The Avengers: Age of Ultron Point-By-Point Review (2015, Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Disney/Marvel Studios)

 

 

What Rocked:

• Feels bigger; the scale is bigger, more locales are explored, a lot more heroes are involved (and in retrospect when Infinity Wars I & II come out, this will have nothing on the two-part third act), and the stakes are bigger. Loki wanted to rule the world like he always has, whilst Ultron wants to kill everybody and replace everyone with cybernetic beings.

• No slow start. The very opening of the film sees the Avengers beating the ever-loving shit out of HYDRA goons. And the whole scene is awesome.

• Contains a clever jab at Disney, in the form of a joke (that kind of runs its course a bit too much), that pokes fun at how they're still sensitive over coarse language cropping up in major film properties. If only you guys could witness how foul-mouthed much of your target audience actually is, Disney!

• The pacing of the film seems better at times than in the first film, but at other times (yeah, no specific examples needed, just watch the film)...

• Ultron is arguably more menacing as a villain than Loki, but he's a lot more one-dimensional. Loki has a huge inferiority complex and he's not irredeemably evil, plus he's leashed by Thanos. Ultron suddenly wants to pull a Skynet almost right out of the gate. And he hates Tony Stark. Still, I had the feeling that Ultron would have done far more damage than Loki had he been allowed to. And you know what? He did.

• Quicksilver & Scarlett Witch. I liked them both. The former for his cocky wit and the latter for the sheer possibilities her abilities may bestow upon the franchise (much of what she is capable of in the comics is left intact in this film).

• Hulk is one of the better developed characters in the film. In one scene in particular, the Hulk himself sees the destruction he (and Stark, don't forget him) caused and the fear he has struck in the hearts of bystanders. This causes him to feel remorse, and it is on full display. Then he goes through the same offhanded treatment he gave to Thor in the previous movie. Guess what that is. 

• Avoids being a "destruction and special effects at the expense of bystanders' livelihoods" fiasco as seen in the lackluster Man of Steel.

• The Hulkbuster vs. Hulk fight, while feeling a bit cut short in the end, was satisfying.

• Hawkeye is no longer borderline useless. He actually does some damage this time around.

• Captain America, thanks in part to the quite exceptional "Winter Soldier" film last year, shines brighter than he did in the first outing.

• Johannson is as hot as ever as Black Widow. And she was pregnant through most of the filming!

What Didn't Rock:

• The editing was clearly done in haste and to placate the fierce demand for a (condensed) theatrical release, some scenes were altered drastically or removed entirely.

• Thor, aside from a few tricks pulled off with Mjolnir as per usual, does damn near nothing of note.

• The action appeared too blurry, seemed far too closely shot at times (the first battle with Ultron comes to mind), and there are so many jump cuts I felt like I was watching a god damn Michael Bay film.

• We see Black Widow trying to seduce Bruce Banner, hinting at a ship between the two, but we just don't feel it. Not to mention that considering what happened in the first movie (hint: Banner loses control of his Hulking out and almost does her in), it doesn't make fucking sense.

• Ultron made a few too many jokes to be believable as a cold, determined, calculating AI. I know Joss wanted us to feel some human traits in him but they pushed that angle a little too far. It was hard to take him seriously at times. The "we all create the things we dread" scene, anyone?

• Stark's role in, inadvertently I must add, making all the film's shit occur (though Banner's reluctant supporting efforts in letting the shit hit the fan could be considered for him a pass) barely gets mentioned nor taken to task. Sure, Thor hoists him up in the air in anger for his ambitions regarding The Vision, in light of what they produced previously in the film, but that's about all that happens.

• Nick Fury shows up all of a sudden. The tens of millions they spent on shoehorning Samuel L. Jackson into the sequel, in spite of SHIELD having been dismantled previously (and if you're on top of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D spinoff, whatever remains of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the shadows is led by Coulson), could have been spent on improving the film in other aspects. So yeah, we didn't get an AoS crossover.

• *MAJOR SPOILER -- YOU'VE BEEN WARNED* Quicksilver gets killed so unceremoniously and suddenly that it's a complete mystery as to why Disney & Marvel went to such great lengths to secure the film rights to use this character. And as it turns out, screwing the nail in the coffin further, is that this character isn't set to re-appear in the MCU for "quite some time." What the fuckery ensues.

• Hulk is played more seriously this time around, and his character suffers for it. Although he does show some humanity at the climaxes of his rampages, the film portrays him in a darker way that kind of at times kills the excitement that he generated previously in the first film. At least he still smashes.

• Twenty minutes or so is spent at the Hawkeye family farm out in the middle of nowhere. Although it's a breather episode in an otherwise frantically-paced film, it serves as a big tease that amounts to exactly the opposite of what it was teasing at (considering Joss Whedon's methodology in foreshadowing the deaths of his characters). And that's also when Nick Fury just suddenly shows up. The entire duration spent at Clint's getaway house served to divide the fanbase, big time.

• The scene wherein Ultron comes to life for the first time, in particular when he's in the form of a holographic programming display (oh Hollywood, AI programming has come a long way from that. You silly Willies), is narmy as all hell.

• Ultron's development is rushed.

• Ultron is vulnerable to being pigeonholed by shutting off the internet. I'm not kidding. And that's just what happens, so of course he's not going to be as menacing as he is in the comics wherein he's pretty much invincible.

• PLOT HOLE: As Ultron is trying to extract Vibranium from Ulysses Klaue (that's his name here), he gets interrupted by a swift appearance of the Avengers. They end up destroying the Ultron chassis present at the scene and though the Avengers are briefly side-tracked during this conflict, one can assume that they wrapped up loose ends here while Iron Man has to round up a rampaging Hulk. The hole here is this: how the fuck does Ultron manage to get the Vibranium he needed to assemble his doomsday device? Said doomsday device consisted of a huge (think long) column of vibranium holding up an entire city way up in the air. That's a lot of vibranium that he, based on what we see in the movie, never attains.

• Based on word of god, we're not getting an extended cut that would, you know, work to correct at least some of the slights seen in the final product.

• Did you know that Joss Whedon considers this to be a good product? That it's exactly what he wanted it to be? Yeah, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, Whedon. You're clearly too creatively fatigued for the MCU at this point and I welcome the Russo brothers for any future instalment with which they're involved.

• Should have been split into two parts: part one would have been to set up the events to transpire and be rectified in the second part (as well as establishing character developments and properly introducing and developing new characters), while the second part would see the important action and the inevitable climax to the storyline. Everything would have been developed better than what was seen in the final product.

• A Carol Danvers (a.k.a, Ms. Marvel) and a Spider-Man appearance were cut. The latter is understandable though, given that the landmark deal between Sony & Disney didn't come to fruition until just shy of the release of the movie. But Ms. Marve/Captain Marvel was part of the early drafts of the film.

• We're not going to find out who that mystery woman briefly glimpsed in one of the trailers is. Sorry guys. At least not in this messy film.

• I still enjoyed the film.

Man of Steel review (2013, Action/Thriller/Fantasy, Zack Snyder)

 

A long-needed, by some measures, reboot on a hero that has outlasted time itself. The seminal, archetypal comic-book superhero has been graced, and disgraced, by film many times before this outing. Superman has seen his ups & downs on film, with the 1970's original holding up all these years while the disastrous third & fourth entries, not to mention the criminally boring "Returns" take in '06, have held him back for the crowds. 

We've got Clark Kent/Superman meeting up with Lois Lane, presumably before he's even landed a job at her newspaper, to deal with an incoming party of fellow Kryptonians. They're suggestively hostile from the get-go and Superman is forced to put himself front & center, as he usually is, to try and keep humanity safe. However, General Zod & friends mean to restore their homeworld (also Clark's) by any means necessary, even if it means that billions die. Clark, like the Transformers of Michael Bay's on-screen creation, chooses humanity over his own and battles them to save the world. The implications really do seem high on paper, but they aren't when you are made to watch over two hours of film. 

So, storyline aside, how does this film hold up?

Well, it's not the best, nor the worst, screen adaptation of the world's most famous superhero. It's really quite a mediocre film, in spite of the good intentions that were obviously put into its conception. Production values are the highest the franchise has ever seen, and the action sequences raise the bar for comic book films quite frankly. But, and this is a weakness I've always felt plagued the man in blue in all mediums, the story is lacking. The characters, the plot, and the narrative don't hold up to the technical aspects, as well as when the film is having so much fun. 

Since we're talking about a character of enormous, pretty much godlike abilities, his roster often sees him pitted against often similar foes. Thus, it must follow that the action should mesmerize viewers. What few action sequences there actually are in this overlong, two and a half hour jumble of lens flares and conspicuous high-definition trickery, are quite impressive to behold. With entire buildings being smashed like sandcastles, automobiles and even locomotives being flung like playthings, gravel and dirt being pulverized by the sheer brute force of the Kryptonians; it's hard not to have a "gay" old time when these sequences bless the screen.

Everything else, though, holds it back.

Just about anybody who is anybody knows about Superman, and really all that matters about him. He's THE superhero, he swears not to kill his foes (especially humankind), he manages to fool everybody with the most obvious disguise ever conceived, he's practically a god with his exaggerated strength & durability and all that, he bears a weakness to a rock, and Christopher Reeve is practically synonymous with the character. So growing him in this film not only ends up falling flat, but is kind of unnecessary given its approach. It's also kind of odd that at the get-go, he reveals his abilities to many people (albeit ones in grave danger) and seemingly no one recognizes him. But I digress, because no other character even warranted the same amount of depth, or attempt at such anyway.

Another problem I have with the film are the flashback sequences. They are the sole reason the film is overlong, and gets quite tedious. Each one fails to add substance to the plot, or add character to Superman and others whom we were theoretically supposed to care about. They really could have been omitted entirely, and nothing of value would have been lost. Who were they trying to kid with these? Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, pretty much everybody knows about Superman, so why fixate so much on his past and the growth in his mastery over his natural Kryptonian abilities?  After all, the mixed bag that was Smallville provided all that these flashbacks portray just fine. Anyway, if you watch the film, you can safely skip them and you won't be confused by the milquetoast plot.

Like the plot, the soundtrack, which in a great film would elevate the experience, accomplishes nothing out of the ordinary. It's your typical series of forced "Boom, BOOM, BOOOOOM!!!" notes to suggest, almost beg, you to feel something according to the wishes of the designers. It didn't work with me. How the hell a nearly forty year-old film accomplishes a more memorable soundtrack, whereas this film, in spite of its sheer production value ended up with a run-of-the-mill Hans Zimmer-esque one, is beyond me.

The acting doesn't quite bode well, either. Henry Cavill is the lead, and as a result of his performance here with very few high notes (his emotional reaction after a pivotal death scene in the film is one of them), he is expendable. Amy Adams is Lois Lane, and in spite of her cheery screen presence, the romance plot between the two doesn't build logically. Kevin Costner played Superman's adoptive father a bit too stoically for my tastes, but Diane Lane does fine as a hard-as-nails & protective adoptive mother. The folks who play the Kryptonians are alright, but only two of them really have an actual identity of sorts, and then there's Chris Meloni who was a surprisingly decent Colonel Hardy who even stood up to direct confrontation with one of them -- twice!

One last thing to point out is the excess of run-time. The film lasts, before the credits roll, for roughly two hours and ten minutes, and it is overlong. This feeling sets in fairly quickly, truth be told, considering that most of the "plot" consists of flashbacks and another re-tread of Superman's origins. It's rather jarring when the film seemingly shifts gears to introduce an actual crisis about halfway through its duration, because it's almost as if this was an admission from the filmmakers that this film would set audiences asleep with all of its filler had they not bothered with the Kryptonians at all. So at least it's definitely not a Superman Returns.

It's still a film mostly filled with fluff, with very few (but effective) thrills. There's way too many unnecessary elements at play to recommend it, as I would personally urge viewers to skip to the halfway point of the film. You, as a viewer, lose nothing in doing so because the writing is so poor that you miss nothing important. We all know about what happened to Krypton; we all know that Clark ended up with a farming family who helped mentor & shelter him from the world; we all know that he falls in love with Lois Lane; and most of all, we know that he's fucking Superman! You don't have to waste roughly half of the film explaining all of this, especially when it amounts to nothing but rehashing. I guess that's how it boils down. Next up: Batman v Superman, maintaining the rather uncharismatic Cavill and introducing the tonedeaf acting hijinks of Ben Affleck as the caped crusader.

C-

The Good:
+ High production value ensures some pretty sights
+ Nerdgasm inducing fight sequences

The Bad:
- Henry Cavill is boring in the role of Superman
- Way too long, and wastes too much time on unnecessary origin stories
- The flashbacks. God damn it.
- Superman kills somebody, when he had so many other options to consider instead. He's supposed to be highly-intelligent as well, Zack Snyder!
- The fight sequences end, and are succeeded each time with the boring plot.
- Borderline non-existent plot, as indicated above. 
- Nothing memorable about the soundtrack.