Ant-Man: Comic Vine Reacts to the Teaser Trailer

Marvel’s Ant-Man has had a bit of the unknown factor. With a tiny bit of controversy over the changing of directors, we were left wondering what to expect. There’s no denying that Marvel Studios has been on a huge roll with their releases. Some have speculated whether or not this could be Marvel Studios’ first ‘failure.’

First of all, it would be premature to try to predict this movie as a failure before any footage was actually released. The argument that Ant-Man isn’t a big enough character (no pun intended) to carry his own movie also isn’t a justifiable argument. Some, including myself, were a little skeptical over Guardians of the Galaxy before its release.

With the trailer, we can be reassured that there is potential here. There’s a strange vibe at the beginning. The music almost gives an ominous feeling as Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym begins talking to Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang.

With Scott Lang, we appear to have a flawed and non-typical hero. There is the theme of redemption, something similar to the movies involving Tony Stark, Thor, and even Peter Quill. The action, FX, and motives shown in the trailer are promising. Then when you think it’s all going to be serious, you get Rudd’s last line. This shows the movie understands the idea of “Ant-Man” might be a little absurd.

There is supposed to be a big heist going on. We don’t get the full scope of what the main focus of the plot will be but that’s okay. This is just a teaser. There is promise here. There is more we can expect to see.

For the first time, in a long time, a new Marvel trailer did not get me excited for an upcoming film. I'm a huge Ant-Man fan, which sound like something ridiculous to say, and this trailer felt like a generic 2 minutes of slow pans and cross-fades. Ant-Man isn't a name brand character, so it needs a little flavor, much like the Guardians of the Galaxy trailers did. Here, we get two minutes of a main character having a rough life and having to step up to become a hero. It's exceptionally bland. Sure, it looks like it's shot great and features some fantastic actors, but that alone won't make a film good. Even the toss in of "is it too late the change the name," which should be a really funny line, falls flat because everything else in this trailer takes itself way too seriously.

The thing is that it's just a trailer. It's supposed to entice people to go an see it but Marvel could put up a crude drawing of Hulk on screen with some awful voice-over and people would still be lining up to see the film, including me. Sure the trailer is a total lackluster experience, but that doesn't say anything about the film. The people that cut trailers don't cut, direct, act in, or write the films. Ant-Man will still probably be awesome, even though this trailer was a pile of formulaic poop.

I have faith in Marvel Studios to always create a movie that'll entertain. I think none of the studio's movies are "bad." Even if one has a generic story, the studio's proven it can offer a ride that'll keep you smiling and engaged. I also have faith in Paul Rudd. I think he's shown he's capable of serious roles and absolutely has what it takes to make me laugh. And even though I think an Edgar Wright film would have been phenomenal, I'm confident Marvel Studios can recover from that loss and generate an amusing film. That said, this trailer didn't really get me excited for the movie.

Did I technically enjoy watching it? Sure, I did. I like the emphasis on family and I think making sure our kids have a better future is an important and powerful message. Plus, you can't help but feel excited about getting a look at what the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has in store for us. However, the trailer itself was surprisingly standard and didn't have a moment that made me want to exclaim something like, "OH MAN! DID YOU SEE THAT?" You know, like that time Hulk caught Iron Man in the Avengers trailer or Rocket standing on Groot's shoulder and firing a weapon like a mad man in the early Guardians of the Galaxy trailer. Nothing in here made me wonder about how thrilling or captivating a scene will look in theaters and nothing made it feel, well, unique. That's pretty disappointing since the promotions have been creative (the poster, the "ant-sized" preview) yet this felt very by the numbers, aside from the two short lines that gave Rudd a chance to make us laugh and show just a bit of character. And "character" is exactly what's missing in this one. Usually, Marvel Studios' movies have a specific tone and a ton of personality (Guardians of the Galaxy is a great example of this), but this didn't leave much of an impression.

Despite not being blown away by the trailer, I know this is just a sample of what the movie will offer. It hasn't made a strong or memorable first impression, but I do have confidence in the cast and crew's ability to create a solid film. Thanks to Paul Rudd and Marvel Studios' history, I'm optimistic the final product will show more character and offer more fun. Now we just have to wait and see if that'll be the case.

Ant-Man...remember when this movie was the butt of every snarky contrarian on the internet? Laughing uproariously about how, not ONLY would this movie never happen, but it would be an awful IDEA. Particularly with the likes of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man DOMINATING the box office? Aaaaah...those were the days. This teaser shows us a lot without showing us too much: we get glimpses and fragments with some great voiceover by the ever-gravelly and severe Michael Douglas (sporting a SWEET new beard). Looks like we're going to see plenty of Lang in his criminal days, or at least post-criminal days in prison. We get some faint, quick glances of Hope Van Dyne, seemingly a woman of action and, perhaps most importantly: we get some humor near the end with a great, self-aware quip. There's not much in the way of a sense of scale and for me that's what the movie needs to nail the most to make it more than "Tiny Iron Man," but there's plenty of time to perfect that.