AVENGERS: AGE OF
ULTRON (2015)
Saw this one tonight with my son over at Cinemark in Mesa.
There is a ton to say on this thing, but I am going to keep it as short as
possible. The first thing to know is that if you don’t quite understand what the
heck is happening in the opening scene, that will probably be because you
ignored all my begging you to start watching AGENTS OF SHIELD. In fact, you will
feel a lot better about the first 15 minutes of this movie if you watch at
least the last 5 or 6 episodes of AGENTS OF SHIELD. After that, this movie
pretty much stands on its own.
The weaknesses: Likely due to the fact that no one really knows who the hell
is running SHIELD in the MCU or on TV, their visibility in this movie just
feels very much like a wonky afterthought. In fact, they are probably being run
by the freakin League Of Assassins from the DC Universe for all we know. The writing in at times feels like it was
completely geared towards 4 characters and the rest just got “generate a script”
lines from some internet site that fit but didn’t feel quite as genuine. Plot-wise we do get a feeling that there may be another hour of explaining things
that got cut out, but overall you can follow along as long as your mind has
already been trained to quickly fill in the gaps.
The triumphs: The characters that are given the most to say
I pretty much fell in love with all over again. I also really really liked both Elizabeth Olson (Scarlet Witch) and James Spader (Ultron). There is something magically
sinister about Ultron that makes you almost enjoy his fearless arrogance and
want to see him again but also want to see him lose at the same time. All the
things we like about the Avengers are pretty close to on target here with a few
exceptions. Black Widow gets some really nice depth and Hawkeye has a much
bigger presence as well. Action-wise, I am not sure they could have crammed any
more into this thing if it was 4 or 5 other movies put together. Plot-wise it
does feel a little off trying too much to balance backgrounds and philosophy and
setups for movies down the road, with Ultrons nutty freakin method of trying
to destroy the world. None of the weaknesses however make this a movie not to
run and see as fast as you can.
I didn’t feel as emotionally moved after this one as I did
after the first AVENGERS movie, but it was a thrill ride nonetheless with
some really strong moments. Comic book fans that haven’t accepted the division
between MCU and the comics might be upset with so much of the origin stuff in this,
but they really need to get over it. Should this movie make 2 billion dollars…heck
yes, I am going to see it again tomorrow.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF MARVEL STUDIOS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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