Tag Archives: Corey Stoll

Infinite Earths III

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Vampire Owl: I am finally managing to find the meaning of infinite earths.

Vampire Bat: There is no true meaning of infinity.

Vampire Owl: There is no truth that infinities can bring.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that your infinity is different from that of others.

Vampire Owl: So, you believe in infinity in our realm too.

Vampire Bat: I believe in death and beyond as an infinite process.

Vampire Owl: So, immortality is the same as infinity?

Vampire Bat: The world is quickly traveling towards infinity.

Vampire Owl: So, you do not believe in end of the world.

Vampire Bat: The whole eternity is a platform to our inevitable end. We die and we continue to live forever as we watch and focus on the darkness of the nights.

[Gets a paneer dosa and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: When the Monitor (Jonathan Adams) died, the cosmic energy within him was unleashed and the same provided the superheroes with enough power to transport the surviving earths with their stars into a dimension between the universes referred only as the Bleed. This made sure that the earths existed safely, even though the place is not stable, with different laws of Physics and regular natural disasters – to add to the same people of past, present and future keeps appearing at the same time, draining resources, even putting a limit on the use of water. The humans in the planets are not happy, and survival would mean fighting creatures including dinosaurs, with the number of superheroes in the universe reaching an all-time low. They are still safe from the Anti-Monitor force and the annihilating tsunami waves, but it is to be seen for how long before they find the location of these planets from outside.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The end of the world seems to be coming sooner or later, whether it is due to this unstable world going beyond the limits or due to the Anti-Monitor force and waves finding the location and coming through. Even though people believe that death is only the beginning, there might not be anything to follow death in this case. They are surprised by the visit of Lex Luthor (Zachary Quinto) who reveals that the Anti-Monitor has found the Bleed and has already forced its way inside. Soon, it destroys Earth-146 and Earth-2, but it is revealed that it was Luthor who revealed the location of these earths to the antagonist to save his own. Luthor and his team of villains had already concluded that life in the Bleed is unsustainable, but he also studies the Anti-Monitor’s weaknesses and kill it. For the same, he comes up with an idea of sacrifice which would suit the best to his biggest enemies. But one has to wonder if he is to be trusted, as he has been one of the smartest villains around. Now, what fate awaits them as the final dawn of battle against apocalypse approaches?

The defence of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three :: The best part of the movie is the use of Constantine and his powers, and one should always consider him to be bigger than Doctor Strange due to those spells seemingly having a dark side as much as the classic one. The ending with him at the core nicely manages to get things done, and provides hope for a better and more effective world with hope that history would not repeat itself. The final look at the superheroes is something that we would remember for a long time, and the classic action coming in never gets old. Among the superheroes, there is always that childhood of ours that is reminded. The idea of multiverse getting the explanation also makes an impact, and so does the anti-monitor entering its existence. We also leave with the idea that Justice League never ends and we will always have some justice to be served in whatever is to come in a new world.

The claws of flaw :: The subplots do suffer in this movie, and sometimes, the movie does not seem to feel the need to explain further. The non-linear feeling never really leaves us either, and there is juggling around, which never ceases to leave us. The makers needed to remember that this movie was made for the common people too, and not just the comic fans and the superhero admirers of all times. The Supergirl, even with the sacrificial actions, is once again wasted, and there is no emotional impact to whatever she does, after her actions in the previous movie. The movie also did not seem to have gained that much of an opinion, maybe the loyal audience wanted something else, and most of us have no idea what the comics about the same idea was dealing with. The character crowding continued even after some of them were dead already, and a feeling of repetition creeps in at times too.

Soul exploration :: The movie reminds us about the decisions which we take and the consequences that come with it. It tells us that the desire to change the past is one of the most futile ideas and could affect not just us, but also many others, coming to that point where the end of all humanity and life seems to be close enough. It reminds the viewers to be satisfied with what they have, and that losses are inevitable. Thinking about a terrible past and wondering if we could have changed that, would not be the right thing to do. The movie does feel that focusing on a present and not changing the timeline would have meant that life would not have been this complicated, and so many deaths could have been avoided. The number of losses only increased due to these actions, as it is shown. It is not the death of evil that mattered, as one has to vanquish that evil face to face – fighting evil with evil was never really the solution as reiterated here.

How it finishes :: Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three ends the series of three movies really well – the end is truly remarkable and we are happy with what we had, even though it takes some time to reach there. The feeling of some missing is there, and still, it manages to be here in the end, strong and capable. The emotional moments also manage to get to that end which also seems to have a better logic than some of the most realistic films around. There is also a lot of action that comes around here, and with the inevitable danger that is so huge, the fear element is also there along with this adventure that goes on. It does not focus that much on the subplots, and it is often a good thing and at other times, quite strange. One would now feel that this is the end, and the new beginning can suggest new possibilities – another movie would surely be required to know what a new world would be about. Who all will be missing and what all changes come to the new world is more interesting than any other.

Release date: 16th July 2024
Running time: 98 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Wamester
Starring: Matt Bomer, Jensen Ackles, Darren Criss, Meg Donnelly, Stana Katic, Corey Stoll

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Infinite Earths II

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Vampire Owl: Have they solved the crisis of infinite earths yet?

Vampire Bat: The existence of infinite earths itself is a crisis with some avatars.

Vampire Owl: Do you think that the number of earths should be reduced?

Vampire Bat: I believe that there should be a limit to be parallel universes.

Vampire Owl: How many multiverses can a world hold then?

Vampire Bat: Certainly not an infinite number as we see. They are not in the atlas.

Vampire Owl: So, the world would come to an end.

Vampire Bat: All human worlds need to end to save the other species.

Vampire Owl: Do you see that happening any time soon?

Vampire Bat: Maybe they can turn into vampires, which is a solution.

[Gets a ghee dosa and three cups of Munnar tea].

What is the movie about? :: Supergirl a.k.a Kara Zor-El (Meg Donnelly) who escapes from a devastated Krypton on a pod is found by Monitor (Jonathan Adams) who has been watching all worlds and the destruction all around without interfering in any of them. It turns out that Kara does not have any memory of her past and he decides not to talk about the annihilation of her planet. But Kara discovers the pod in the hangar and understands the fate of her planet. Not happy that she was not told the truth and as no real attempt was made by the Monitor to save the dying planet even though he held immense power, she leaves. The Monitor still continued to observe her, and after many years, asks her to help him prevent the anti-matter waves from destroying different realities. He also provided her with some of his power, transforming her into an entity known as Harbinger and sends her to gather the superheroes, or metahumans who could serve the purpose as the heroes of the world.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The anti-matter waves which hit Earth-1 seems to be followed by many other similar waves, and stopping one was not really a case of success. Many heroes wander across the multiverse to operate, maintain and protect the vibrational towers meant to stop the waves letting them pass through their worlds without any effect. Batman a.k.a. Bruce Wayne (Jensen Ackles), Superman a.k.a. Clark Kent (Darren Criss) and Green Arrow a.k.a. Oliver Queen (Jimmi Simpson) continues to lead the way. Soon, shadow demons appear on different earths and attack all the towers, and the heroes react with the power of light. It is then that Psycho-Pirate (Geoffrey Arend) who was recruited by Monitor moves to the opposite side and uses the shared power of Monitor to turn the superheroes against each other instead using them to pacify the people who were facing the attacks. Things get out control and many earths become the victims of anti-matter waves. Now, it is to be seen what can be done next.

The defence of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two :: The series does get to be more serious with this movie, as the dangerous is so huge that it is almost impossible to stop the ultimate terror. The superheroes will have to fight not just one big evil, but the recruited supervillains and also themselves, with friends also turning into foes within seconds. The emotional side is also strong, except for Supergirl who ends up being the most hated character, a quality that she had been maintaining since the beginning of this one. The voices nicely suit the characters and the animations maintain the expected quality. The end of the world would seem beautiful at times, with nobody remaining to assert the dominance of the rich – everyone suffers equally, and this is the kind of world with Thanos would have wanted in the Marvel Universe – unfortunately, they cheated to end him with that Avengers: Endgame, and the feeling of absurdity with which we see the so called cheating superheroes come back to life was disappointing.

The claws of flaw :: The movie’s emotional strength is lower than the previous one, as the sacrifices here seem to be rather forced. There is indeed the struggle to have some characters liked by the viewers, as we do not feel that much of a need. Supergirl is the most detestable in this movie, selfish, and only thinking about her and her own people and not caring about others including those who genuinely caring for her, not even hesitating to kill good people to quench her insatiable anger towards the living. Once again, too many characters also complicate things, and the crowd seems to bother viewers again, especially with some characters who hold no long-lasting relevance, and some superheroes lack in creating interest. Just like those dumb Marvel heroes like Captain Marvel and Ms Marvel, some of the metahumans here would make no impact and seems forced to exist. Those are the kind of superheroes who need to be erased by anti-matter waves forever, and their existence remains a shame.

Soul exploration :: The soul of this movie is all about making sacrifices and striving hard to save the world, as all superheroes and some of the anti-heroes and even a few villains would want, as it is their world too. There are people who wishes to save worlds, and also others who do not want to do the same, and there are also mysteries behind all of these, with questionable actions being regular part of the happenings. Supergirl remains the one true villain, even though she can blame being targeted by mind – yet, her cruelty and brutality of the mind remain exposed like never before, and changes the course of action. Her soul remains pure evil, as shown in this movie, and no sacrifice which could come in the next movie can change that fact. It is applicable to everyone who has too much power and could not hold the responsibility, like Captain Marvel who has always felt to be evil and reckless and could have learned a few lessons from even the lesser known Madame Web. Well, great responsibility do not come with great power at all times.

How it finishes :: There is the feeling of better scope with this movie than the earlier one, as the confusion is less and fights are more – there is more of a feeling of epic with this one. There are still those non-linear elements which drag the movie back, but maintains the flick without that much of a confusion. As the narrative jumps between threads without any smooth transition, we are left to connect with the whole thing in the right way. The action gets to be bigger and the danger feels more immense as there is more than one anti-matter wave or two to deal with, and the real tsunami would mean much more. As the scope for terror and end of the world gets near, we leave with the feeling that there will be more to the third movie, and such a wait is definitely activated. Well, the animated movies from DC do maintain a certain amount of quality and rises well whenever it seems to be going down; salute to that.

Release date: 9th April 2024
Running time: 95 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Wamester
Starring: Matt Bomer, Jensen Ackles, Darren Criss, Meg Donnelly, Stana Katic, Corey Stoll

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Infinite Earths I

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Vampire Owl: Do you feel that our different realms would count as infinite Earths?

Vampire Bat: There are no parallel universes in our world

Vampire Owl: You mean that there is no different version of us?

Vampire Bat: I am sure that it is impossible in different realms with a wide variety of creatures.

Vampire Owl: So, there is only one me, right?

Vampire Bat: Yes, none of us shall be replicated, especially in the vampire form.

Vampire Owl: So, we really have to go to those areas and make an introduction.

Vampire Bat: You do not need to go to those darker worlds beyond shadow realm.

Vampire Owl: I have always considered myself to be a person of many realms.

Vampire Bat: Well, vampires are not welcome in all realms. There will always be the anti-vampires trying to throw us out.

[Gets a masala dosa and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: The Flash a.k.a. Barry Allen (Matt Bomer) has been experiencing time trips from different moments of his life, making a linear reality almost impossible. With the support of Batman a.k.a. Bruce Wayne (Jensen Ackles), Superman a.k.a. Clark Kent (Darren Criss), Green Arrow a.k.a. Oliver Queen (Jimmi Simpson) and others, he forms the superhero team known as Justice League. It is then that they are attacked by Amazo (Nolan North) who had earlier defeated them, and this time under the influence of Lex Luthor (Zachary Quinto), has his primary objectives manipulated. This alteration would make him kill anything which is not human, shifting the focus to Superman as the main adversary. Even though Amazon could see and sense what each superhero is about to do and defeat them, he finally understands the villainy of Luthor and how he and his creator had to suffer due to the same, leading to him helping the superheroes. Luthor is captured and that problem is solved.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: But this would be the smallest of their problems, as something big seems to be coming, and they would not be prepared for the same, neither would the superheroes of other parallel earths. When he is ready to be married, a creature appears and takes the superheroes to a space station known as satellite to be informed about a grave danger that awaits them. There are superheroes from different earths who have been gathered there to serve the purpose. The coming danger is an anti-matter wave, which can destroy entire universes, and it threatens the multiverse this time. These waves would destroy whole group of planets, starting with the earths of each universe. There might be nothing that could stop them, and Flash remembers that he had seen such a thing wiping out an entire earth which had Crime Syndicate ruling the world, but failing to stop the wave. Now, it remains to be seen about how many worlds will survive this anti-matter tsunami-like wave.

The defence of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One :: This has already been established as the first movie of something grand which is to come in three parts. The feeling of danger is nicely established here, and we understand the grandeur of things. There are so many superheroes whom most of us might be seeing together on the screen for the first time, and most of them do not lose their importance at all. This also feels like the beginning of the end of everything that would be justified with all movies of the franchise finishing in style. The idea of sacrifice and ageing together works nicely here. The action sequences and voices work well here. The bravery when facing the inevitable keeps things going. The suspenseful ending keeps things open for the next movie, and we look forward to get all the complications removed. We are ensured that there is still something to be brought to light that would change things by a long way.

The claws of flaw :: This does not stand alone and never does it remove any possible complications, and seems to feel that it takes the audience as granted as if they know a lot of things about this particular universe, its characters – more than what has been shown in the live action movies. The feeling of lagging is there as much as there is rush, especially for those unfamiliar with the previous animated universe tales and the comics. If someone is expecting the usual DC entry like Man of Steel, The Flash, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, Wonder Woman or Justice League, there would be definite disappointment and lack of interest. Well, we know that most of the viewers are of that kind only and comics and series related to superheroes are not really considered to be part of the world by the audience around here. There is the feeling that something might have been said somewhere, but we never knew. A basic idea of superheroes might not be enough to run through this world as an upgrade seems to be in demand.

Soul exploration :: There is much of soul exploration to be done here, but most of us are not really aware of the premise here. Some of these superheroes might not be appealing to all viewers either. But the idea seems to be moving towards the sacrifices that some of these metahumans are supposed to make. There might be the feeling that there are too many superheroes and we just cannot remember them all. The original villain also does not come into the picture here and seems to be reserved for later. Multiverse science, those anti-matter waves and all are not explained deeply enough here to make us understand – we just know that life is going to be erased from multiple earths. It tells us that humanity needs to find a way to survive, and do the same quickly. This will also be a wandering through the souls of all these superheroes to see whether they are all super and heroes, not just random metahumans.

How it finishes :: The movie seems to stay close to the comics from which it was adapted. So many DC characters and different universes make the tale very interesting, despite a certain struggle with the non-linear timeline. There might be the feeling that this could have been closer to the movie mode than the comics. With the emotional side also working in favour along with action, there is something always keeping things interesting despite the confusion in between. The first movie of the series might be the confusing among them all, as there are so many unanswered questions, and too much of wandering through the story keeps the struggle active, but enjoyable as we know that there is a lot more to come in the next movies. The sequels would explain a lot of things, and therefore watching only this flick will not be a completely satisfactory experience. These one and half hours would just serve as a beginning for something which is to come, and unlike the live action movies, it cannot stand alone either.

Release date: 9th January 2024
Running time: 93 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Wamester
Starring: Matt Bomer, Jensen Ackles, Darren Criss, Meg Donnelly, Stana Katic, Corey Stoll

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Quantumania

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Vampire Owl: I am sure that we are going to have a Vampire Ant soon.

Vampire Bat: A vampire with the size of an ant is never going to work.

Vampire Owl: It might not be scary, but would be effective enough.

Vampire Bat: You are expecting to send them as spies?

Vampire Owl: They could actually be made bigger with science.

Vampire Bat: You are going for more scientific experiments?

Vampire Owl: Yes, experiments led by Doctor Frankenstein.

Vampire Bat: You are going with the pseudo-scientist again.

Vampire Owl: Do you know that Doctor Frankenstein got another degree?

Vampire Bat: You should understand at least now that he is fake.

[Gets a Kolkata Kathi Roll and three cups of green apple tea].

What is the movie about? :: Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is now living the happy and much appreciated popular life after teaming up with Avengers to defeat the villain who was going to kill half of the population on the planet. He is happy living with his girlfriend Hope van Dyne ak.a. Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) while his daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) has a strained relationship with him and remains a very irritating activist who listens to nobody. She also has a suit like her father, but is not able to use it appropriately. As Cassie meets Hope’s parents, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and reveals to them that she was trying to contact the Quantum Realm with a message through a special device. This leads to Janet panicking and almost switching off the device, only to have them all taken into the realm. They were separated in the process, with Hope, Janet and Hank on one side of the realm, and Scott and Cassie on the other.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Janet tries to find a solution with an old friend Lord Krylar (Bill Murray) who is now aligned with the new ruler of the Quantum Realm, known only as Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) who have enslaved the local population, torturing and killing them as he wished. The enslaved population is led by Jentorra (Katy O’Brian) through a revolution which stands no chance against the mighty conqueror and his army. Also hunting them is Darren Cross a.k.a. M.O.D.O.K (Corey Stoll) who has been transformed into a cyborg-mutant combination working as a super-soldier for Kang. It seems that Janet has a past with Kang, and it involves the long period of time that she spent there. Kang is revealed to be someone who is capable of conquering and destroying different timelines, thus changing the multiverse. He is caught in this world after his exile only because of Janet’s actions and will do anything to escape. But can he do that with his army or some foolishness of the teenage daughter of Ant-Man, or can Janet once again do what she did long ago?

The defence of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania :: The world here is really well created with some fine detail that never ceases to amaze us. You see the objects floating around in this world and are left mesmerized with them. It could manage to be better than different alien worlds and creatures shown in other movies which are more popular and revered as even bigger names. There are also some interesting creatures which are added well enough. We are always looking at the background details of the world and appreciate the same. The world has surely got a strong villain too, as this one will go on to impress further in later movies as it seems, with a setting for a sequel. The ending has the scenes during credit which assures even more. The family moments and the focus on rebellion are present – it means that there is the certainty of emotional moments and messages running right through. Some of the humour does work too, but not those idiotic ones which we could have lived without, as Marvel refuses to grow up too often.

The claws of flaw :: The movie maintains the irritating thankless child idea, and the new generation of characters seem to be as much irritating as the new group of superstars, none of them making an impact – it was evident with The Marvels, and nobody wishes to see such a ridiculous new generation being provided the superpowers. Captain Marvel was already too overpowered, and too without a kryptonite. But to add to that, the movie also ridiculously holds on to the strange past. The humour is also less effective, and silly enough for most of its run. The thankless kid would never be a thing of humour either. Some of the elements might have also been lost in relation to some series which have been going on, but we are the fans of cinema, and cannot be persuaded to watch such continuous series. Marvel needs to think about its audience in all parts of the world, and focus on what appeals to them rather than just trying to make things absurd with some foolish, childish characters introduced as children of earlier Avengers.

The performers of the soul :: Paul Rudd continues his good form as the one superhero character that we keep remembering with a funny side. He is good with the funny side, and there are no moments when he is not into the character. There are many superheroes who feels funny or family-oriented and this is both with a big heart – he rightly becomes the same with ease. Evangeline Lilly seems to have come up with a tired performance in comparison to Michelle Pfeiffer who seems to have only gaining in strength as years pass. Michael Douglas is there as the other ant-member, and this is already too big an ant-family to look out for. Then there is Kathryn Newton as ant-woman which becomes another unnecessary addition to make the family even bigger and seemingly ready to explode with too many ant-people around. She is mostly irritating as the daughter, but manages pretty well in the action sequences. The one who impresses the most in the action sequences is Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, without any touch of overdose – her scenes are realistic, and we do not feel that she is not the rebel who battles who fights her heart out. Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror is a powerful antagonist that never gives up, and we often connects with him so well as a king rather than the villain.

How it finishes :: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame forward in its on way, focusing on the shrunken subatomic world rather than the one that everyone knows well enough. It is a fine method when we think further about it, as there is not that much in the universe that we already know along with its miserable group of people. While doing the same, the movie has created a fantastic world which might feel better than traveling to another planet or dimension full of aliens – there are enough creatures and civilizations in there to keep us interested. The entertainment factor never goes out of fashion, even though we would have surely loved to have a lot of action. There would have been the chance for more, and the irritating dumb jokes could have been avoided to make the world more serious. Well, this does manage to be interesting enough with its content, and we know how well different universes can manage to make an impact.

Release date: 17th February 2023
Running time: 124 minutes
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, Katy O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, Corey Stoll, Michael Douglas

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ant-Man

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ant-man!

Vampire Owl :: Are you sure that there is no Vampire Ant?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, it says in all vampire books, that due to the complete absence of alienation, an ant cannot be a vampire. Neither can the bees, wasps and termites. Alienation is the first step to becoming a vampire. The idea of eusociality doesn’t work with vampires at all.

Vampire Owl :: It is good. In the presence of a Vampire Ant, we would have had to sponsor his ticket according to the new Vampire Brotherhood rules and regulations.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, a Vampire Ant seems like an impossible thing, as of now.

[Gets the tickets].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com: http://www.kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/917-ant-man-movie-review.html

When we consider the superhero movies, Marvel is a name which has proved to be the most trustworthy one in the last few years. All the movies from Marvel Studios have kept a certain standard. Even though Ant-Man is a name which is rather unheard among the common audience outside the English-speaking world, the superhero character has been there for very long. With the reception that this movie has received, we can be certain that it can have a good position among the other movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though the same can’t be said about how it has managed in this part of the world.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just been released from prison and is hoping to lead a life away from crime for the sake of his daughter. As he is a post-graduate in electrical engineering, he hopes that he can find a job easily, but things are not easy as his criminal record keeps him away from settling down. A police officer named Paxton (Bobby Cannavale) is engaged to his former wife, which just makes things worse. So, he decides to go on a heist with his former cellmate Luis (Michael Peña) and his friends. They choose the house of a rich old man who is known to have a vault and as Scott has done this before with perfection, they depend on him.

Meanwhile, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) was part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. and had been responsible for the technology of shrinking sub-atomic particles and making Ant-Man possible. But he had quit because he understood that people were trying to copy and recreate the technology. He knew that such an invention will be incredibly dangerous if gone into the wrong hands. As his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and his former assistant and student, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) did come so close to duplicating the same technology, he is alarmed again, and hopes to make sure that it never happens. For the same, Hope helps him, and he needs a volunteer to wear the Ant-Man suit.

At a point, the lives of these two people come together, and the story of another superhero officially begins. Actually, the movie takes too much time to get to that new tale. The real Ant-Man is not even there until the second half of the movie – there are just people and two suits. There is too much of a delay here, and it can happen with origin movies, but this one has too much of time without interesting things happening. But things get a lot better in the second half, which is full of action, and there are some very nice sequences in the smaller world involving the ants and the hero himself. Things do get to have a better direction after that.

The final action sequences are very interesting, and the ending is nice. If the theatre won’t stop with the credits, you will surely want to see the scenes which come with the final credits. Even though Marvel has indeed brought us a smaller superhero and destruction is also lesser, the scope of this one is reduced for the same reason. The superhero power itself is weird, and the action makes too much way for drama, as the dialogues are rather a lot. The movie is rather too goofy, and celebrates its inability to provide more to ponder about or even to leave a message. The seriousness never really coming to the front and the absence of a menacing villain may be some of the major reasons for the same.

You can choose to enjoy the humour though, even as it is only partially working. This movie surely needed to be more serious. The ants should not have been portrayed as random cute creatures even when made bigger. This universe of Marvel works better with its chaos and destruction, as it is where the strength should have been derived from. Yes, there are talks about the chaos happening in the world, but that goes on with the light tone of the movie, and we are not really bothered if it happens or not, as there is nothing to make us feel it the same way. Paul Rudd is perfectly suited for the role though, and Evangeline Lilly plays the second biggest character on the good side well.

Ant-Man still continues to keep the Marvel Cinematic Universe going. It just can’t go on without the regular problems of an origin story, and is not without repetitions. The basic formula remains the same, and the differences are made only according to the character of the new superhero. But still, it should interest the regular viewer of superhero movies. It does seem a little overrated right now, as it is nowhere close to being the best from Marvel. Captain America: The Winter Soldier remains the most seriously awesome movie of the universe, and Ant-Man is just some good entertainment without many thrills and no twists. I watched this movie as one of the seven people in the theatre, out of which four came only later. The multiplexes do have been attendance though – still not that much as a usual Marvel movie.

Release date: 24th July 2015 (India); 17th July 2015 (USA)
Running time: 117 minutes
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Michael Douglas, John Slattery, Hayley Atwell, Abby Ryder Fortson, Gregg Turkington, Martin Donovan

ant-man

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.