wife Janet from the Quantum Realm where she has been trapped for thirty years. However with a bunch of black marketeers and a quantum-phasing 'Ghost' on their tail, not to mention the US Government, Scott is in for an eventful couple of days...

It's a high-energy, fun romp, playing on the heist elements of the first film but adding a literal whole new world as the Quantum Realm is explored in more detail. 

Performances are good. Paul Rudd is as likeable as usual as Scott, balancing trying to stay out of trouble versus helping people out. Matching him in likeability and strength is Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp, an equal within the film in every way. Michael Douglas gets some great irascible one-liners as Hank, whilst Michael Pena, T.I., and David Dastmalchian provide a lot of the laughs as Scott's old crew (especially when they're under the influence of something which is most definitely not a truth serum). There's also a lovely turn by Abby Ryder Fortson as Scott's young daughter Cassie. Juvenile performances can often be a minefield, either going to too winsome or precocious, but Fortson balances it well, giving a laugh or two as well as providing the heart. 

Of the new cast, Hannah John-Kamen is strong as the villain Ghost (here, Ava Starr). They've gender-swapped the character from the original comic books, but it fits. There's an interesting theme about the relationships between fathers and daughters: Scott and Cassie, Hank and Hope, and Ava and her real faither (a scientist who worked for Hank) and her relationship with her surrogate father. Another positive is, yet again, we have a villain with a sympathetic motive: the quantum energy which gives Ava her phase powers is slowly killing her, and she's seeking a cure.

Randall Park is great as FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, who is Scott's parole officer and monitoring his house arrest. There are several really quite amusing sequences where the characters attempt to pull the wool over Woo's eyes. Walton Goggins brings an oleaginous charm to Sonny Burch, a restaurateur and black market dealer who Hope has to meet with, but- if I'm honest- there's so much going on in the film that he feels a little superfluous. The MacGuffin which he introduces could have been done by another character, to be fair. Laurence Fishburne adds an air of gravitas to his role as Bill Foster, a former associate of Hank's who has a link with Ava. Finally, it's an absolute joy to see the positively radiant Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne. She's just superb. 

 As you can imagine, this is a visually stylish film. There are sequences- especially when characters enter the Quantum Realm- that are just sublime. There's also a lot of humour given with perspective changes- with cars, people, and even buildings shrinking and growing throughout. I also love the idea of a full laboratory which can shrink down to the size of a small suitcase. 

With a mid-credits scene that links the action of the film directly to Avengers: Infinity War, this is another triumph for the MCU.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez

Sunday, 19 July 2015

Review: Ant-Man (UK Cert 12A)


Ant-Man is the twelfth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and brings Phase Two to a close. 

If Captain America: The Winter Soldier could be loosely termed a political thriller and Guardians Of The Galaxy a space opera, the best description for Ant-Man would be a heist movie.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is released from prison and wants to set his life on the right path, to provide for his daughter Cassie, but finds his past history makes that difficult. On a tip from his friend Luis (Michael Pena), Scott burgles a house and finds a strange suit. The suit has the amazing ability to shrink the wearer to the size of an insect. Scott is then recruited by the suit's creator, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), to help with an audacious heist that might just help save the world.

It's a very good-natured romp, ably led by a winning performance by Paul Rudd. Scott Lang is a different type of hero. He isn't a scientist or a soldier or a tech millionaire or a god. He's a criminal, a cat burglar, albeit a principled one. He doesn't use violence and is quick to correct people on that point. He's fundamentally a good man who did the wrong thing for the right reason and paid the price for it. There are shades of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord here: Lang is goofy at times, serious at others and is a general winning presence.

Other performances are similarly strong, particularly Evangeline Lilly as Pym's estranged daughter Hope Van Dyne. Lilly gives a great performance as the tough, strong Hope and her scenes with Michael Douglas as father and daughter negotiate the heist and their own personal relationships are some of the best in the film. Douglas is on top form as Pym, playing the mentor role well. He foregoes the usual mentor cliches and there's a nice dry wit to some of his lines. 

That's not to say all performances are great. I had some issues with a few of them. Michael Pena is a good comic foil as the motormouth Luis but he's overused in places and the comic notes don't always work. Similarly, whilst Corey Stoll makes for an engaging villain as Darren Cross, he comes across as a bit one-dimensional in places and reverts quite quickly to swivel-eyed loon whereas other Marvel villains have been a bit more subtle. 

Peyton Reed's direction is pretty slick. There's some great scenes when Lang is shrunk and those worlds look great, particularly parts of the final showdown between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket. The fight scenes where Lang changes size in between blows are well choreographed and read well on film- there was always the danger that it might look a bit silly. 

There was always the risk that, after the release of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man would have just been a bit of a damb squib and a bit inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. That is not the case. Ant-Man is very much linked to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, not just in some throwaway lines but in one particular sequence where Lang has to retrieve an item from an old SHIELD facility which is now being used as an Avengers base. The mid-credits and end-credits scenes both hint towards bigger things within the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe as well.

Considering its troubled production history, there was a real chance that Ant-Man could have been a disaster of Catwoman-like proportions. Luckily, the film seems relatively unscathed from the behind-the-scenes drama and is engaging and charming. It might not be up there with Marvel's best; however, it is far from the worst they've ever done.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez