Ant-Man

Big things come in small packages. A cheesy line, but it certainly describes Marvel’s Ant-Man. We’ve known Ant-Man was on the horizon for perhaps as long as we’ve known of the Iron Man films, and yet it took until 2015 for the incredible shrinking Ant-Man to be released (and a further four years for me to ACTUALLY see the film). I’d be lying if I said that Ant-Man’s productions woes, be it delayed filming windows to multiple directors swapping in and out, had me worried about the quality of the film because frankly I didn't care... about the film, the plot or the announced cast. But, for some reason, I found myself sat on the couch ready to watch Ant-Man. So - could something that’s languished in development hell and been passed through many hands come out on the other side successful? The short answer is yes. Of course it did! It's Marvel for god-sake. For the most part Ant-Man succeeds in being funny, heartfelt, action packed and most importantly entertaining.

As Marvel has done in movies past Ant-Man is a super hero film wrapped in the trappings of another genre. The genre of choice this time is a heist film. We’re introduced to Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, a recently released thief, who’s chosen by enigmatic Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his appropriately prickly daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) to steal Pym’s former business partner and protégé’s shrinking suit and formula before it can be used for evil. Sounds pretty par for the course, because it ultimately is. Marvel has never really broken new ground when it comes to its plotting, but it’s never needed to. We’re given familiar story elements with a fresh coat of paint, and what a coat of paint it is. Like Marvel’s previous films this movie is packed with wit. It’s a very funny film. At times the humour undercuts the serious elements, or rather the serious elements undercut the humour. It’s difficult to say. The audience is told very early on not to take the film and its happenings too seriously and everything is done with a wink and a nudge. Whenever the film tries to get weighty and bring us a serious dramatic beat we’re left waiting impatiently for the next one-liner. Still, those moments are few and far between and the film is paced well enough that I was never bored.

Ant-Man has a curious power. The Ant-Man suit, powered by Pym Particles, allows the user to shrink down to the size of an Ant. We’ve never seen anything like this from the likes of a super hero movie which is refreshing mid-Avengers campaign. The fight scenes are exciting to watch as Ant-Man switches between big and small so effortlessly that you wonder if anyone could stand a chance against such a nimble and difficult to strike target. Ant-Man even gets the opportunity to fight an Avenger in this film which was a prelude to his appearance in Captain America: Civil War (which I had seen already). Ultimately Ant-Man is just another superhero movie but the way it’s presented is such a breath of fresh air that I decided to watch the movie's sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp shortly after this film finished.

We’ve come to expect quality with Marvel and Ant-Man is right in their sweet spot of humour, action and sympathetic characters. It’s not the best film Marvel has produced, but it’s still a film I am glad not to have missed, I just wish I had realised this sooner and seen it on the big screen.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Picking up right where the first film ended before jumping forward in time five years, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part sees the city of Bricksburg destroyed by Duplo alien invaders and rebuilt as a gritty, post-apocalyptic wasteland called Apocalypseburg, forcing the population (with Emmet as the only exception) to adopt a dark and tough persona in order to survive. But after an alien from the Systar system named General Mayhem kidnaps Batman, Unikitty, Benny, Metalbeard and Wyldstyle, it's up to Emmett to rescue them and prevent OurMomAgeddon, teaming up with a battle hardened space pilot named Rex Dangervest along the way.

It's hectic start to the film, moving at a breakneck pace in order to get the actual story set up as soon as possible, and while that's understandable - everything before General Mayhem shows up is little more than wasted time in the grand scheme of things - it also results in an introduction that's simply not engaging and filled with too much meaningless action to really let you settle in to the movie. It's only when Emmett sets off to find his friends that The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part really finds its feet, at which point it becomes a hugely entertaining movie.

Which probably shouldn't come as all that much of a surprise given Lord and Miller's track record of smuggling real intelligence into concepts that would otherwise be entirely devoid of it, but it still feels a little miraculous when you see it happen right in front of you, expected or not. As with the first film, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is practically bursting at the seams with real purpose and genuine thematic weight. What was used in The Lego Movie is instead here used to explore some interesting and topical ideas, and while I'd hate to spoil exactly what ideas those are (half the fun of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is seeing exactly where it's heading), you can rest assured that the result is a film with far more on its mind than you might expect.

And that's great - it's always nice to see a film aimed at kids and families that has some real thought behind it - but it wouldn't mean much if The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part wasn't also a damn good film at it's core. Lord and Miller's script is just as funny, smart and endearing as that of The Lego Movie, rarely going more than a few moments without throwing a new gag or two at the audience, making great use of returning characters from the first film while also finding room to introduce some new ones too. With Richard Ayoade's overtly prim and proper Ice Cream Cone, Ben Schwartz' goofy Banarnar (a sentient banana peel) and Stephanie Beatriz' General Mayhem - but the best of them is easily Tiffany Haddish's Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi, a shape-shifting set of blocks whose musical number introduction is be a highlight.

And of course the whole movie is a real feast for the eyes, just as good looking as its predecessor thanks to the highly stylised animation in which almost everything on screen at any given moment is made entirely of Lego, still a novelty worth enjoying even now there have been 4 full films in this franchise. The only real complaint I can make of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (beyond the aforementioned rushed introduction) is that Mike Mitchell's direction here isn't quite as strong as Lord and Miller's was on The Lego Movie, meaning that some gags don't land as well as they might've with the duo directing - but it seems like such a minor nit-pick in the grand scheme of things that it's not really worth dwelling on. All said and done, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is nothing less than a thoroughly joyous time at the cinema and a worthy sequel to The Lego Movie in its own right.