Last night, I saw an early showing of Avengers: Age of Ultron at a theater of Marvel fans packed tighter than Thor in Iron Man’s suit. It was a lot of fun; we were treated to a showing of the last Avengers movie first, and the ticket included waiter service for drinks and food.
This weekend (and for the next year or so), many, many, MANY people are going to see the film, so there will be plenty of time to discuss the finer plot points and try to decode what they might mean for the studio’s future plans. But for now, here are my spoiler-free observations about Marvel’s Biggest, Baddest, Most Ambitious Effort to date.
Yes—Ultron is the MOST ambitious movie that the comic book king has ever tried. Former Marvel films carefully doled out the comic universe weirdness. They made sure to keep the stories grounded—especially in the solo films, by limiting super-powered beings to the hero and the villain. They very carefully set their characters up during the first act so that it mostly didn’t matter whether you’d seen the all the other films.
Well, this movie marks the point in time where the Universe has become so big, that they didn’t even bother trying to catch you up. The Marvel logo flashes and the audience is dropped right into the story—no preamble, no set-up. It reminded me of the Lord of the Rings. Movie starts and we’re off to the races. No time to catch you up, we’ve got sh*t to do. In fact, by the time the extremely sparse “here’s what we’re doing dialogue” rolls around, it’s so full of people and events from other movies, that it’s mostly useless for any first timers.
That’s ambitious enough for a blockbuster as it is. But Marvel went much further, by simply diving into a really nerdy story and rolling out some of the most out there and ungrounded characters. And that includes Guardians of the Galaxy. You can kind of buy a talking raccoon, because it’s space and it’s called out that Rocket was created in a lab. But Ulton, Scarlet Witch and Vision are simply alien. It becomes very, very apparent before the halfway mark, that Marvel is done trying to assimilate. They’re not wrapping their nerd-cred under the guise of action flix anymore. They proudly standing up and saying, “Yuuup. We’re here. And this is how we roll.”
The final act left me marveling (no pun intended) at the unabashed flare with which they dealt with out-there topics and characters. My girlfriend has seen all the MCU films multiple times. She owns three capes and a replica of Mjolnir. But I still needed to spend about 20 minutes, post-credits trying to answer questions and explain what the Hell had just happened.
If you’re a comic book fan: this is your jam. It’s a $250 Million movie made for you, and only for you. Family, friends and critics are going to scratch their heads or stare obliviously, but you will be in heaven.
The dialogue is signature Whedon, the acting is great, the effects and fights are spectacular, and that will be enough for most people. But the story is all comic book trivia and nods towards things to come. In fact, I don’t think I’d even be comfortable reviewing the movie until I have a chance to see it at least once more. I left with my head spinning over the changes to the MCU in just the last 30 minutes of the film.
So in summary, if you read this site, it’s likely the best time you’ll have at the theater this year. For God’s sake, just go see it already. Leave work if you have to. And even though you won’t believe me, there isn’t a post-credits teaser. Really.
My thought is…I feel like a LOT of major plot points happened really quickly or were wrapped up in obscure comic lore. So I agree–the other movies you listed were much more straightforward (and so probably better) or at least more accessible.
However, the dialogue, acting and action are all so good, that I’m willing to give the story a mulligan. At least until I see it again and try to get it straight in my head. Maybe I was too excited and/or drunk to follow along the first time.
@Miller LOL @”and/or drunk to follow the first time. Or maybe the Scarlet Witch got into your head! lol But seriously, your assessment is spot-on to me. I also think because of the good, yet somewhat mixed critic reaction, I went in with tempered expectations and was more than satisfied after leaving the theater. The funny thing is, as much as we hail the first Avengers, let’s not romanticize that film’s plot either. It was pretty standard/shallow, but the acting, humor, action and “first time seeing the Avengers” on camera are what make it get “ranked” higher by many moviegoers.
Agreed. Definitely a movie made for comic book fans. Just an entertaining thrill ride.
@Sai @Miller I must admit that although it may not have been able to replicate the once-in-a-lifetime rush that the first Avengers brought us, this movie was damn sure a helluva fun ride. I put it in the top 5 of the MCU to-date, after Iron Man, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy.