Nice to see you again, fans of the cinema! This is the Face-Off, where two movies enter and both movies leave, but one leaves in a slightly better light. Yes, here we take two competitors and compare their key elements and see who comes out the champion. It's a fierce competition that results in blood, tears, and online arguments, but the more brutal the battle, the sweeter the victory.
This weekend the Avengers broke the box office as ENDGAME made a staggering – literally staggering – $350 million domestically and over $1.2 billion, and all in the span of less than a week. The capper to the Infinity Saga is heartfelt and a legacy-affirming epic, and one where humor, action and easter eggs abound in every frame. With all that epicness one feels the need to settle the heart rate down a smidge, so for this Face-Off we will be talking about to of the ultimate Marvel palette cleansers, movies that provide all the thrills, humor and heart you could ever want, but on a much, sometimes much, much smaller scale: it's ANT-MAN vs. ANT-MAN & THE WASP.
After the Avengers got done saving the world from Ultron in AGE OF ULTRON, the MCU debuted ANT-MAN, which centered on a hero with no powers or skills placing him on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar, but who was plucked from obscurity to be the one to save the day. Despite a silly premise and even sillier name, the movie was a hit and added a lovable new face to the expanding roster. With the sequel, things kicked up a notch thanks to Hope van Dyne finally getting to suit up as the Wasp, with her and Ant-Man teaming up to try and bring her mom back from the Quantum Realm. Chaos and size-shifting action ensue, and things that were once small were made big to riotous effect.
When you need Marvel thrills on a refreshingly small but no less exciting scale, you can do no better than the ANT-MAN movies, but which is the mightiest of the tiniest? Find out below!
Okay, we all know the story of Ant-Man and the directing hubub, but here's a very brief recap nonetheless. So, SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ director Edgar Wright had been involved in developing an Ant-Man movie for, well, before the MCU was even a thing. After the MCU became a *huge* deal the movie was intending to make needed to be tweaked a bit, and that didn't sit so well with Wright. After amicably splitting, director Peyton Reed was brought in to direct along with Adam McKay and Paul Rudd to help with scripting changes, thus giving us the ANT-MAN we know and love. For this, Reed was perfectly capable of bringing out the comedy and blue-collar approach of the Marvel's most low-key movie to date. His background in comedies like BRING IT ON, YES MAN and shows like NEW GIRL was put to use with ANT-MAN's accessible, sweet and often off-kilter sense of humor that kept the movie moving at a brisk pace when shrinking action isn't taking place. But Reed also has a quirkier side to him that is all but necessary to make a movie starring a hero who can shrink down to the size of an insect stand out. Where his skills also shine is in delivering on the unique action the character needs to be involved in and lacing it with an accessible story and leading hero that will make audiences flock to a movie called ANT-MAN rather than walk by the poster and say "Are they f**iking joking with this?" Reed had a difficult task with this one, especially after coming in under such circumstances, and he deserves a lot of credit for taking the character with the weirdest superpowers and making him a total legit.
If the first ANT-MAN was Reed coming on late and trying to juggle Marvel's new approach with the character while still working with the same material Wright had left behind, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP is him having full grasp of who the characters are, how they work with one another, what the tone of the movies need to be and how to up the game now that we all know how this shrinking and un-shrinking world works. What he delivered is a totally crazy, off-the-wall, mile-a-minute madcap dashing across San Francisco and in varying sizes and devices. Reed showed a knack for lacing in hilarity with crazy set pieces, and here he went all out, going bigger on the spectacle while still keeping that same sense of quirky humor front and center. He knows these movies aren't the grounded CAPTAIN AMERICA movies or the wild and weird GUARDIANS adventures, but he finds a nice middle ground. He understands this series needs to be the most easily digestible as simply funny, colorful adventures, and he hits the right beats to keep things on that level while paying attention to the larger MCU around it.
While Reed added his own flair to the directing side of things the script and story were, for the most part, left intact by original scribes Wright and Joe Cornish. They had the concept of including both Pym and Lang and having a heist story years and years before it was released, and that stayed in there permanently. Where the story gets its more fleshed out elements and connections to the MCU come from McKay and Rudd, who locked themselves in a room for weeks fleshing out other scenes, adding characters, etc. While their work linked ANT-MAN to the greater connectivity of the series, the framework that Wright and Cornish established made the movie feel like it's own beast compared to the other Marvel movies, going beyond the typical origin story and nestling it within a rousing heist action-comedy. Mixing that all into the pot could've made for a toxic concoction of shifting tones and random elements, but what came out is one of the better origin stories in the MCU, and one that establishes Scott as an everyman whose daughter's well-being is at the center of everything he does. He has no powers and no strong skills other than a smart mind, so his growth into becoming a superhero feels genuinely earned and accessible. The story beats themselves – especially as they plan the heist – don't venture too far off from a bare-bones heist movie, but for the most part it's nicely woven into the origin of the hero angle with the other supporting players getting just enough development to flesh out the story, but not rob Lang of his stage. Again, as far as solo origin stories the MCU goes it's one of the best out there, up there with IRON MAN and THE FIRST AVENGER.
As I will dig into later on, I really dig how A&W leans into the wilder elements of the Ant-Man mythos while still keeping a foot in the simple pleasures of the original movie. However, in the spirit of adventure and moving at break-neck speed the story and character development get a bit lost in the shuffle. While the first movie had much clearer character arcs and a central story, A&W loses that clarity by delivering far too much and not quite knowing what to do with the characters. For example, the story taps into the idea of Lang feeling guilty for taking the suit fighting alongside Cap in CIVIL WAR, but beyond some wrist slapping and a moment or two of personal reflection from Lang, this angle doesn't develop into much. As for the main story of Scott, Hank, and Hope tracking down his shrunken lab so they can bring Janet back home, it's certainly fun to watch as they race from one place to the next in the wildest ways possible, but it doesn't leave much room for the effective character development we saw in the first. The movie is indeed more exciting and funny more often than the first, but with all the new characters and quick pacing, something feels a tad lost in the story department.
Bits:
Pym, Stark and Carter
Scott and Luis
Baskin Robbins
The Yellow Jacket
Turned into Goo!
Luis’ Recap
Scott Lang: Science Genius Cat Burglar
Bye, Bye Lamb
Testing Out the Suit
A Big, Big, Big World
Break Out
Taking Flight
Pym’s Lair
Ant-Man Training
Pym’s Story
Avengers Compound
Ant-Man vs. Falcon
Scaring Luis
Ant-Surfing
Cross’ True Nature
Ant-Man Taking Down Thugs
Ant-Man vs. Yellow Jacket
Fight in the Suitcase
Train Set Fight!
A New Reality
Lines:
Dale: “Baskin-Robbins always find out.”
—–
Scott: "I'm Ant-Man."
Sam: "Ant-Man?"
Scott: "What, you haven't heard of me?"
—–
Scott: “My days of breaking into places and stealing shit are over! What do you need me to do?”
Hank: “I want you to break into a place and steal some shit.”
—–
Scott: “Wait I didn't steal anything! I was returning something I stole!”
—–
Luis: “Get if off! Get it off!”
Scott: “I thought Daddy didn't get scared!”
—–
Hank: “It's not about saving our world. It's about saving theirs.”
—–
Scott: “I think our first move should be calling the Avengers.”
Hank: “I spent thirty years protecting that technology from a Stark, I sure as hell don't intend to give it to another! This isn't cute technology like the Iron Man suit!”
—–
Luis: “Thank you for the coffee ma'am. It's not too often that you rob a place, and then get welcomed back. Because we just robbed you!”
Hope: “You know that he was arrested for stealing a smoothie machine, right?”
Luis: “Two smoothie machines.”
—–
Scott: “Hey, how's your girl, man?”
Luis: “Ah, she left me.”
Scott: “Oh.”
Luis: “And my mom died too. And my dad got deported…But I got the van!”
—–
Scott: This is awesome. It's awesome. You know, you guys are breaking down walls, you're healing, it's important.
[beat]
Scott: "I ruined the moment, didn't I?"
Hank: "Yes, you did, yes."
Bits:
Janet's Sacrifice
Playtime Heist
Home Arrest
Mini-Car/
Building Shrink
Meet the Wasp
Kitchen Brawl
Enter Ghost
Ant-Man and the Wasp
X-Con
Wonky Suit
Little Ant-Man Goes to School
Ghost's Story
Mama Scott
A New Luis Recap
Mini-Car Chase
Inside Quantum Realm
Wasp in Action
Giant Man Runs Amok
Big Ol' Pez
Seagulls Attack
Ant-Man and Wasp v. Ghost
Hank and Janet Reunited
End Credits: Scott Trapped!
Lines:
Pym: "You want a juice box and some string cheese?"
Scott: "Do you really have that?"
—–
Scott: "Wings and blasters. So I take it you didn't have that tech available for me."
Pym: "No, I did."
—–
Pym: Relax. No one's gonna recognize us.
Scott: What, because of hats and sunglasses? It's not a disguise, Hank. We look like ourselves at a baseball game.
—–
Stan Lee Cameo: "Well, the 60s were fun, but now I'm paying for it!"
—–
Cassie: "You can do it. You can do anything. You're the world's greatest grandma."
—–
Jimmy: "You got away with it this time, Scott, but I'll be seeing you again."
Scott: "Where?"
Jimmy: "Huh?"
Scott: "Where will you be seeing me again?"
Jimmy: "Like, in general I'll see, like, the next time you… do something bad I'll be there…"
—–
Hope: "What took you so long?"
Scott: "Sorry, I had to come up with a name for my ant. I'm thinking Ulysses S. Gr-Ant."
—–
Cassie: [At Luis] "Oh no! The fuzz!"
Iron Man is a billionaire genius playboy philanthropist, Captain America is the super soldier, Thor is the god of thunder, and even Black Widow and Hawkeye are some master assassins. Scott Lang is an ex-con, thrown in jail for sticking it to the man (and getting his ass caught), and is now just trying to do right by his family. In a world filled with mighty heroes (or at least deadly ones), Lang stands apart by being your ordinary guy who wants nothing more than to, in the words of Hank Pym, "earn that look" in his daughter's eyes. That makes Lang the most grounded and relatable hero in the MCU, and that everyman quality is emphasized in this first story and brought perfectly to life by the ageless Paul Rudd. He's got charm, heart, a quick mind, a bit of braggadocio and looks totally out of his league when starting to work with Hope and Hank. Together, they make an unlikely trio with well-realized personalities that clash and mold like a combustible mixture, which makes their dysfunction engaging. This first movie explored these characters with nuance and through a family dynamic lens, like Hank knowing his daughter's potential but fearing to lose her, and the ambitious Hope eager to fight the fight and angry with Scott for getting the gig. There are firm foundations set here that explored these characters with depth, solidifying them as figures we can root for in many movies to come.
As I explored a bit before, the one issue I have with A&W is the lack of strong characterization. This movie is called ANT-MAN & THE WASP, but it's still very much the former's movie. While Wasp finally gets some action, I don't think she's explored much beyond being mad at Scott and wanting to find her mom. Then they become a team at the end, but again, not by having enough time to really work through their issues. They're just paired up, and we don't see those stages into becoming a team that would've made for a more compelling, albeit slower story. Maybe this is a good thing, as it would've avoided another "origin" story of sorts, and the story is delightfully fast-paced as it is. There's just so much action and humor being thrown at the screen that there aren't many moments genuine growth between the characters. That's not to say there aren't affecting moments, but they feel standalone (Janet, Hank reuniting; Scott with his daughter) rather than examples of growing the characters more.
ANT-MAN is perhaps the most visually-arresting Marvel movie (up to that point) that didn't involve cities being destroyed, other-worldly realms or spaceships. The effects are pretty extraordinary, and that alone can be applied to the VFX being able to shrink Paul Rudd to the size of a smaller-than-usual TicTac. When he's shrunk you feel like you're in another world, seeing how things look for the first time from such a different perspective. As Lang finds out, that world is f**king terrifying. Feet are stomping, rats are chasing you down, etc. But it's also wildly fun. Who wouldn't want to lead an ant army into battle? What makes ANT-MAN such an enjoyable revisit is seeing how they took the action sequences and made them both exhilarating and completely ridiculous. I mean, he and Cross fight each other in a plummeting suitcase as The Cure plays, with all sorts of random items floating around them. Then they take to a Thomas the Train set, which is epic and then hilarious when taken out to a normal person's perspective, and the train just sort of tips over as it runs into Cross. It's all crazy, exciting and funny as hell, and just goes to show you how much thought they put into bringing this character to life.
Now, take everything I just said and amplify it tenfold. With a bigger budget means more room to play with, and all that ingenuity from the first made it over here in some exceptionally insane ways. Did you think a giant Thomas as crazy hilarious? How about a giant Hello Kitty Pez being launched at some thugs. Thought Giant Man was cool for his moment in CIVIL WAR? How about having him ride a truck like a hoverboard in BACK TO THE FUTURE II across San Francisco? Then there's the tremendous work done on Ghost, and while not the most interesting villain she certainly looks cool. There's even more love and brought to life with a quicker, more finely-polished shrinking system, like the stellar kitchen fight when Wasp is unleashed. Considering how small-scale this is to the likes of other Marvel properties A&W is exceptionally bonkers in the action department and goes a long way in making up for its flaws.
With a character like Ant-Man who can change sizes at any time, you can't really expect audiences to buy into the premise with total seriousness. There needs to be a bit of levity, and at the time it came out ANT-MAN was easily one of the funniest movies in the series. Much of that is thanks to the likes of Rudd and Pena, with the former bringing his natural charm and comedic timing to the character, which worked well when some of the stranger aspects kicked in, like when he's starting to train with the ants. The writers and filmmakers simply embraced the absurdity of everything while not going leaning into some of the more extreme aspects, and it plays like a solid ensemble comedy that happens to have some surreal action and visuals. As for the movie's emotional core, much of that comes from Scott's desire to make his daughter proud, an especially tender moment happening when he stops by to wish her goodnight while wearing the suit. It's a dynamic that would be developed further and in greater detail in the sequel, though, but is a nice, sweet start here.
The Marvel movies started to hone in more on their sense of humor, realizing how big of a strength it can be thanks to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, AVENGERS and the first ANT-MAN. Along with the crazier sense of pacing and action the humor is dialed up more as well, with Lang's team of ex-cons getting more room to throw laughs in, more jokes worked into the action (the school infiltration is perfection), an overall better sense of how the characters talked to each other and, as always, the unflappable charm of Rudd. When it comes to the heart of the film, the whole basis of the plot is Hank trying to get his wife (and Hope's mom) out of the Quantum Realm, and their reunion is just as touching as it sounds. Scott and Cassie also get more sweet scenes together, like when she gives him an adorable pep talk. Even the end is a tab bit touching, when instead of discarding Ghost into the dustbin of MCU villains Janet comes along and cures her of her pain, allowing her to go on and live a full life. These are among the key ingredients that make the ANT-MAN movies work, and luckily they were improved upon for the sequel.
For the Ant-Man score, composer Christophe Beck set out to create a score with lots of big orchestration pieces meant for a superhero adventure story. Certainly, tracks like the title theme have a big and colorful feel, and there are plenty of others like it across the movie. But one musical style I happen to love are the ones that recall to the kinds of fun, espionage movies, infusing a quick bongo sound with the larger orchestrations. Two great examples of this on the score are "I'll Call Him Antony" and "Scott Surfs on Ants," the latter of which when their infiltrating Cross' lab. There a lot of fun pieces here and a lot of ones typical to blockbuster movies, but overall it's an adventureous score that adds a bit of spectacle to this rather simple MCU outing.
For A&W Beck didn't stray too much from the original score, taking some of the heist-movie sounds in some of the first movie's pieces and a bit more pep in their step, adding in some more synth sounds, particularly heard in the main theme and in ones like "I Shrink, Therefore I Am." This slight change makes sure to keep the music even more lively and energetic, just as the movie itself is compared to the original. There are also some stranger, more atmospheric pieces, like "Ghost in the Machine" and "Quantum Leap", and some playful ones like "Flock of Seagulls," I can't say it's far and away much better than the original's score, but I do enjoy it more and find that in the movie there are more pieces that stand out and bring Ant-Man into bigger blockbuster territory while maintaining a simple sense of fun and weird.
Awards:
Golden Schmoes:
Nominee:
- Biggest Surprise
- Favorite Movie Poster
- Best Line of the Year: "Baskin Robbins always finds out."
**Another 3 Wins & 29 Nominations per IMDb**
Praise:
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% (86% Audience Score)
Metacritic: 64 (8.0 Audience)
IMDb: 7.3
Money:
$180 million ($519 million globally)
A blue-collar superhero needs a blue-collar baddie, and you really can't get much better than Darren Cross in that regard. After seeing Loki and Ultron try to destroy civilization its nice to see a villain with nefarious goals of becoming super rich and almost nothing more. He greedy, sadistic and smarmy and Corey Stoll seems to be having the best time chewing the scenery. He doesn't always get to be zapping people into goo or flying around blowing stuff up in the Yellowjacket suit, but he's always got this evil, unsettling look in his eyes and is even deceptively charming. He's exactly what a corporate villain would look like in the Marvel universe, and a perfect pairing to Lang, who has already been established as a guy who has a passion for taking down rich dicks. It's a shame he's gone because he could've made an excellent Lex Luthor figure, someone who has the technical means to take down his enemies with force but instead uses his mind and cunning. Because he won't ever get the chance to develop more we will have to stick with that we got, which is not one of the best villains of the MCU, but a perfect one for this movie. Oh well, at least Yellowjacket was dope.
So in traditional sequel fashion A&W has several bad guys across the canvas, and while both have their perks neither are especially interesting beyond looking cool or just being a bit zany. The former applies to Ghost, who spends most of her time yelling at Laurence Fishburne and at a permanent level of pissed off. I like Hannah John-Kamen plenty and thought she had a good moment to flex the character after she kidnaps the team inside her home, and there is a bit of tragedy to her, which explains why Janet was so taken to cure her of her phasing. But more often than not I felt myself liking her just because of how cool her powers were, and not all that invested in her arc. Then there's Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch, the Texas oil-tycoon-sounding baddie to Stoll's corporate a-hole. He's more quirky than menacing and does liven things up when he's around by just being so…Goggins. A shady, slightly kooky figure, absolutely, but top-tier Marvel baddie? Well, at least he gets a sweet Escalade.
Every time I watch ANT-MAN I'm always surprised at how well it still holds up compared to all the other kinds of Marvel movies out there, and even standing as one of the best origin stories still. After watching movies like ENDGAME and INFINITY WAR this movie, and its sequel, are always great to revisit so we can experience the range at which these movies can be entertaining. It's this focused story and character development that stands about the sequel, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, but what also made the original so endearing – the action, humor, heart and pure oddness, the sequel improves upon without becoming too bloated, and understanding what the series needs to work. Everything is just far more energetic and strange, but no less endearing, and expands on the world these characters live in without resorting to the pure destruction of other MCU compatriots. I can totally see how people can favor the original, and there have been times I do too, but after a rewatch I find the sequel establishes itself more strongly in the crowded canvas and leaves a lot to be excited about with diminished the simple cores that make them delightful outings.