Film Review - Ant-Man

 

Tiny Action Hero

Film: Ant-man

Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly

Directed by: Peyton Reed

Duration: 1 hr 57 mins

Rating: * * * 

Superhero films have reached a point of saturation. Firstly, there has been a plethora of super hero films in the last few years since studios have realized that it is a relatively easy way to make money. But worse, they all pretty much follow the same formula of crash, boom bang with the hero managing to save the day just in the nick of time.

Cashing on the success of such films, Marvel has introduced Ant-man, one of the less popular characters but a super hero all the same.  For a large part, Ant-man appears to be run of the mill stuff – the lead character has personal issues, family issues till he gets a chance to redeem himself. The last quarter of the film, especially the climax is the saving grace. 

Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a small time burglar who is separated from his wife and daughter. Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) a scientist has made a breakthrough invention that could change the world. For fear of it falling in the wrong hands, he doesn’t go the distance. But the bad guy (Corey Stoll) running the corporation does. 

As it has been happened since the days of The Seven Samurai, small time crooks are used to fight the more evil ones. Dr. Pym recruits Scott to be Ant-man, a super hero with a suit who can vanish, become really tiny (like Honey I Shrunk The Kids) and also command an army of ants. Dr. Pym’s daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) lends them support during the fight with the villain who like other villains, is aspiring to become the most powerful man in the world. 

Given that Ant-man can become really tiny, gives the director a lot of scope to work around in terms of the visuals. A fight scene atop Thomas the train is very well choreographed and it is only towards the end the film comes into its element. 

Establishing the characters has been a major issue with recent super hero films, they all have been walking on the road much travelled. Mercifully, the tone of Ant-man is on the lighter side with jokes coming in every now and then. 

To be fair, it hits a few roadblocks but delivers the goods in the end. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 26th July 2015

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Film Review - Big Hero 6

Big Entertainment

Film: Big Hero 6

Voices of – Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Jamie Chung

Directed by: Don Hall, Chris Williams

Duration: 1 hr 48 mins

Rating:  * * * 1 /2

Big Hero 6 marks Disney’s foray as far as super hero animation films are concerned.  Inspired by the super hero team of the same name of Marvel comics it is one of the most entertaining animation film we have seen in a while.

The story of most animation films has become very routine now and many are also pedestrian in their story telling. But Big Hero 6 manages to score on both the counts – the story is different and engaging. Moreover, it also caters to all the age groups.

Set in a city called San Fransokyo (a cross between San Francisco and Tokyo) Hiro Hamada (voice of Scott Adsit) is a young boy who is also a whiz kid when it comes to Robotics. Much against his aunts and his brother Tadashi’s wishes, he participates in underground robot fights.

Tadashi himself is a genius of sorts, he has created a ‘personal healthcare assistant’ robot Baymax (Ryan Potter). Hiro invents ‘microbots’ which impresses many people but Hiro’s enthusiasm is cut short by an accident which leads to a personal tragedy.  

One day, he activates Baymax and the two make a splendid team. They discover that there was some foul play involved in the tragedy and to get to the bottom of it they are able supported by Tadashi's friends GoGo, Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred. 

The film has a few laugh out loud moments thanks to Hiro and his interaction with Baymax. It is fair to say that the latter is the primary cause for entertainment.There are a couple of scenes (like the one involving Baymax and Hiro flying over the city) which look stretched, but otherwise the screenplay is tight. 

The animation is nothing spectacular but the film makers have focused on the more important aspect which is a good story.  All in all Big Hero 6 is a delightful film.

Published in The Navhind Times on 9th Nov 2014

www.twitter.com/sachinchatte