“How we look?”
“Well, we’re not the 27’ Yankees”
“They’re not so bad”
“They’re good, but they’re not a team”
“Lets beat them into shape”
Let’s start this review by throwing out there I’m not avoiding spoilers. So please keep that in mind before reading this review
You’re probably wanting to know the short answer. I really enjoyed it. I think it has faults, and I’ll address them in this review; but I will say that they never really hampered my experience of the movie.
This is Hawkeye's movie. If you were part of the group of people that thought that Hawkeye never really got much recognition in the past Avengers film then you’ll be happy to know that he’s given justice in this film. Whether it be his great action set pieces, or his great lines, with my personal favourite being his talking about his home improvement ideas with Natasha. In many ways it harkens back to the snarky and humorous Hawkeye from the comics.
I do think one area where the film improved on the previous Avengers film is the fun opening. Things start on an action note, with the comradery and bravado that the team brings, and how everything is set up in that intro before we get the title card is really well done.
Then things teeter off a bit in middle bit. Aside from a few great moments, Age Of Ultron sort of lost me with its middle section. I totally get the purpose of this section. There’s a lack of trust with the team and they all need to take some time and reconvene, however, I guess I thought being The Avengers, that the team would get back on their feet faster. It set the stakes a bit more, with Hawkeye’s farm being this imagery that comes up whenever they discuss the ramifications of Ultron’s plan. However, I just thought it lingered a bit too long, especially when there was more they could’ve done.
That’s not the only part that bugged me, aside from a few differences, this felt almost too similar to the first Avengers film. The film hits similar beats to the first Avengers. There were a few times where I rolled my eyes at things they were doing like having the villain use the Mind Gem, having Cap and Tony not trust eachother, and a few others. I don’t generally like to address the rumors of a film, but there were rumors of time travel being involved in the film and that got me excited, because that’s a twist! That would be a great way to do The Avengers again but with a slight twist. I was waiting for something to happen, and it never quite did.
You could say that the Romanoff/Banner romance is such a twist, but it feels tacked on. Hawkeye even jokes about how unfeasible it is. There are a few scenes that stand out such as the end where Natasha is talking to Banner who’s in self-imposed exile in high orbit, and the scene where Banner wishes to get away and Natasha shoves Banner down a pit, her line of “but we have to finish this job” is great,
Ultron is a great villain, every bit as charismatic as he is terrifying. In some ways they take the terrifying presence of the Winter Soldier and blend it with the charisma of Loki, so what you’re left with is in my opinion, the best Marvel Cinematic Universe villain yet! It would make it seem like Ultron is finished or ‘dead’ but his time in the Quinjet would perhaps have me think otherwise. While it explicitly doesn’t give him an out (we didn’t see what he did in that Quinjet, I believe he’s reasourceful enough to have somehow save himself. I’m believing that he’s still out there on that Quinjet. Maybe we can start a hashtag #SaveUltron
Fury addition is great, great callback to Iron Man with their exchange. Fury to me is always the middle ground between Cap and Tony, and when the film presents the team with an impossible choice about how to handle the situation all of a sudden I was like...OH WAIT IT’S FURY...AND WAR MACHINE. It was such a great moment, and shows that he’ll always be there to do what’s needed. The line, “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” had me laughing pretty good.
Of all the characters added, Vision is this Avengers Hulk, he’s teased and when he’s on screen he’s great, and steals the show. It works in the films favour that he doesn’t know who he is, because his characterization doesn’t amount to much. They were smart in choosing him because if it were any other character I’d likely feel cheated. In fact, his ‘Awakening’ scene perfectly sets up Civil War. When the team is divided on whether to activate him or not, we finally see Tony and Cap trade blows (or laser blasts?) and it’s great. I was ready to yell out “CIVIL WAR!” when I saw that. Vision gets to play with Mjolinor and it’s great. Thor telling Vision after using the hammer “It’s all in the swing” was great.
I hate to admit this as this was a criticism but everything in Age Of Ultron ramps up in that final act. I talked about this film hitting similar beats, and this much is true with the final act. Whatever money Disney has in their large Scrooge McDuck style vault, they spent a pretty dime on this final act. It is better than The Avengers, and gives every character a moment. Scarlet Witch’s stands out to me. The movie makes a point to show people being evacuated, unlike some other comic book movies; we see the team make a top level effort to save the citizens in the city, and it adds this human element to the film
Like the first film, there’s a pan around, but this slo-mo pan around is fantastic! Easily will be a popular GIF in the months to come.
The twins are fun and handle their own, and it logically sets them up to join The Avengers. Pietro’s death carries some cost, adds some weight to everything. Great to see its effect on Wanda. I hope they delve into this in later films
It’s great to get a more direct mention of the Infinity Gems and the Gauntlet then we have previously, this film goes out of its way to make sure The Avengers know what their deal is. In fact, this film is moreso a setup for Phase 3 as it is a bookend to Phase 2. It sets up a great new status quo. With the Hulk in high orbit (self-imposed), the many cases of setup Civil War; including that great final scene at the New Avengers Facility. This film has me more excited then I’ve ever been for the future of the MCU.
So in that sense, for all my faults in the film, it’s a case where the sum of it’s parts is greater then the individual parts. For as boring as the middle part is, it ramps up so well and leaves everything in a great spot going forward.
Avengers Assemble indeed.
That’s it boys and girls, please do me a favour and thumb up this review if you enjoyed it. Please do let me know in the comments what your favourite part of the film was, and if you have any questions about my thoughts on a certain part of the film, don’t hesitate to tag me (@Stick) and I’ll answer your question.