Reply to Topic
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Film No. 7, Review No. 7
Yep, yet another review of "Age of Ultron". You guys are still gonna read this, right? Please think again before you press the back button.
"Avengers: Age of Ultron"is a failure, a step-down from the far superior and entertaining original first film in the developing series, and even the entire Marvel onslaught of superhero movies. Shadowed behind the loud roars of the fanboys and mainstream audiences alike, and investors wanting to squeeze out as much profit as possible is, sadly, the first let down of 2015.
The film fails trying to be two things at once. (1) A sequel that tries, and succeeds, in exceeding the amount of destruction, explosions, and unfortunately time the members quarrel in a painfully dubious manner. (2) I could simply say the second thing is huge mess, but I'll be more specific and say the first act is a quasi Darren Aronofsky picture (see for yourself!), the second act one of those shows made for children where the message at the end is always "let's be friends again and stick together". Only difference is millions of dollars and seemingly science and facts/legends you don't understand unless you're a comic book geek. The emphasized important final third act, the final grand clash, is tiring and overlong.
Plot revolves around "°Ultron" (James Spader), a new bad boy on the street planning to destroy the world and save it at the same time by evolving humans, and our recognizable heroes fighting against him for a whopping 144 minutes. Hey, I told you it was overlong.
Our heroes are familiar than ever, because the first film did a great job introducing them to the audience and blowing personality into them through surprisingly fresh and plausible action sequences, which is difficult to do. Okay, so what about the new bad guys? There's Ultron, and Quicksilver (Aaron Tayler-Johnson) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olson). Other than their distinctive powers and origins they're dull and extremely hard to get into. Ultron is a bit more interesting, thankfully, with the help of Spader's motion-capture performance. The twins however, Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch, even if conjoined, would never have the chemistry needed.
As I wrote earlier, all our heroes do during the first and second act is fight and argue about who is responsible and who is not for all the trouble happening around the world. If done the right way and reduced in amount would have been interesting to listen to. Hell, there's an entire film based on arguing for 90 minutes. And for the record I've never seen quantity beat quality in a film. Worst scenario possible is avoided because of good acting, but other than that it's all pretentiously boring. No wonder they want to split apart. There is (useless) confidence in the dialogue; the writers seem to think everything is going right. Actually, what they've created, as Alfred Hitchcock once said, is "pictures of people talking" No camera movement and background is used to create tension and a tight atmosphere. One liners are thrown here and there for the purpose of adding sweetness, but what needs to be cooked up is a well-blended broth of cinematic harmony, not a sugary snack.
I do have give credit for the effects, because it was pretty awesome. The beginning sequence starring all the Avengers raiding a Hydra base opens strongly with a computer generated long take shot (there is a problem with this, of course, at least it's well made) showing all the specific destruction made my each hero. CGI is also used for destroying structures effectively and swiftly with bravo quality.
Then there's a question of when too much CGI is too much. In the 20 minute long scene featuring Seoul, the city where I currently reside, the Avengers are chasing an escaping Ultron in hot pursuit. From what I saw and heard myself, during the week they filmed in Seoul, no cars were flipped and no rubble was scattered, yet the finished output has the exact opposite- flipping cars and rubble. Which means it's all CGI. Hmmm...
The CGI also provides as a good protecting shell to cloak the flaw filled full-scale brawling. Luckily for the producers, people nowadays fail to distinguish good action from good effects. Action sequences featuring the heroes- or I should say limited stuntmen and mostly computers- fighting against Ultron's minions are candy to the eye, but lifeless. Each hero is reduced to the status of a Happy Meal toy- used for a couple of romps then thrown away to make room for the next toy obtained. This hero for the destruction of these enemies, another hero for the next batch, and so on. Once all used, the cycle begins again- for too damn long, which is the actual main problem. Just when you though it was finally over, there' s a civilian to save once the enemies are defeated, and enemies to defeat once the civilian is saved. Most of the chaos is a huge stinky time loop and a nasty deja vu.
"Avengers: Age of Ultron" is one of the biggest disappointments in recent years. We went to the theater to re-visit are titular, misfit, and at the same time incredibly cool iconic heroes shine their wit, personality and save the world from danger once again with bravery. They do end up saving the world again, but the journey taken to get to that conclusion is totally wrong this time. the entire experience can be summarized as taking a detour into a thick wood of half incomprehensible plot, plans, and peril, uselessly dark and serious movie tone and unintended disinterest.
The film has all the basic qualities of an okay film; don't get me wrong- it is definitely far, far away from the worst superhero movie you will ever see. Nonetheless, considering the potential, the budget, the stellar cast the film possesses what is given to us is quite a shocker.
I end with the hope that "Avengers, Age of Ultron"is not pardoned because, its, well, the almighty Avengers, instead used as an example of how a great start can tumble down and gather dirt and muck like an ever-expanding snowball of everything that is wrong about the superhero movie craze.
Verdict: -
Last edited by Gatsby; 05-04-15 at 10:29 AM.
