O.K. I’m coming in a little late on my series concerning writing in the superheroic genre. For those two people who don’t know, I’ve been doing these series over the years and the last one was earlier in 2015 with The Age of Ultron. The movie after that was Ant-Man and I must say that after seeing the trailer for the movie, I was underwhelmed. So much so that I decided that going to see the movie was out of the question for me. So, I simply skipped it.
Recently however, I saw that my local video store and Amazon Prime had the Ant-Man release. I decided to give it a try with my critical eye, especially when it came to the writing. This gave me a chance to actually stop, pause, rewind, and look at it much closer than a trip to the theater on opening weekend.
As I watched the movie, I was surprised that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The writers decided to take it in a more comic bent than the other movies before though that element seems to be there for most of them (I’ll be doing Guardians of the Galaxy soon. Another one I forgot. Yeah. I’ve been slacking). This calls for an overall lighter mood to the whole story and grant it, with the name Ant-Man, you pretty much expect it. However, there are moments in the movie, like with Michael Douglas explaining what happened to his wife, or Scott Lang dealing with the issue of his daughter, that you get glimpses into the serious nature of the business that they are in. The sacrifices and mistakes they have made.
Overall, the writing wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad. I think the pacing was the Achilles heel of the writing. The story seemed rushed. There were some things that could have been developed much better like the whole reason for Lang’s incarceration. That was worthy of more than just an honorable mention and hints throughout the movie.
I also felt the sequence of events should have been changed to add a more linear element to the story. I don’t mind flashbacks. I think they are powerful plot devices that a writer can use. However, I think they have to be used with careful application. When used, they should wind into the story to where the reader doesn’t feel as if they are going through a flashback but that it’s part of the flow of the story unless jarring the reader is the desired effect. In Ant-Man, there were a few. One was done well and placed in its proper spot. The others could have been developed as more of a direct part of the story instead of a flashback in the middle of it.
I will add this to my collection. It is an enjoyable movie and funny and the writing was done decently enough that I would like to see it again and add it to my collection which is saying much since I’m picky about such things.
