Ant-Man review

Genre: Action, Comedy, Superhero, Science Fiction, Adventure.
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip "T.I." Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian.
Year Of Release: 2015
Certificate: 12A (UK) PG13 (US)
Runtime: 117 Minutes

Director: Peyton Reed
Synopsis: "Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world." IMDB

12 films into the Marvel Cinematic Universe can Marvel keep up their stellar track record? 

Lets start off with the cast, when the film was nearing production there was talk of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Paul Rudd being favourites for the lead role of Scott Lang, to me both were laughable ideas for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Boy was I WRONG, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang may be my favourite casting in the entire MCU, he was brilliant be it from dropping the typical Rudd jokes we're used to or actually portraying real emotion when talking about his daughter. Not only was Rudd a brilliant call, I loved the entire cast, Michael Peña was absolutely hilarious, he even rivalled Rudd in his comedic ability, Corey Stoll as Yellowjacket was also another inspired choice I mean everybody in this film was spot on in my opinion. Then we have Douglas and Lilly, who had some a wonderful father and daughter dynamic that just felt so real.

Now we have the visuals even in the modern day of the height of CG it is a bit of a baffling thought to imagine seeing a man running around underground with ants and it to not look stupid. However as ALWAYS ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) delivered some truly stunning visuals. I don't want to pick out specific scenes, because really they all stand out in their brilliance seeing him shift from man size to ant size in the blink of an eye is like something straight from the page of a book. There is also two scenes towards the end of the film I know you guys and girls will love they involve an ant and Thomas The Tank Engine (not that part from the trailer, it's even better). Marvel have done it yet again, delivered some stunning effects as they continue to do.

Image courtesy of www.Marvel.com

Onto the story, while it is not going to win awards for originality, the story was very fun I thought. Even though Edgar Wright left the project, you could still feel some of his comedic styling in the film, I'd like to know if Tomas The Tank Engine was his idea, feels like a very silly British approach to humour. While the point of the film is not primarily meant to be a comedy, however having Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Paul Rudd and Adam McKay write the script you should expect a fair few giggles and this doesn't disappoint in that sense. The film is filled with laughs, action, nods to the MCU and even heart strings pulling scenes.

The film touches on some subjects that really hit home for me, which was a nice change of pace for a superhero film. I mean we all want to relate to superheroes in our own way, I just think this felt more relatable the whole Hank and Hope relationship was wonderfully done by Douglas and Lilly, if these types of performances continue I can see an actor/actress getting an oscar nom for their work on a superhero film. Great times ahead for us "nerds" yay!

Image courtesy of www.Marvel.com

Overall, I absolutely LOVED Ant-Man it's very different from the rest of the MCU but exactly the same in some aspects. I will be straight up, I expected this to be easily the worst in Phase 2, I'd say joint second with Winter Soldier after Age Of Ultron for me and I know I gave Winter Soldier a 10 and this a 9, but I still think they are equally as good as each other if that makes sense? No, it doesn't not even to me, but I stand by it. Plus this gets massive bonus points for a certain reference to a friendly neighbourhood somebody :p. Hard to believe that Marvel have delivered again with a character hardly known outside comic readers, they have kicked ass with both Ant-Man and Guardians, here is to the future of the MCU!

9/10

MCU rumours Spidey, Doctor Strange, Civil War & Ant-Man

There has been several rumours that have surfaced over the past week or so relating to the future of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, they can be perceived as VERY spoiler heavy, the details came from the guys over at JobLo. DO NOT continue to read if you do not want to hear about these POSSIBLE spoilers for the upcoming films.

***!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!***

Firstly, lets get to the rumour about Ant-Man, details have emerged that there will be two fights between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket. First of all they will be inside a suitcase that is falling to Earth from a helicopter, while inside the suitcase they will be dodging various objects within the suitcase on will be a mobile phone. The second fight which will be the final fight of the film will take place in Scott Lang's daughters bedroom, in the fight the hero and villain will show case their abilities to shrink and grow, also in the fight an ant and Thomas the Tank Engine with be enlarged to giant-sized proportions.

Secondly, we take a look at the details that have surfaced about Captain America: Civil War, the third instalment in the Captain America films within the MCU. According to the report, the film is simply being called "Civil War" in house, meaning the higher ups at Marvel see this as more of an Avenger 2.5 if you will and not necessarily a Captain America film, which is a good thing in my opinion. The film will feature an A star list of heroes, with names likes of War Machine, The Vision, and Ant-Man being reportedly involved with Iron Man's side of the conflict, while on the other hand Black Widow, Hawkeye and Falcon siding with Cap. Scarlet Witch is also said to be appearing in the film, whose side she will be on is currently unknown, along with her appearance, Black Panther is set to appear in the film and will NOT be used to fill Spider-Man's role open from the comics unlike most reports have suggested. Black Panther will appear, serving his own purpose, what that is we do not know as of yet. As for an appearance from your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, his involvement or lack of involvement is being kept very hush hush, so he my well appear, however in my personal opinion, I do not think he will appear. He may be referenced in name, but his first appearance will be his solo film in 2017.

In regards to villains in the film, Baran Zemo will be making an appearance (likely being played by Daniel Bruhl) along with Zemo, Brock Rumlow played by Frank Grillo will be making the step from Brock to his Crossbones persona. Which will include a modified version of his skull mask that is said to more like a mask/helmet hybrid with skull graffiti on it. The rumours also state that Crossbones is responsible for causing the massacre that leads to the Superhero Registration Act which sparks the conflict amongst the Avengers. This is not the only reported factor in causing a rift between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, partial lies with Winter Soldier and Steve's relationship with him, who will also appear in this film.

Within the report we also found out that The Falcon played by Anthony Mackie will be rocking a modified costume, that will have a red and grey colour scheme similar to his look in comics. Hopefully somewhat like the picture above, Ant-Man is set to look exactly the same, but is expected to show his ability to go "giant-man mode" at some point.

Thirdly, the reports gives us some information on the upcoming Doctor Strange film starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the titular role. The report says that Strange's physical look will be directly inspired by his comic appearance, including his red cape (for people unaware with his look picture below).

The suit will obviously take on some modification as to fit into this MCU world we already have established, with a shorter collar and some sort of vest piece. Villains in the film will be Dormammu and Baron Mordo, it is being said that Dormammu will be leading an army of "Mindless Ones" with lots of action taking place in-between dimensions and in the Astral Plane, the visual effects aim to be comparable to Inception.

If even HALF of this comes to be true, I will be incredibly happy, some of the ideas coming out in this report are amazing. Will add a great dimension (pun intended) to the MCU, great time to be a comic book fan

Peggy Carter confirmed for Ant-Man???

A couple of months back Latino Review were reporting that Peggy Carter played by the incredible Hayley Atwell would be making an appearance in Marvels upcoming "Ant-Man", seems like that rumour has been confirmed with Project Casting putting out a casting call that reads like this;

Casting directors are looking for an actor to work as a stand-in for the actor Haley Atwell. Haley Attwell is 31, 5’7 and 112 pounds. She is best known for her work in stage productions such as A View from the Bridge, and in films such as Cassandra’s Dream, The Duchess, The Pillars of the Earth, and Captain America: The First Avenger. In addition, casting directors are looking for a body double that meets certain requirements.

Marvel announces movies through 2019

Yesterday (July 18th) Marvel announced that they already have release dates for movies running through 2019 which is more than likely the end of their Phase 3 with Avengers 3 to release May 3rd, 2019. As it stands these are the official confirmed release dates for movies and the titles attached to them if they have previously been announced.

• May 1, 2015 – The Avengers: Age of Ultron
• July 17, 2015 – Ant-Man
• May 6, 2016 – Captain America 3 (Untitled)
• July 8, 2016 – Doctor Strange (Unannounced)
• May 5, 2017 – Unannounced
• July 28, 2017 - Unannounced
• November 3, 2017 - Unannounced
• July 6, 2018 - Unannounced
• November 2, 2018 - Unannounced
• May 3, 2019 – The Avengers 3 (Unannounced)

 My guess to how the unannounced the movies may go, is like this;

• July 8, 2016 – Doctor Strange
• May 5, 2017 – Thor 3
• July 28, 2017 - Black Panther
• November 3, 2017 - Hulk solo (Planet Hulk would be cool)
• July 6, 2018 - A solo female movie (possibly Black Widow)
• November 2, 2018 -Avengers/Guardians cross
• May 3, 2019 – The Avengers 3

This list is of course just personal speculation, there is no evidence to support anything I have said I just wanted to throw my guess out there. It is safe to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is shaping up VERY nicely and set to get even better over the coming years.

Kevin Feige has spoke about "Ant-Man"

This whole "Ant-Man" saga is getting vastly out of hand, and now we finally know who is directing well we have for a while but it is only now I have posted a piece about it. Director Peyton Reed was chosen a couple of weeks after they sacked Edgar Wright, now Kevin Feige has came out and told us why Reed is the correct choice for the movie.

"Peyton is someone that I've been a fan of for a long time. People may not remember, though probably your readers remember, that he was attached to Fantastic Four more than 10 years ago. We spent a lot of time together… and I got along with Peyton very, very well and he had awesome ideas and an awesome vision for the movie, and for various reasons he ended up leaving that movie...'Peyton was always on our lists, and so when this happened and Edgar [Wright] said 'Not for me' we met with a handful of people, but Peyton was always one that I thought would be great.

"It was not a slam-dunk that he would just step into it and do it. He wanted to be sure that he was wasn't just inheriting something or following someone else's lead. Or wasn't inheriting something that the evil studio had watered down to be something bad. I kept saying, 'You can either read what's online, or come in and talk to us and look at all this stuff.' He looked at everything, he talked with us, and he said 'Number one, I agree with the direction you’re going in. And number two, I can add to it.' And he has – the movie is in as good a shape as it's ever been right now."

Evangeline Lilly in early talks for "Ant-Man"

Reports are surfacing that Evangeline Lilly is in early talks for an unspecified role in Marvels "Ant-Man", the movie will kick off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lilly is yet another actress (if added) that will join an already experienced cast unlike some previous Marvel movies. She will be joining Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Michael Pena.

Director Edgar Wright, is known for the Romance aspects of his films and it looks like this one will not be any different from his previous works.

I personally know NOTHING about the Ant-Man world, I didn't even know he was a character until the movie was announced in 2012 that the film was close to being put into production. So when it was announced earlier that Evangeline Lilly was up for a role I decided to look at what other people were saying she could/should do in the movie. A LOT of the fans out there are saying she should play "Wasp", who is a human just like her co-lead Scott Lang played by Paul Rudd. So she is essentially a female Ant-Man? But a wasp? Man, Marvel is FULL of crazy stuff!

"Ant-Man" moves to Summer 2015!

 Here is some exciting news for all you Marvel lovers out there, today Walt Disney Pictures have moved the release of "Ant-Man" from November 6th, 2015 to July 31st, 2015 a whole four months earlier.  The movie is set to be the launching pad for "Phase Three" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Production is gearing up for "Ant-Man" with Wright directing from a script that he has co-written a script with Joe Cornish from "Attack The Block".

Summer 2015 is shaping up to be an EPIC Summer!

Marvel reveal upcoming films at SDCC

During this years San Diego Comic Con, Marvel revealed their upcoming lineup of sequels an their anticipated character films. With this news they also released teaser posters for the films.