Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen Avengers: Age of Ultron yet, continue reading at your own peril.
About a month ago, I posed the following question: what are you most looking forward to in Avengers: Age of Ultron?
And you responded in kind.
After seeing the movie this past week, accompanied by two of my siblings and my oldest child, I can honestly say that I really enjoyed the movie. My sister was so geeked that she posted an Age of Ultron review immediately after watching it.
Was it an Empire Strikes Back-like follow-up to Marvel’s the Avengers? No.
But it was good fun nonetheless. Surely more fun than the Mayweather-Pacquiao “fight” that I watched the night before!
It was lacking the character development of stand-alone gems like Iron Man (2008) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), but that’s understandable given the introduction of three new heroes (Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and the Vision) as well as more screen time for Hawkeye.
Without further ado, here are my five favorite things about Avengers: Age of Ultron:
5. Hawkeye. Clint Barton is not one of my favorite superheroes. It’s nothing personal. I just can’t get too hyped about a guy who shoots bows-and-arrows, especially when he’s surrounded by a guy who’s souped up on super-serum wielding an impregnable shield, another guy with superhuman strength who wields an even more indestructible hammer, and, of course, the world’s richest, playboy philanthropist.
But that’s what made Hawkeye’s depiction here so good. They embraced the fact that he was indeed not inhuman. We get to see that he’s actually a regular guy, with a dedicated wife and loving children, and that he seemingly prefers that life to his superheroic day job. He even pokes fun at the fact that he’s a guy shooting bows-and-arrows while fighting on a floating city surrounded by people with powers in the film’s final battle scene.
If this is the last that we see Hawkeye for the foreseeable future in the MCU, what a way for him to go out.
4. The Vision. So let me get this straight. This dude, or should I say dude-bot (combo of a dude and robot), is made primarily of indestructible Vibranium, is more intelligent than any mortal, has the gifts of flight and fight, and has an Infinity stone implanted in his head? Yes, he’s a badass.
My only concern is: he has to die right? I mean, how else is Thanos going to get that Infinity stone out of his head? I guess we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.
3. The Final Scene. How cool was it to see the “new” team of Avengers laying in wait…including familiar allies like the Falcon and War Machine flanked by the two newcomers–Scarlet Witch and the Vision. With Hawkeye, Iron Man and the Hulk appearing to be heading in different directions for the time-being, the new crew better be up to the considerable tasks that await.
The groundwork is being perfectly laid for the Civil and Infinity Wars. What’s not to like about that?
2. Quicksilver (Death). I am not one to bask in the demise of another individual. But it is hard to have sustained drama if there is no sense of real danger or peril. Kevin Feige and company answered many fans’ calls to this issue, with the shocking death of Quicksilver in this film.
I must say, I was actually saddened when he died, as he and his twin sister–Scarlet Witch, showed great camaraderie on-screen (maybe the actors’ pairing in Godzilla had something to do with it?), despite limited character development time.
But in the end, I think Quicksilver’s death gave the film a grittier realism that was lacking in Marvel’s the Avengers.
1. Scarlet Witch. Being that I am not a comic geek in the truest sense of the word, I had a very passing knowledge or interest in Quicksilver’s sister. But after watching this film, I do now. Despite all of Ultron’s bells-and-whistles and eerie tones, it was Scarlet Witch who really messed with the Avengers’ heads…literally.
If you think about it, she was the primary driver behind much of the film’s conflict and hysteria. Her mind powers ultimately led to: the Hulk ravaging the downtown area of an African city before getting KO’d by the Hulk-Buster; Tony Stark maniacally continuing to seek an artificial intelligence solution to man’s lust for war after his “vision,” and Thor even having to summon Dr. Erik Selvig to help gain some clarity on his harrowing dream.
I can’t wait to see Scarlet Witch work more of her magic as the Civil and Infinity Wars rage on…get your popcorn ready!
Guardians of the Galaxy, which I gave a B+ and a re-watchability score in the high eigthies, was at least a more interesting film.
Can someone explain at what point super-robots are supposed to be easy to destroy? Weren’t Ultron’s other selves all based on some version of Iron Man’s armor(s)? What about all the vibranium? I can understand Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, or even Cap going toe-to-toe with Ultron or his droids, but Widow and Hawkeye? There didn’t seem to be much thought in the logic of the battle scenes just on how they looked. I can see why Whedon is called this his last Avengers film.
Oh yeah, they definitely “dumb down” the villains in a lot of these Marvel films. With the exception of Loki and perhaps the Winter Soldier (and Thanos if you count his cameos), very few (and their minions, the Chitauri in the Avengers come to mind) even give the impression of any “real” threat or danger or impregnability. Hey, I am at least hoping the Red Skull comes back; I’m not sure he died when the Tesseract seemingly vaporized him.
Nix Thanos from that list – his little cameos have been underwhelming and he hasn’t posed much of any real threat to anyone. He got owned by Ronan in Guardians and killed Thanos little assistant without reprisal!!
I’d love to see Huge back as Red Skull. He nailed the character.
@Sai Thanos has DEFINITELY been very corny! The change in casting did nothing as well. The Poitier kid appeared to be an even better fit than Brolin. Hugo hinted that the Red Skull didn’t die in a previous in
I stumbled on this review on the AOU last night (see link below). The article is pretty long, but you get the gist after reading it for about 5 min.
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/marvel-killing-the-popcorn-movie/
I think that the critiques are exactly on point re: the cinematic/theatric quality (or lack there of) for this latest Marvel project. I think that this could be the beginning of the end of the Avengers gravy train. To me, it was like watching the Dark Knight Rises. Not bad, but not as enjoyable as its predecessor. I’ll give AOU a B grade, with a 80% re-watchability score.
@Coach Funny thing; my sis’ sent me this review earlier in the week. And I tend to agree with your points. The movie is fun yet flawed. I’m very interested if Marvel execs learns from their failings here and really get Civil War right. I do feel confident that the Russos can pull it off (and not to say that Feige couldn’t/didn’t here).
Great read – spot on. I thought Scarlet Witch was really handled well.
@Sai Dawson I must say that I am surprised with how decent of an actor Olsen has been in these past few fantasy/sci-fi films (including Godzilla).