Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. Courtesy Marvel
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. Courtesy Marvel

Film review: Ant-Man is small-scale for Marvel but still not fun-sized



Ant-Man

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas

Three stars

If ever there was a sworn devotee – a chanting, face-painted worshipper – of things that are big, it is Marvel.

So the prospect that Ant-Man, the minuscule Mighty Mouse of Marvel’s stable of powerhouses, might join the brawny big-screen ranks of the Hulk, Thor and the rest, has long held some pleasing irony. But the enticement of something different went out the helicarrier window when, just weeks before shooting was to commence, Edgar Wright, the British blender of genre and comedy who had worked on the project for about a decade, departed over “creative differences” – a sacrifice, seemingly, to the Marvel colossus.

The precise source of the dispute is unknown, but it's clear enough from the final product, pushed forward with the quick insertion of director Peyton Reed (Bring it On, The Break-Up) and a rewrite by Adam McKay and others, that Ant-Man became bedevilled with staying true to its more modest size and idiosyncratic nature, and with the larger, blander demands of being a Marvel movie complete with superhero cameos and (optimistic) sequel set-ups.

The result is a film not quite sure of itself, like it’s wearing clothes a size too big.

Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a politically motivated cat ­burglar being released after three years in San Quentin. He has an ethnically diverse group of petty-criminal friends and out of “TI” Harris, David Dastmalchian and Michael Pena, the only actor rightly convinced he’s in a comedy. Lang is trying to right himself for the sake of his young daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Forston), and for paying child support to his ex-wife (Judy Greer, an actress too good to be twice relegated to the domestic sidelines in this summer’s blockbusters).

But spryness (an essential quality for any movie about an insect superhero) or any much purpose, at all, is missing from these scenes. The movie is too controlled for Rudd's goofball charm – best on display when simply standing in front of a mirror (Wanderlust) or animated about music (I Love You, Man) – to break free.

Through some strained plot mechanics, Lang is recruited by the original Ant-Man, ­scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), to succeed him in the suit. Along with his daughter (a bob-sporting Evangeline Lilly), he’s conspiring to prevent a former apprentice (Corey Stoll) from unlocking the atomic secrets that led to Ant-Man in the first place: the ability to shrink down to bug size, yet maintain strength. Somewhere in Wonderland, Alice is tapping her foot.

With the press of a button, he can toggle between big and small, and appear all but invisible when tiny. The perspective change allows for some unlikely superhero foes, like a bathtub drain. During training, while Lang tries to perfect his communication with other underground ants, he sometimes pops out of the ground like a sprouted cabbage.

With a screenplay credited to Wright, Joe Cornish, McKay and Rudd, Ant-Man unfolds in pleasingly human-sized fashion. It’s a robbery movie. Not one city is levelled; it’s like Marvel has gone on a diet.

But it’s only in the climactic scenes where the movie unlocks the antic potential of its shape-shifting. Rather than taking place above the skyline of a metropolis, the big action scenes are set inside a briefcase and in Cassie’s bedroom. Such moments, sprinkled throughout, are like glimpses of a better Ant-Man that might have existed.

Change, we are told, is afoot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ant-Man is the final movie in the studio's "Phase Two", with promises of bigger, intergalactic battles looming in "Phase Three". But as a parent might say, it's just a phase. Because you have to squint pretty hard to spot the differences from Marvel movie to Marvel movie. If Ant-Man proves anything, it's that any diversion in this universe is likely to get stomped underfoot.

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

Squid Game season two

Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk 

Stars:  Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun

Rating: 4.5/5

ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
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UPI facts

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Ticket prices
  • Golden circle - Dh995
  • Floor Standing - Dh495
  • Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
  • Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
  • Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
  • Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
  • Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
  • Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Fight card

Preliminaries:

Nouredine Samir (UAE) v Sheroz Kholmirzav (UZB); Lucas Porst (SWE) v Ellis Barboza (GBR); Mouhmad Amine Alharar (MAR) v Mohammed Mardi (UAE); Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) v Spyro Besiri (GRE); Aslamjan Ortikov (UZB) v Joshua Ridgwell (GBR)

Main card:

Carlos Prates (BRA) v Dmitry Valent (BLR); Bobirjon Tagiev (UZB) v Valentin Thibaut (FRA); Arthur Meyer (FRA) v Hicham Moujtahid (BEL); Ines Es Salehy (BEL) v Myriame Djedidi (FRA); Craig Coakley (IRE) v Deniz Demirkapu (TUR); Artem Avanesov (ARM) v Badreddine Attif (MAR); Abdulvosid Buranov (RUS) v Akram Hamidi (FRA)

Title card:

Intercontinental Lightweight: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) v Angel Marquez (ESP)

Intercontinental Middleweight: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) v Francesco Iadanza (ITA)

Asian Featherweight: Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) v Phillip Delarmino (PHI)

The Abu Dhabi Awards explained:

What are the awards? They honour anyone who has made a contribution to life in Abu Dhabi.

Are they open to only Emiratis? The awards are open to anyone, regardless of age or nationality, living anywhere in the world.

When do nominations close? The process concludes on December 31.

How do I nominate someone? Through the website.

When is the ceremony? The awards event will take place early next year.

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Sustainable Development Goals

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality  within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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RESULTS

2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: AF Senad, Nathan Crosse (jockey), Kareem Ramadan (trainer)

2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Ashjaan, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel.

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4pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Cup Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri.

4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Manhunter, Ryan Curatolo, Mujeeb Rahman.

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The Case For Trump

By Victor Davis Hanson
 

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4