Hey cbm gang
this is my spoiler free review of the avengers age of ultron, marvels big budget follow up to the avengers.
im going to split this review up into two parts,
firstly what were the things i liked about this movie and then follow that with areas it could have been better in
Pros -Things i really liked about this movie
1) Action-
The action in this movie is incredible, I would go as far as saying
there is more action in this movie than Man of steel! Literally more action! the scale of the sequences are incredible to behold. I cant wait till next week then i can take my niece and nephew to go see it. The opening sequence, the hulk buster fight scenes, the end scenes with the island. There are some jaw dropping and visually stunning sequences that definitely entertain.
2) Tone
this is a slightly darker tone than the first movie however i prefer this to the first avengers, in my opinion respect for source material isnt sticking rigidly to the comics but taking the characters seriously. Its still got lots of moments of levity but the humour is done far better than say guardians of the galaxy (which i absolutely hated) there is a degree of seriousness to the movie but its still got the trademark marvel wit and humour.
3) The vision-
terrific character the way he was handled was very good and his interactions with Ultron were also very well handled. Everytime he was on screen he got my attention and curiosity this is a character i hope marvel develop in coming movies
4) Hawkeye and the Hulk-
in the first avengers movie hawkeye felt to me like a throwaway character and the hulk was the welcome surprise of the movie. In this one Hawkeye gets the most character development and it was good to see that side of him also the hulk continues to be a curios strong point too and banners fear amid his reflection of the danger the hulk poses to anyone he is around is done quite well too, there is also a bit of banner and black widow romance that i quite liked in there as well.
5) QUicksilver and scarlett witch
the twins were quite good to see as well and brought a different set of powers to the fore, i hated the russian accents as those were propably unneccesary, there were times i wondered why didnt quicksilver just take everyone down with his speed, but overall they were a very good addition
Cons -Things that could have been done better
1)Loose Ends
Loose ends- this is something that will drive the fanboys/fangirls crazy. there were some things that definitely required more explaination, for example at the end of Iron man 3 tony stark stopped being iron man and destroyed all his suits with the house party protocol, however in this movie it starts with iron man just...their fighting with the avengers and he has additional suits helping. a sentence or two about dragging tony out of retirement or back in the game would have alleviated that. Thats an examplet but their are a few of these littered through the movie. In many cases it simply makes a mockery of the continuity of the MCU, the idea that its supposed to be one big universe is great but they also need to respect it too.
2) underdevelopment of stories and characters-
There were some scenes that felt like they were put in there to set up future movies, however in the context of this movie it didnt payoff for me, that time on those things would have been better served tying up some loose ends or developing some characters, to make this feel like a better or more complete experience. The end result of this underdevelopment is that some things feel very much unexplained
My feeling is that those people who slated the dark knight rises for plot holes and question marks will have a field day with this movie.
3) Ultron-
This is a character that could have used more development, there is no real explaination as to why he becomes evil, he simply turns up and is evil. The other thing as well is that the element of him being a robot is not emphasised enough, his sense of humour is evident and his lunacy is there. If ultron was organic then it would be genius but he isnt so to me it didnt make sense, everytime ultron cracked a joke it took me out of it as they hadnt explained anything. If they had spent an extra scene or two showing why he became evil and so determined to do what he was trying to do then it would have made the impact of this character more powerful.
In his case less wisecracks and humour would have meant him being more of threat.
I feel ultron is a missed opportunity which is a shame as everything was in place to succeed but this obsessive needs to drop a one liner here or there kinda ruins it and everytime ultron dropped one of those jokes it just reminded that these sort of movies are for kids, which is a shame because i only ever felt that way when watching GOTG (again i reiterate i hated GOTG), if uyour listening marvel make more movies like cap2 which was awesome.
Overall
Despite those issues i would say this is a welcome additon to the marvel cinematic Universe, it delivers in spades on the action and wit and humour most people come to expect from the MCU. It is let down by some forced humour in places and underdevelopment of the characters, which makes their actions less impactful or harder to appreciate, perhaps some of the time spent dropping potentially teasers which may or may not payoff in future movies could have been invested in developing some of the stories and issues in this movie to make us appreciate what is in front of us more rather than what is to come.
but its still very much a fun action packed movie that any comic book fan will enjoy watching. if you are fan of the genre go see it and as long as you adjust expectations before you go in then you will enjoy even more.
3.5 stars out of 5