[Movie review] Ant-Man (3D) (2015)

The following text is a (rough) translation of my Swedish review which can be read at the Swedish online movie magazine MovieZine. Because of that, the presentation is different from the usual way I write my reviews for this blog.

A heist movie - but with superheroes (and ants)

First official trailer of Ant-Man. (Marvel Studios)

Ant-Man is the twelfth film (in order) which takes place in the fictional Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a couple of months after The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Instead of writing the plot's summary which many reviewers already had done, I'll immediately tell you what I think about the movie.

After watching several MCU films with epic battles between Good and Evil, I must say that Ant-Man feels very different – at least when I watched it at the cinema.

The thing is that Ant-Man doesn’t feel like a classic superhero movie. Instead, it's more like a family-friendly heist film (à la Ocean's Eleven) where a sympathetic protagonist (Paul Rudd) is hired by a scientist (Michael Douglas) to steal a weapon which is dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. The fact that our hero gets the help of three other cronies in order to succeed with the heist makes the film feel even less like a superhero movie.

Of course, in order for the visitors to get the feeling that Ant-Man really is a superhero movie taking place in the MCU, Marvel adds another superhero (Falcon from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, played by Anthony Mackie) and cameos such as Peggy Carter (from Captain America, played by Hayley Atwell) and Howard Stark (the older version from Iron Man 2, played by John Slattery). And don't forget the villain who also receives superpowers (in one way or another) towards the end of the film.

When you read this review, you may think that I'm criticizing the movie. Not at all!

The film is funny with its funny dialogues. Michael Douglas makes a great interpretation of Dr. Hank Pym where he convinces the moviegoers of his inventions and discoveries. Paul Rudd is absolutely superb as the sympathetic burglar Scott Lang who does everything for his daughter and becomes the superhero Ant-Man.

I almost forgot to comment on the film's special effects. All of the scenes where the protagonist shrinks himself to the size of an ant are well done. Many have compared these scenes with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989). Personally, I think Ant-Man has taken a step further and can also be compared with A Bug's Life (1998). It's awesome to see the protagonists being able to communicate with ants (which plays a very important role in the plot), don't you agree?

Another cool special effect is when Michael Douglas (thanks to Lola VFX) also plays a younger version of himself instead of using a younger actor. It's fantastic to be able to see him in a flashback where he looks just like when he starred in the movie Wall Street (1987).

Unfortunately there are things in the movie which I'm not satisfied with. Firstly, I don't find the antagonist (played by Corey Stoll) not convincing enough. True, he is evil and doesn't hesitate to kill in order to reach his goal. But is he as intimidating as previous MCU-villains, like Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges), Abomination (Tim Roth) and the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving)? I think not.

Secondly, I'm not too fond of the character Hope Van Dyne (the scientist's daughter) played by Evangeline Lilly. For some reason, I don't think the Hobbit-actress is the right choice for the role. I can't explain it, something just doesn't feel right. Also, I am no fan of the character's hairstyle.

I saw the 3D version of the film, but I don't think there is much difference between the 'regular' and the 3D version. The 3D effects are seen only in a few scenes.

Despite these disadvantages, I think the film deserves four stars of five, and I look forward to Ant-Man's next adventure in the MCU.

By the way, don't leave until you've watched the two post-credit scenes. Otherwise you'll miss important clues to the next MCU movie coming in 2016!

Score: 


(To know how I rate mobile games and movies, please read about it here.)

Gameloft Confidential

The icon for Spider-Man Unlimited,
a free-to-play game released in 2014. 
© 2015 Gameloft © 2015 Marvel

Today I've joined Gameloft Confidential which is a program for content creators (e.g. YouTubers like me). It was recently started by the video game developer and publisher Gameloft.

The program gives assets (e.g. screenshots) from a couple of Gameloft's smartphone games in order for content creators to create 'awesome' Gameloft-related videos.

At the moment, the program only covers the latest (free-to-play) smartphone games, like Spider-Man Unlimited, Modern Combat 5: Blackout and Asphalt 8.

Ryan, the Community Manager for the US Marketing team

at Gameloft, announces Gameloft Confidential.

I think this is an exciting move from Gameloft's part. But I hope the video game developer will add more games from its catalogue, because I've thought of making videos of some of their 'older' games.

Spider-Woman with her new suit.
© 2015 Gameloft © 2015 Marvel

I have played Spider-Man Unlimited frequently last year and I could make videos of it since I love Marvel's famous superhero. But I've promised myself to never touch that game again.

You see, I still haven't forgotten my disappointments when it first turned out that the game's story mode had to be played online. Only the endless runner-mode was available offline. 

Secondly, premium characters (in other words, high-ranking Spider-Men or Spider-Women who could reach high levels) had to be purchased in order to complete the story's later chapters. But all purchases were totally random so it would be difficult to get the favourite character of one's choice, especially when the Spideys must be ranked up to raise the level caps and hence, reach the levels the stages of the later chapters require.

But the nail in the coffin was during the 2014 Christmas-event where all of the players could win Spider-Woman wearing her revised costume. I managed to finish the mission where a number of Christmas-presents must be collected but because of a glitch, I never acquired her!

The only 'thing' Gameloft offered was an ISO-8 compensation. ISO-8 is the game's premium currency which is needed to do the random purchases. But since I knew I would only waste them and get characters I didn't want, I declined the offer and uninstalled Spider-Man Unlimited.

Gameloft, I think you've been a great video game developer. I've followed you since 2003 when I got my first colour GSM-phone. But since I touched this pay-to-win game, I don't think highly of you anymore. You ruined my Christmas spirit last year when I played like crazy instead of celebrating Christmas. I have difficulties forgiving you because of it.

Sorry for the rant, I needed to let off some steam. I gave the game only one star at its Google Play-page, and I still think it deserves that low score.

So which Gameloft-games among the titles in Gameloft Confidential will I make videos of? I'll just wait and see if there are future games which will raise my interest. But not Spider-Man Unlimited.

3 trailers from 2015's Comic Con

While I'm excited for Marvel's Ant-Man who will have its release in Sweden on 22 July, 2015, I've watched some trailers for upcoming movies from this year's San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC; an entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego since 1970).

Of course, the ones I'm interested in are about the upcoming superhero movies Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and the spy movie The Man from U.N.C.L.E. In the latter two, our famous Swedish actors Joel Kinnaman (Arn - The Knight Templar, Easy Money, Robocop) and Alicia Vikander (Pure, Anna Karenina, A Royal Affair) have a role in each movie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 2016)

Ben Affleck's Batman has a bigger role in this trailer than in the 
official teaser teaser released earlier in April 2015. (Warner Bros.)

In this movie which takes place after Man of Steel (2013), Gotham City's protector Batman (Ben Affleck) travels to Metropolis to battle Superman (Henry Cavill) fearing what will happen if alien is left unchecked, especially because of the destructive battle (between Superman and the alien invader General Zod in the previous movie) which destroyed large portions of Metropolis.

My thoughts about the trailer:

Batman and Superman are DC Comics's most well-known superheroes and there are occasions where they have battled each other - in comic books and in animated films.

This has caused fans of Batman and Superman debating for years about which one of them could win in a direct confrontation with each other.

The movie is the first time two iconic superheroes face off in a live action movie, and I think this is a way of pleasing the fans.

Man of Steel is the first movie in DC Comics's fictional shared movie universe - the DC Cinematic Universe (DCCU) - and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is meant to expand it.

To be honest, I think Marvel already has a big headstart with their own Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) since 2008's Iron Man and several successful movies after it (Captain America: The First Avenger, Guardians of the Galaxy among others).

But after seeing this trailer, I seriously think this movie will give the DCCU a big chance to compete with the MCU.

Suicide Squad (August 2016)

The supervillain Joker will be in this movie, and there are 

hints of Ben Affleck's Batman being in it too. (Warner Bros.)

Suicide Squad is the third movie which takes place in the DCCU. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) - a top-ranking U.S. Government agent - assembles a team (with the same name as the movie) of dangerous criminals who would undertake a high-risk black ops mission.

My thoughts about the trailer:

I was surprised when I heard that a live action movie about the infamous Suicide Squad (consisting of many of DC Comics's famous supervillains) would be made. When I saw the first look of all the protagonists standing with each other and the first official photo of Jared Leto as the Joker, my expectations weren't high. In fact, they're considerably lower than my current expectations of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice!

One of the reasons is the portrayal of the Joker and his henchwoman Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. Another reason is the choice of Will Smith as the group's sharpshooter Deadshot.

At this point, we don't exactly know the plot of the movie and which mission the Suicide Squad will have to undertake, so I'll keep my expectations low for now.

Is there anything with the movie which will at least make me look forward to it? That would be the actors Joel Kinnaman, Ben Affleck (his character Batman is rumoured to be in the movie) and Jai Courtney, who recently played as Kyle Reese in Terminator: Genisys.

(My movie review of Terminator: Genisys will be published on this blog later.)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (August 2015)

Henry Cavill stars as the protagonist Napoleon Solo in the

movie based on the 1960's series. The British actor

Hugh Grant has a role in it as well. (Warner Bros.)

During the early 1960's period of the Cold War, Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) - an American and a Russian spy - are forced to team up with each other to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, in order to prevent a worldwide catastrophy.

My thoughts about the trailer:

The trailer started well but later became messy and confusing in the end. I think the atmosphere in this movie will be different from the classic 1960's TV-series.

But since the movie is directed by Guy Ritchie, who was very successful with his two Sherlock Holmes-movies which I love very much, I'm a little bit optimistic about this movie.

Which one of these three movies will you look forward to?