The biggest thing that Marvel Studios did right was the way
they set up the first Avengers movie in 2012.
They didn’t rush it. They gave
all the key stars their own movies so that we could be introduced to each one
of them individually. By the time The
Avengers came out, we were all ready for it.
I enjoyed that first movie, although I thought it was a little
overrated. Now, in 2015, with Avengers:
Age of Ultron, the challenge for Marvel was to meet or exceed the lofty
expectations they have set for themselves.
In this
movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) set out
to create an A.I. that will protect the earth from potential enemies from other
worlds. Their intentions are honorable
enough but, as is often the case in these situations, things don’t quite work
out as planned. Ultron is the result. His plan is to protect earth by wiping out
humanity and starting over with beings more like him.
Any
time you put together a cast like this, the acting is going to be a high point
in the film. How can you go wrong with
names like Downey, Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansen, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy
Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, James Spader…….the names go on and on. This is the definition of an all-star
cast. When the stars have the kind of
chemistry together that these do, it is something truly special. Downey clearly stands out as the star once
again. Ruffalo and writer/director Joss
Whedon have brought a humanity to the Hulk character never before seen. The only complaint I have with the acting in
this film is that Elizabeth Olsen’s accent is off and on at times, but she is a
good actress and her performance as a whole is pretty good.
I
thought going in that my biggest problem with this film was going to be the
main villain, Ultron. I was wrong about
that. He turned out to be a great
villain. James Spader does a great job
with this character. His motivations
were very clear and his dialogue was on point with a sarcastic note that fit
very well with the tone of this film.
Speaking
of dialogue, all of it is written very well.
There is a lot of humor in the film that seems very natural and never
awkward or forced. Whedon wrote a very
effective screenplay here. The word
efficiency comes to mind. Even with so
much going on and so many characters to work with, the movie stays focused and
never gets the least bit bloated or confusing.
While
some of the action in the film is over-edited, the majority of it is handled
very well. There are a couple of really
good fight sequences in the movie including a very entertaining one between
Iron Man and The Hulk. The final fight
scene is designed very cleverly and executed well also. This extended scene is broken up by tidbits
of dialogue that seems relevant to the moment so as not to be intrusive, but
also breaks up the action just enough to keep it from getting boring.
Not
only do I think this movie is very good, but I actually think it is quite a bit
better than the first one. Joss Whedon
and this cast of amazing actors, much like The Avengers themselves, met their
challenge head on and obliterated it.
This is easily the most entertaining film of the year. Good luck to all the other comic book movies
set for release in 2015. This one will
be hard to top. The Movie Man gives it 4
out of 5 stars.
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