Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlet Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, Samuel L Jackson.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction.
I, like many Marvel fans, have been awaiting the return of the Avengers since the first instalment Avengers: Assemble but that’s not to say I haven’t gone wanting. With the numerous other Marvel instalments continuing to progress the story which have been released since such as Captain America: The Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy both solid instalments and all raising the bar for the Marvel franchise.
Due to such recent high standards I felt Avengers: Age of Ultron failed to live up to those standards and that’s why I was left a little disappointed. Well it was hard pressed to beat Avengers: Assemble because that was the first time we’d seen all our favourite characters in one movie kicking arse like they should.
I maybe also be suffering from superhero fatigue, with all these superhero movies seemingly to come out on a yearly basis, but not to say I don’t enjoy these films; Winter Solider with its spy theme really impressed and showed us these movies can do better. So why not here?
Well firstly let’s give a brief rundown of the synopsis, as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) begins to dabble in creating his very own A.I. so that Avengers will no longer have to be dragged out to battle anymore. Now as we know this doesn’t go to plan and he accidentally creates Ultron whose sole purpose is to protect the Earth (not so bad you might think well think again!). He quickly decides that mankind is to blame for all that is wrong with the world and that if he wants to create peace and protect Earth then it’s his duty to drive humans towards extinction.
Now Ultron disappointed me as a villain because he was cracking jokes all the way through and that’s not what I want from a villain, I couldn’t take him seriously. I mean Loki had a slimy demeanour you knew he was capable of doing something bad, the Winter Solider appeared to be some unstoppable assassin that Captain America couldn’t really defeat and here’s an A.I. with endless ways to destroy humanity he tries to lift a whole city out of the ground… Why?
Also there are some side storylines going on, one was with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) which is odd because this love interest doesn’t really do anything for the film except let us know how they calm the Hulk down (with an attractive lady using primate training techniques). Maybe they just needed to fill time between the action packed cinematic sequences and the epic battles because I’m going to be honest the pacing of the film seemed to be a bit off, dragging in some places.
I mean they had the same odd time filler with Hawkeye, but let me tell you something about why this bugged me so much (admittedly it was my own fault for assuming). At one point in the movie the whole gang hides out at Hawkeye’s house (already I’m annoyed) they meet his family and that, in an attempt to draw the audiences to see the human side to the heroes. The fact that Hawkeye is just the worst of the group and he has more to lose than the rest, brings me to think that maybe his number is up. So at the end of the movie we’re in the epic battle witnessing Ultron causing havoc and he gets Hawkeye in his sight (at this point I’m thinking I called this) and then BAM! Quicksilver takes the hit and he dies instead of Hawkeye! WHAT! A character who means nothing to the audiences (he spent half the movie being a villain!) I mean yeah Quicksilver will play a bigger role in Fox’s X-Men franchise so it makes sense to get rid of him but what an absolute cop out!
Now let’s stop ranting about the disappointments the film delivered in typical Marvel fashion with the awesome action sequences and the comedy (the running joke of the “watch your language” Avenger banter), there’s always a buzz when you see the choreography in the epic battles. My favourite fight sequence was between Hulk and Tony Stark’s Hulk Buster which was just awesome with RDJ comedic style going on throughout the fight was just an added bit of brilliance.
I’m probably suffering superhero fatigue but I felt like this movie was just another step towards Infinity War.
★★★☆☆
By Paul Viccars
INDIE BIZ MO 
See I liked the fact that they made the Avengers more human by giving them family and love etc (I mean, who doesn’t spread a tear at Black Widows ‘graduation’ sterilisation). I thought the story was dragging and that the Scarlett Witch was used to much as a villain and not enough as an Avenger but the next movie will bring that out I’m sure 🙂
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Some of it was good but I feel like they could do that in other films not in an Avengers film, what about Thor’s jolly for no apparent reason? That was pointless. Haha.
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