Avengers: Age of Ultron - Review

Avengers: Age of Ultron
D: Joss Whedon
W: Joss Whedon
S: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson

The Avengers strike back in their latest outing, this time facing off against a foe that maybe unstoppable. That unstoppable force being super interlligent A.I. - Ultron (James Spader). Will Earth's mightiest heroes be able to defeat this new nemesis, or will they fall to his mighty metal fist?

Do I even need to write this review? Chances are, you've already seen this and unless you're a DC person you probably love this or at the very least enjoy it. 

I'm still debating on whether or not I prefer this film over the first film, as of right now it is beating out the first film. But none the less this is film has both the good and the bad when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

The bad things though are very small, for me at least. The major issue is that it's trying to cram in so much in an attempt to setting up future films. One clear example of this is the number of heroes in the film. I mean just look at the cast listing above! That's 17 cast members! There's also Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue - "a black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster, who is a former acquaintance of Stark’s from his weapons-dealing days," and Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton, the wife of Avenger member Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) just to name a few. But that's bound to happen and unlike The Expendables 3 we've had multiple movies to get introduced to a lot of the characters and get to known them and they're all distinct enough to where we can tell the difference between them. So I give Joss Whedon enough credit when it comes to juggling these characters while trying to set up stuff for future films.

Speaking of character time: THANK GOODNESS Hawkeye is finally given enough some screen time to show that there's plenty to the guy. Hopefully we can finally stop those, "Hawkeye is so lame" and "Hawkeye is so boring" or "A bow and arrow? That's stupid!" crap. Seriously, I don't think people realize it takes a lot of skill to shoot a compound bow, let alone get multiple ridiculously accurate shots.

I never got why people felt that way about him. Grant it he never got as much development at the time as the others but he still got enough to where he could seen cool and useful, but apparently not. So in this film he probably has the most attention given to him which I am okay with. Hopefully this will put an end to the stream of Hawkeye jokes that are spewed by people. I'm not holding my breath on it though.

I love how Whedon decided to have a scene taking place at Hawkeye's farm where we get a hint of who he is. It's a nice touch, good on Whedon for defending the scene and keeping it in.

But what about the newest editions to the Avengers, the Maximoff Siblings - Pietro/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)? Both do a fairly good job on the team and are portrayed very nicely. Although I will admit I think I prefer X-Men: Days of Future Past version of Quicksilver (Evan Peters), that's not to say Taylor-Johnson is bad in the role. Though their transition from siding with Ultron to siding with the Avengers does just sort of narrow down to,

SCARLET WITCH: You're a villain!

ULTRON: Yes I am.

QUICKSILVER: We're not siding with you anymore!


Speaking of the villain - HOLY CRAP is Ultron awesome! While the previous Avengers adversary Loki (Tom Hiddleston) had a little more to him character wise, I think Ultron beats out as the best Avengers villain because he is legitimately terrifying. I mean this dude wants to wipe out the human race and in a way that makes for a tense and suspense third act. Another reason is because this guy seems almost unstoppable, while Loki seemed to get his butt handed to him more than regularly. James Spader was a more than perfect for this role as the condescending, smooth and creepy A.I. who seems to represent the fears of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.).  It's amazing how he can lyrics from the Pinocchio song "I've Got No Strings" and make them creepy. I want to see that happen with more classic Disney songs, like The Yodel Song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Now before all the Loki fans get made at me, rest assure I do still like Loki, okay? He's still a pretty good character and Tom Hiddleston is an awesome actor who brought a lot to the character. Okay? We clear? Good!

Before I go any further I just want to take a moment and say that the music by Danny Elfman is amazing! Can we get him to do music for superhero movies from now on?

Now there are some of character who sadly don't get a lot of screentime when it comes to recurring characters Captain America (Chris Evans) is sadly the biggest victim of that, but I think the one that suffers the most when it comes to new characters is Vision (Paul Bettany). But I did find him interesting enough and he'll surely get some screen time in future Marvel films, the dude is way to weird to not to. I also look forward to seeing the new Avengers line up they hinted at the end.

One final thing I'd like to talk about is about how the Avengers put a great amount of effort into making sure that they save as many civilians as possible. Nice little touch in response to the criticism of Man of Steel and the first Avengers film. It's also a nice to touch that does show that there are consequences to their actions and that they're acknowledging it and learning from their past.

These positive aspects and more are why I've been enjoying the hell out of these movies. These films manage to combine excellent action, character moments and continue to build this universe in a fun and exciting way which is what I want with these summer blockbusters. Are there some their problems with this film and the other Marvel cinematic films? Yes, there's no doubt about it. But as long they keep me entertained they don't bother me as much. If you want to kick the summer movie season off on a good note then go and check out Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

By the way, this is the ranking of the M.C.U. movies, as of right now:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Avengers: Age of Ultron 

The Avengers

Captain America

Iron Man 3

Iron Man

Thor

Iron Man 2

The Incredible Hulk

Thor: Dark World

Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. Thank you for reading.

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