Ant-Man

The build up to Ant-Man has left many Marvel fans questioning how successfully the Hollywood Goliath will be able to pull off  a film on one of their lesser known characters, particularly without the guiding directorial hand of Edgar Wright. Well I'm not a Marvel fan so who knows, I might like it! 

Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is an unparalleled technological scientist that discovered a group of particles with the ability to change the distance between atoms, effectively able to shrink and grow objects at will. After safeguarding the technology from those that wanted to weaponise it in the 1980s, Pym gave control of his company to Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), his protégé, who know has a sinister interest in re-developing the technology. Pym's daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) has a broken relationship with her father, but nonetheless turns to him when she becomes worried about Darren's actions.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a former burglar who can't throw punches, and has just been released from jail. Taking up residence with a former cellmate, Luis (Michael Peña), he hopes to foster a new relationship with his daughter, increasingly difficult thanks to his ex-wife and her new partner. Soon Scott is on the look out for another score to pay child support, and burglarises the home of a wealthy old man with meticulous precision. However all he finds is a dusty old suit. Scott is soon hired by Dr. Pym, planning a heist that will save the world. 

There's no doubt that Ant-Man follows the typical Marvel construction: out-there technology, a self-referential universe, CGI, CGI and also CGI. Where the film diverges is the heist sub-plot that dominates the second half of the film. You can detect the penmanship of co-author Wright, whose other work holds similar crime/heist-centric elements, particularly in Spaced and The Cornetto Trilogy. Ant-Man also scales down on the barraging action and takes some time-out for decent character development - not commonly found in Marvel films - however this also leads to relentless exposition and too many over-emotional scenes that try to get a rise out of the audience. Also tedious is the compulsory attempts to address the cross-franchise Marvel connections. "We'd better call the Avengers", we get it, they all exist within the same universe, enough already! Stop trying to set-up future cross-overs and self-advertise to us! 

Some held concerns that given the...uhh....somewhat trivial nature of Pym's technology, Ant-Man would try not to take itself too seriously and resort to an all-out joke fest similar to Iron Man 3 - which I happen to like, but is not that popular amongst the fans - Well you can rest easy, because it manages to strike a good balance between situational humour and plot development, and the comedy works well with Rudd's usual style. Whilst the action sequences rely heavily on computer generated visuals, the unique qualities of the Ant-man story allow for some equally unique sequences, including a run-in with a newly-enormous bathtub early in the film.

Unfortunately though, there's nothing new or interesting about most of the other visuals, which are stock Marvel and ultimately monotonous, especially when it could have been so much more. It's impossible to ignore the departure of Edgar Wright from the project, who reportedly left due to differences in vision between the Hot Fuzz director and the studio. His attempt at Ant-Man would have most likely been a standout film in the Marvel cinematic universe, where instead we get largely the same recycled formula that the studio knows can produce the revenue. It's a sad situation, but we can be thankful that his influence appears to have made it into the film in some ways, no matter how small they may be. 

Ant-Man is not a great film by any stretch of the imagination. However it does manage to pull away from the pack somewhat, which is crucial if we want to see Marvel develop any unique content in the ever-expanding Hollywood superhero bubble.

Jurassic World

So I've shown time and again that I am a huge fan of the Jurassic Park movies. I grew up as a dinosaur kid and the movies really did feed my desire to want to be a palaeontologist (I've since discovered that movies have impacted those desires and choices). The last movie in the series was a bit of a departure from the whole trying to build a dinosaur theme park. This movie sets that all back on track. 

In Jurassic World, the theme park has been running for quite a few years. It is headed by ambitious Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) whose estranged nephews Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) are coming to stay for a week. Elsewhere on the island, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a Velociraptor expert has being training a team of raptors under the watchful eye of InGen head of security Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio). Claire is also getting ready to reveal a new attraction in the park; the first genetically engineered dinosaur created by Dr Henry Wu (B.D. Wong), a process the park owner, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), has come to oversee. As usual nothing goes to plan.

It is very enjoyable for me to see a functional Jurassic Park (or World in this case). The park has some super enjoyable attractions, such as the rides and attractions that John Hammond would have wanted. There is even a super cute petting zoo for the kids. Of course we get to see the complete destruction of all of this. The action that happens is really fun and completely ridiculous. At one stage a velociraptor is riding the back of a T.Rex and there are many other moments that are just mindblowingly exciting. There are also dozens of references back to the original film. Some are glaringly obvious (they visit the abandoned original Welcome Centre) and some of the imagery is reminiscent of shots from that one.

I have a few minor gripes with the movie. One is that there are way too many characters. They all are introduced rather quickly and we have to juggle where they all fit in. There is also not too much care given to the minor characters who we are teased with interested backstories but not developed at all. The characters I wanted to see to see more of were Masrani as he takes over the role of charming head and plays the character exactly the same as Richard Attenborough. Also Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus play park controllers that provide great comedic relief. B.D. Wong is the only actor to return from the original film, but his character is tarred as a bad guy, which is a shame because I have always loved Dr Henry Wu. A lot of people have also criticised the ridiculous ending, but I just laughed the entire time.

Chris Pratt continues to be the charming action movie lead and it really works to his benefit. He's serious demeanour also adds some variation. Bryce Dallas Howard acts well, but her character's clothing choices are questionable. I didn't even recognise Vincent D'Onofrio in his role and I feel so ashamed. Simpkins and Robinson are okay, but I felt as though their main purpose was just character motivation. Again Irrfan Khan provides some great moments.

All in all, Jurassic World is a lot of fun. It may not be scientifically accurate, but it's a fun ride. There are some romantic elements that are pointless. I thought that this movie would be a perfect opportunity to use something like this.

Men, Women & Children

Beginning with the Voyager probe drifting through space as Emma Thompson narrates, Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children opens with a lot of scope, though my primary worry walking into  this ensemble piece, was if it would actually provide an intriguing dialogue on our technologically connected lives or simply be forced along by cliched themes.

Chris Truby (Travis Tope) is a porn-addicted teenager whose parents, Don (Adam Sandler) and Helen (Rosemarie DeWitt) are having marriage issues, and begin to form their own relationships behind each others backs. Chris is attracted to Hannah Clint (Olivia Crocicchia), a self-obsessed teenager who is attempting to become famous through any means necessary, be it reality television or the racy modelling website she runs with her mother, Joan (Judy Greer). One of Hannah's friends, Allison (Elena Kampouris) is so determined to attract her love-interest that she puts herself on an extreme diet that transforms her to borderline anorexic.

Tim Mooney (Ansel Elgort), another student at the school, has quit the football team, against his father's (Dean Norris) wishes. Tim is dealing with abandonment issues (his mother left both him and his father to chase another man to L.A) by immersing himself in an online video game, Guild Wars. Eventually Tim gains the attention of Brandy Beltmeyer (Kaitlyn Dever) who is similarly dislocated from the world around her due to her mother's (Jennifer Garner) controlling attitude to her use of the Internet. Much of the story is told through text messages and digital on-screen overlays that attempt to highlight our society's reliance on, and immersion in social media, with both positive and negative consequences.

This film could be more accurately described as Sex, Teenagers & Pornography. It's up there with the Wolf of Wall Street in sexual references (although obviously a vastly different context) and whilst it does begin to focus more on the men and the women towards the end, the vast majority of it plays out as a teenage driven story about sexual experiences, pregnancy, anorexia, divorce, video games...the list goes on. Whilst these themes work well in the various character arcs, it's not as if they haven't been explored before...many times...even by Reitman himself. The use of on-screen messages to convey certain moments of the story often works beautifully and is one of the (sadly few) defining features of Men, Women & Children.

With a large cast of fantastic actors, and Adam Sandler, Men, Women & Children certainly doesn't have any issues with creating believable characters. Dean Norris was a standout for me as Kent, the troubled father who becomes more and more dissociated with his son. Jennifer Garner is fine, despite playing a soulless and generally uninteresting character. J.K. Simmons is fantastic yet completely underused in his small role, and as much as I may joke about him, Adam Sandler is surprisingly strong as Don, one of the more interesting characters out of the adults.

Just as strong though, are the teenagers, who really do dominate this film. Travis Tope and Ansel Elgort, whilst playing very different characters, both provide fantastic performances. Crocicchia and Kampouris are similarly playing roles at separate ends of the spectrum, and although they're both very good, Allison is a far more interesting character than the vain Hannah.

Men, Women & Children  is another of Reitman's social commentaries, and whilst the formula may be well and truly worn by now, the all-round fantastic performances and interesting use of social media themes save it from falling completely flat.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Planet of the Apes franchise has had a bit of a checkered history. It is generally agreed upon that Tim Burton's remake of the original 1968 classic was terrible, but prior to that there was a short series of films that directly followed the original, these being Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle (all with the of the Planet of the Apes suffix). Of these movies, only Escape from the Planet of the Apes was good. So I think we're kind of lucky that 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a success, especially after the franchise had died two times over.

Dawn begins a decade after Rise which ended with the hint of a virus which only affected humans was about to spread. Well this 'simian flu' (as it's called in this movie) spread and wiped out the majority of mankind. Caesar and the apes from the first film are living in a colony outside San Francisco. A group of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) stumble upon this group while trying to find a hydroelectric dam in the area and become the first humans to contact the colony. This contact, combined with distrust between the two groups, eventually leads to violence.

The evolution of the world between the last movie and this one is really amazing. The fall of human society while the ape one flourishes is a fantastic contrast. The humans don't want to return to the time just after the fall of society because they were no better than animals, while all that the apes want is a safe community where they can live.

Again there are references to previous Apes films. The opening scene is one of the apes hunting some deer. These techniques are the exact same that they will use to hunt humans in the original film. They now have horses, which is their preferred mode of transport in the original. Also the name of Caesar's wife(?) is called Cornelia, a homage to Cornelius the chimpanzee who helped Taylor the lost astronaut. There is however, no sign of the eventual status quo that we know the planet will eventually fall into, with the orang-utans as the leaders.

This cast almost reads as a who's who of my favourite actors. Aussie Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) leads the human cast superbly and his relationship with Gary Oldman pulled at my heartstrings at times. Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Kirk Acevedo (my all time favourite actor) round out the human cast.

But the most praise has to go to the actors who play the apes. Motion capture technology has come so far in my lifetime and it's only going to get better. Andy Serkis (Caesar) is so good at this now, it's second nature to him. His performance is unbelievable in this movie as are the others. Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla) and Judy Greer (Arrested Development) are also great, especially being the first time they've both done this.

Verdict: A great follow up to Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the series can only get better from here.