The latest gift from Marvel Comics departs from the regular Avenger type
By Anirban Lahiri
Featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
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| Ant-Man (2015) - By Peyton Reed |
IMDb Ratings: 7.9
Genre: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll
Country: USA
Language: English
Runtime: 117 min
Color: Color
Summary: Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
Ant-Man stands out from all other Marvel characters for its army of ants, with a shrunk man as their leader. Marvel franchise has presented a plethora of different super heroes to us, for years. The platter includes different breeds of super powers from Hulk and Spiderman to Captain America, Iron Man, X-Men and Ghost rider. The Ant-man is the latest addition to the list. The comic book character was created in 1962. However, the cinema hall debut had to wait for five decades, for some unknown reason.
Just like all
other Marvel stories of these days, Ant-Man offers a brilliant experience in
3D. Added to the regular effort, the miniature character of the hero is shot in
life-size as well as in shrunk camera. In 3D, there is a concept called Depth Budget. Depth Budget means the
totality of the perceived distance between the foreground (FG) and the distant
background (BG).
In the early 3D cinema of the 30s, 50s and 70s, the bulk of
actions used to occur outside the screen-space. 3D people call that the
“theatre space”. Too much theatre space action easily make the viewer dizzy,
and the action unenjoyable. Clearly, that is an extreme example of spectacle.
We, human beings, go to cinema to enjoy a parallel life, with elements of
dreams present. If that becomes too much like dream, or a fantasy zone even
beyond dream, it would be irritating.
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| Paul Rudd as Scot Lang in Ant-Man |
Depth Budget
is dependent on the practical distance between the two camera lenses. For
characters in the middle ground, shot with a normal lens (a normal lens
captures the image in a way where the perceived distance between characters and
background/foreground, or the distance between the character and the camera,
matches the distance in reality), this distance (known as the “inter-axial
distance) is equal to the distance between our eyes (known as “inter-ocular”
distance). If, for some reason, the inter-axial distance is higher than the
inter-ocular, the depth would be more. If we want an already far-away
background to recede further, the inter-axial distance must be set too high. For
example, to give a proper rounded 3D look to the moon, the two cameras may be
set miles apart. However, this is a rare situation.
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| A Still from Peyton Reed's Ant-Man |
The other
choice the Stereographer (ie, 3D motion picture expert) must make is to decide
which distance in the frame should align with the screen depth. That may be any
distance in the FG, MG (Middle Ground) or BG. If the BG is set to the screen
space, the whole action area would be in front of the screen – precisely what
used to be in the early days of 3D. Contemporary filmmakers have learnt from
this past mistake. Hence, the nearest distance in the action area is normally
kept aligned with screen space, and any farther distance is given depth, beyond
the screen area.
In Ant-Man,
they shot largely with macro lenses, thus letting the action stand out
aesthetically by making both FG and BG blurred. They made the background larger
than normal to emphasize the Ant-Man’s diminished size. At the same time, the
filmmakers have played with the Depth Budget to evoke intensity of action and
immediacy. The result is a tremendously soothing 3D action.
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| Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym in Ant-Man |
Another VFX
treat is to find a young Michael Douglas in the character of Dr Hank Pym. This
is the Michael Douglas from Wall Street (1987). Lola VFX, the company
responsible for all those fantasy creations in Ant-Man, returned the actor to
his 40s. We have seen such de-ageing effects in X-Men previously. Here, the
polish has reached an unprecedented scale.
Sci-Fi and
fantasy aficionados would find Ant-Man relishing. Viewers who do not follow the
regular Marvel franchise too religiously would find the film relishing.
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) tapped the mysteries of the black hole
and the world beyond the four dimensions. Ant-Man takes it one step further, to
the world of quantum space where the known laws of physics do not work. In a
clever twist of events, the film prepares its audience for a plausible sequel
too.
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| A Still from Peyton Reed's Ant-Man |
Besides
these innovations in visual storytelling, the basic plot has most of the
regular ingredients of an avenger film from the Marvel. A badass hero who is a
failure to his own family, an extra-ordinary scientist who wants to save the
world, an evil doctor who wants his own kingdom, and the Princess who trains
the hero. Only the dragon is absent; but a variety of ants fulfil that lack. An
interesting, modern fairy tale that enlightens us about evil ambitions and the
conversion factor that sculpts a hero out of an intelligent criminal – that is
how Ant-Man works.
The film is
definitely better than Captain America, but less thrilling than the last
Avengers.
About Author -
Anirban is a Cinematographer and film teacher. After a marathon teaching of filmmaking for five years in Digital Academy, Mumbai, he is busy writing his own film now. He was with DearCinema during its first phase. Steeped in cultural theory, observation and history, he sees all his work as part of a continuum – critique. Anirban consciously plays the role of a critic while shooting films, teaching, writing stories, and of course while critiquing. His favourite filmmakers are Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Ritwik Ghatak, Satyaji Ray, Luis Buñuel, Andrei Tarkovsky, Abbas Kiarostami and Nagisa Oshima, to name a few.
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
Ant-Man (2015) Trailer (YouTube)
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
References:
Ant-Man (2015) Trailer (YouTube)
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I like the movie. Yes agree! it could have been a much better movie. Great Review and thanks for sharing
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