Written by Logan J. Fowler and Dan Cohen
Release Date: July 17th, 2015
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Judy Greer, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Wood Harris, T.I.
Director: Peyton Reed (Yes Man, The Break-Up, Bring it on)
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: Didn’t care about this movie at all. Even though I’m not a massive Edgar Wright fan like most, his involvement at least had me intrigued. I don’t care for Paul Rudd, and just knowing Adam McKay had a hand in this script makes me want to throw up. It seems like the whole thing was rushed into production, and Peyton Reed feels like he was Marvel’s fifth choice to direct this because nobody wanted it. Some of the actors even dropped out of this like Patrick Wilson. I like Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly, but that’s about it.-DC
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: The loss of Edgar Wright’s involvement with this made me go from really excited to really nervous. -LJF
Rate the Trailer: One out of Five. I’ve looked like a complete moron when it comes to evaluating Marvel Studio movies. I didn’t like the trailers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy either. However, I feel pretty safe in saying I won’t have egg on my face after this one. Are they serious with this trailer? You can tell it went through rushed re-writes. That speech by Michael Douglas is the most clichéd movie speech I’ve ever heard in my lifetime. This has Green Lantern and Thor: The Dark World written all over it – underwhelming and paint by numbers superhero fluff. That last line is just embarrassing: “Is it too late to change the name?” Oh, I get it, because Ant-Man is a silly name. In the words of Billy Madison, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY GOD, THAT IS FUNNY!” Michael Douglas also looks half-asleep in this thing. And I’m sorry, I understand Marvel was able to pull off a talking raccoon and a tree that only says three words, but that image of Ant-Man riding the giant fly bug or whatever is just stupid. It’s Marvel, so again, I may look like an idiot for writing this, but I can only go by what I see now, and this looks completely and utterly forgettable. -DC
Rate the trailer: One point five out of five. I don’t know about this. There’s some potential here, I can sense it, but it is lost in a very “blah” trailer introducing us to Ant-Man. There’s a lot of film cliches too; the passing of the heroic torch, the child who looks to her father to be a better role model, the former prisoner turned good guy….I felt like Edgar Wright could make more of this and I’m still bummed out he’s not involved. The only thing saving this movie now is Paul Rudd (cause I basically support him in anything and I’m curious to see how he does) and what makes Ant-Man different from any other comic book movie out there. I’m not getting any Guardians vibes here and that’s not good. -LJF
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? No Thanks. I’ve got plenty of other big summer movies on my list to see, and this isn’t one of them. We’ll see what word of mouth is like. I’m sure the movie will be mediocre at best, but it will get a pass like Thor: The Dark World did because it’s Marvel. -DC
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Theater. I’m not going to lie and say “No, I won’t see this in theaters.” I won’t be that guy and boycott it because Edgar Wright peaced out. Marvel has proven it knows what it is doing and so far they haven’t let me down. This is a risky film, even more so than Guardians, only because it is the beginning of Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It drops RIGHT after Avengers: Age of Ultron. That’s a big gamble to take. Hopefully it pays off.-LJF
Ant-Man Crawls into theaters July 17th, 2015
===========================================================================================
