Five Reasons I Think ANTMAN Will Be Fine

Antman has been a movie property that has had its problems even before Edgar Wright abruptly departed earlier this year. It has been a property that nobody took seriously. Even back when the film was announced, the general reaction from the public was like

Even a year ago when I would excitedly tell my friends about the Antman movie, they would laugh in my face and tell me how ridiculous the name sounded. This was until I told them Edgar Wright was writing and directing. Edgar bought in a sense of legitimacy to what would otherwise be a silly sounding idea. Then he walked off the project. The internet comic community went on a frenzy – thinking this would spell the end of the MCU and some vowing that this would cripple the Marvel empire (Short term it would be, as people have forgotten in light of "TEHHHH OMGZZZZ HULKBUSTERERRRRR!!! MARVEL IS AWSUM!")

Things went from bad to worse in the fans eyes, as Edgar was was most likely booted off his own project and people rallied behind the seemingly injured creator, spat out from the Hollywood system. Marvel scrambled to find a new director and every day that passed seemed like another nail into the coffin of Marvel (well according to the very vocal opinionated sections of the fan base). Then came Adam McKay and everyone (myself included) raised an eyebrow in unsureness. Then he turned out to be too busy – but was willing to do a script doctor to Wright and Kornish’s script. Then came the most unlikely candidate (in my opinion anyway), Peyton Reed. Peyton WHO?! Well his filmography is very sparse and the only stand outs to me were Yes Man and Bring it On. This sent the fan-base into another frenzy - again with the short term memory, conveniently forgetting that the Russo brothers were also unproven before Cap 2… But I digress…

The fans weren’t and still aren’t really happy with this Antman fiasco. Even leading to a completely disgusting moment from the fan base, in my opinion, at comic-con where they boo’d Peyton when he came on stage. That moment made me completely ashamed of the fan-base that I was part of. Look, I’m going to leave this can of worms alone for now, and this is the last you will hear of it in this editorial. I just want you all to know that I personally wanted to rant and rave at every single disrespectful person in that hall. It’s fine if you don’t like the situation, but do not take it out on a guy who was not even part of the situation. It is disrespectful and completely childish. I felt very bad for Peyton as he was on that stage.

Since then the whole Antman thing has died down and many still do not see any positivity in the situation. I am here to tell you five reasons why I think Antman will be fine and why it will not be the awkward red headed step child. Hopefully I will at least quell the negativity surrounding this project.

5 – Marvels track record
This is the simple and most poignant reason. Marvel has a fantastic track record with their past films. You can argue to the moon and back about how Iron Man 2 & 3 sucked – but I simply cannot buy that everybody think that it is "teh worst movie evar!" Iron Man 2 was a medicore movie, with major problems – but it’s still a pretty entertaining and passable film, not the worst movie ever. I actually liked Iron Man 3, take out the fan angering twist and I feel that people would have accepted it more. Marvel has not made an un-watchably bad film, at worst they have made meh movies. Their worst movie, Incredible Hulk IMO, still has moments that I like and is meh at worst. Looking at Marvels track record you can tell that we are going to, at the very least, see a passable film that will have cool action scenes (especially considering the uniqueness of the character).

4 – Compelling cast
I’ll keep this one short cos I don’t have much to say. The cast laid forward is stellar to say the least. Paul Rudd is a good looking comedic presence and fills the Marvel quota of what a leading man should be. Michael Douglas, what more can be said – the man has presence and he brings a prestige to any role he inhabits. I have been very impressed with Corey Stoll in his work that I have seen. He is charismatic and very likable – just watch House of Cards to see how endearing he is, despite his vices. I actually hope that Yellow Jacket becomes an ongoing character in the MCU (even becoming an anti-hero), just to see Corey in an ongoing super hero role. The only cast member I don’t have much of an impression of is Evangeline Lilly – I haven’t seen much of her so I don’t have an opinion.

3 – Expanding the history of the MCU
This is more of a fan theory, but introducing a character like Hank Pym opens the door to expand the big time gap between WW2 and Iron Man 1. I think it would be important to have Pym as a SHIELD agent/scientist that worked with Peggy Carter in the seventies and was the worlds “second” super hero. Expanding the world can only be a good thing and will help give a better tangibility to SHIELD’s exploits before Iron Man came onto the scene – it could also explain why the world has not seen a hero since Captain America, as something may have gone horribly wrong. It is all just a theory, but I do think that Hank Pym had to have played a big role in the past SHIELD. Being a secret super hero back in the day is likely, considering his comment, “Superheroes? What a God damn joke.”

2 – Script/The passion
Marvel ordered the re-writes on Wright’s script due to a lack of connectivity to the MCU. I took this as more than simply not having enough Easter Eggs – but maybe the script just didn’t tonally feel in line with the MCU. Let’s take Guardians of The Galaxy, it is Marvel’s least Marvelly film – it is at its heart, a James Gunn film. But it still feasibly felt like it inhabits the same universe as Marvel. The problem is that Edgar has a very unique style and look to his films. Just watch the TV show, Spaced, you can see that he is very unique where it comes to tone and style. The script was probably too far removed from the feel of the MCU and Feige tried to rectify this by letting Edgar make it more in line – but it just didn’t work. Marvel does not want to make a film that doesn’t fit in their vision, what they are doing is the ultimate collaboration and there needs to be a little continuity in terms of connectivity.

Now we have a script that is more in line with Marvel’s vision and is written by Adam McKay and the lead actor, Paul Rudd. I think people should be rejoicing in the fact that the behind the scenes crew are dedicated and are themselves fans – they have passion. Just listen to any interview with McKay and he is glowing when talking about the writing process in this film. I can forgive a lot in a film, as long as the people behind the scenes believe in what they are making and are not phoning it in – that is the feeling I get from this film, there is deep passion.

1 – Everything fans hate came from Edgar Wright
This is the most important point and is much overlooked. Almost everything I have heard fans hate about this film have come from the original concept. Why is Hank Pym an old man? Cos Edgar Wright wanted to make a film about an old hero passing the torch to a younger hero. Why is Hank Pym not Ultron’s creator? Cos Edgar Wright wanted Hank for HIS film. Although Wright stepped off of the film – the plot and the premise remain much the same. These are the pieces Wright set up. I think it is unfair to blame the current creative on the direction of the film. It is obvious that Marvel was somewhat hamstrung by Wright sitting on his laurels for so long. Wright had the premise for this film for a long time and Feige knew this, so, in my opinion, he kept all of those pieces away so Wright could use them. I have no doubt that Antman would have been in the original Avengers line up if it weren’t for Wright, in fact Wasp was in the original draft by Joss. I’m not blaming Wright for keeping these characters away from the MCU – I am just pointing out that all the negative story points that fans have, have not come from the new creative – they came from Wright. This is important to remember. I actually don’t mind the changes TBH, the only thing I was a little sour on was the fact that Hank Pym was going to be an old guy – but I’m over that now, it’s not a big deal.

Hopefully I have compelled some of you to give this movie a shot. I just wish that more people would be optimists when approaching films. It is too easy to blindly hate something without giving it a go. People need to take a wait and see mentality. For example, I am dubious about Batman v Superman due to the behind the scenes track record – but I am not going to mindlessly hate everything Batman v Superman, I am going to wait and see it before judging. So if you took anything out of this editorial, I hope it was to keep a more open mind. Perspective is important when looking at all these CBMS, they are just movies at the end of the day. Getting worked up over Antman is not worth it in my opinion – if it does suck, then it sucks – there is no amount of anger or trolling that will make the movie better. If you want to get your dislike across then make constructive criticism. It is no help to say to Marvel, "ANTMAN SUX SMH" say why you hate it past the superficial "Cos it's not Edgar Wright". Remember, this is all opinion and people have different ones, so if you disagree then don’t just go on the tirade – tell me why you disagree. Sound off below and let me know what you guys think. If you liked this editorial hit the red glove, share it, comment and check out my other editorials.

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Thanks for reading, bye bye for now!