Friday, May 1, 2015

Is AGE OF ULTRON a worthy sequel? Movie Review

By Colton Lee Thompson
May 1st, 2015

The summer movie season officially kicks off today with “Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron”, the sequel to 2012's smash hit. When we left our heroes in that film, they had come together as a group and separated only to return when needed most. In “Age of Ultron”, they are most needed as Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has created an artificial intelligence named Ultron, who when first awakened does not see the Avengers as peacekeepers but sees them as war mongers. Ultron decides to go on his own, recruiting Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olson), twins who were experimented on by Hydra's Baron von Strucker, giving Pietro superspeed and Wanda the ability to manipulate minds and create energy blasts. This sets the stage for the Avengers to come together and fight Ultron and bodes well for a few wicked battle scenes.


Being a comic book geek this could become a very biased movie review, but I can promise you it's not. This film is actually a lot of fun even for the non-geek, but I'm sure could also be very tiresome and repetitive for the non-geek. Director Joss Whedon takes everything he did with the first film and gives it a mature paint job. The goal of the first film was to bring the team together and what makes this film so enjoyable is that it's all about tearing them apart. Even then, the film's central theme is A.I. Lately there have been many films based around the idea of artificial intelligence (Chappie, Ex Machina, etc.) and while I didn't quite enjoy those two as much as others, I feel like they had a better understanding on the subject. At times, Ultron's plan feels like a set up for future Marvel films. (You'll get my point once you reach Wakanda in the film). In fact, the whole film seems like a set up for the future. Not only that, some of the loose ends are tied up fairly quickly. There has to be at least 30-45 minutes cut from this movie and it feels like it.

The two additions (Taylor-Johnson, Olsen) are fantastic in their roles even though their accents may not be. Their back stories give us another look into the past of Stark Industries before our entry point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I feel shows how mature the characters have become since then. While this film does display a certain amount of maturity, it doesn't go without it's light moments. When the jokes are made, they are an absolute hit. The banter between the team is stronger than ever here. That's one of the strengths I see in these Marvel films. They are able to take very dark moments and lighten the mood in the very next scene. You need that. You need that sense that everything is going to be okay in the end.

Humanity in heroes goes a long way. The film slows down to take time to remind us that some of these characters are actually human, and even the "gods" aren't perfect. This is why Marvel remains on top of the blockbuster chain. Sure it seems rushed. Sure it seems like one big spectacle. But when those human elements are added, most flaws can be overlooked because they succeed where most blockbusters can't.


Age of Ultron. Yes, it's worthy. While I did enjoy the first film a bit more, this is still an action-packed, thrill ride that is a feast on the eyes, classical music on the ears and a damn good time at the movies. B+.

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