Reactions to the Ant-Man Trailer

Jon: Andy G is correct in not doubting Marvel/Disney for making Ant-Man. Really, it’s hard to argue with Marvel and Disney’s formula for success. However, it is a formula.

The Ant-Man trailer has all the hallmarks of a Marvel movie (and most spandex superhero movies): There’s the origin story (Mike Douglas talking to Paul Rudd over a flashback of Rudd leaving prison), Paul Rudd agrees to become Ant-Man for some reason (cue shot of daughter in bed. Is she sick?), and the trailer made sure to wrap it all up in explosions and a hint of what Ant-Man can do (He can shrink and ride ants. And people think Aquaman is silly).

As trailers go, it seems like a fun movie. I didn’t see where Douglas was passing on the mantle of Ant-Man to Rudd, but I won’t argue the point. I had to go to the IMDB page to double check if Stoll ( You may have seen him wearing a bad hair piece in The Strain) was Yellowjacket because it’s not even foreshadowed in the trailer.  Yes, Andy G was correct.  While I was on the movie page I learned John Slattery (Mad Men) is playing Howard Stark. Howard Stark? Tony Stark’s Dad? Shouldn’t he be like 90? Of course, the Avengers can’t be far behind.

Would I go see Ant-Man based on the trailer? No, because while the trailer had all the fun things we expect in a Marvel movie it’s the same movie Marvel/Disney has been churning out for over a decade (Don’t split hairs, I know Disney only bought Marvel a couple of years ago). Plus, when I see Ant-Man I see a tiny, tiny Iron Man.

I don’t want to poo poo on Andy G’s excitement, we like what we like, but I’m even more curious how Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man would have played out.

 

Mike: I’m totally going to “poo poo on Andy G’s excitement.”  There was nothing about this trailer that gets me excited to see this movie. Nothing.

Jon’s right. Ant-Man looks like it’s following a formula. I’m guessing it’s the same as Guardians of the Galaxy or The Avengers since they did so well at the box office.

But formulas or recipes are only good with quality ingredients. Bake a cake with rotten eggs or spoiled milk, and behold a baked disaster.

That’s what’s happening here with Ant-Meh (Not a typo).  And that’s going to happen with Dr. Strange, Howard the Duck, and any other baked disaster Disney makes.

Since people love established brands, Disney and Marvel are going to continue to pump these formulaic movies out.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some folks are okay with seeing the same story with different characters. I’m not. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel each movie, but I’d like some thought put into these movies.

Nolan’s Batman trilogy set a framework for how these movies can touch on adult subjects while still selling action figures to kids.

The only Marvel property that comes close is Deadpool. Go watch the screen test. Tell me Deadpool isn’t the perfect Marvel character to have a darker storyline?

You can’t. But Fox is going to water it down and target a PG-13 rating, shoehorning a decent character into one of their formulas.

And until Fox, Disney, and Sony Pictures start putting thought behind these projects, I’m going to keep my excitement reserved for other things. Like lunch.

 

Andy: Wow, I never thought that actually enjoying a trailer could spark such discourse.

However, to say that they are following a pattern to attack them is wrong in two folds. The first of which being that this is not the only studio doing this. The Hobbit is essentially the exact same thing as The Lord of the Rings – only difference is we got rid of Sam and Frodo walking for three hours. I am still going to watch the Hobbit.

Let’s look at Die Hard. Bruce Willis is on vacation or trying to get home or whatever non-cop work he is doing, he finds himself in the middle of terrorism (because that’s what middle-aged cops fight), then he foils their plans with a catchy phrase. Should I stop watching that because I recognized a formula?

I am not going to stop watching these movies because I can recognize the formula.

Secondly, THESE ARE COMIC BOOK MOVIES! What else do you expect to happen? The hero finds himself in the middle of some sort of turmoil that causes him to don a suit or go after a villain or whatever there is that calls him or her to action, then he will fight the villain, then he will win. Yes, it is a formula, but what else do you expect from a comic book movie.

Jon, the other point I am going to fight here is that Marvel tends to have that first trailer a little more open-ended for interpretation. Those who know the stories tend to be more excited because they know what to expect. This is essentially a hype video to get you to go and look.

I sat down to watch the trailer knowing the back story-Pym handed down the suit to Lang after he stole it to try and help his daughter who was sick. They relayed all of this to me in a two minute stretch so that I am more excited about the film while still giving enough for those that don’t know the story to see the trailer and be excited. Look at the first trailer for Thor, they only gave you one name and that was Thor’s.

Mike, I am not going to comment on whether or not Ant-Man is the best and most exciting hero to use in films. However, there is a certain story arc Marvel is headed upon and Ant-Man is part of it. Ant-Man is an Avenger and very important to the Iron Man arc, which I am sure will come into play in the Civil War storyline all these movies are destined for.

This was not let’s scrape the bottom of the barrel and see what we come up with, this was to further Phase 2 of Marvel’s Avenger development. I have been so pleased and surprised with Avenger arc movies in the past, I am willing to give them a little leeway. This may not be the most exciting or sexy of the heroes to use, but this was the one that was needed.