[Movie Review] Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Posted on May 1, 2015 by thegrandshuckett in Movie Reviews // 0 Comments

Director: Joss Whedon

Writer: Joss Whedon

Runtime: 141 min

Main Cast:

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Don Cheadle as James Rhodes / War Machine

Guest Review: by Erika T

In a year absolutely packed with Blockbusters, the king of them all is undoubtedly Avengers 2. Furious 7 has already cracked the billion-dollar barrier in record time (17 days) and we aren’t even halfway through the year yet. Avengers 2 will undoubtedly join it and set a new record in the process. I’ll give it 14-15 days considering it has the 3D markup going for it. Speaking of which, the 3D was absolutely unnecessary so I don’t think you need to spend extra money on it…that is if you are one of the few who don’t have their ticket purchased already.

While Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) is brilliant, sometimes his bright ideas don’t turn out so well. And that is the focus of this film after he accidentally creates a sentient being, Ultron, in the name of peace. However its idea of peace isn’t what Tony had in mind. The Avengers must assemble once again to save themselves and the world. Added to the mix are a mysterious set of Russian twins with strange powers and nefarious plans of their own.

What I Liked:

So the question of the day, is it good? In short, yes. This type of spectacle can only be fully realized in the theatre. We have the return of characters we know and love and they’re as entertaining as ever.

The effects were top notch and I appreciated how they really wanted to make each Avenger shine. I gotta say, Captain America was really impressive here. His fights were probably among my favorite. And that’s not the biased fangirl talking.

Though he doesn’t totally sustain for me, I think Ultron is a pretty cool villain. James Spader nails the voice; he can really make your skin crawl. I loved how they contrasted him with Jarvis who has such a pleasant, charming, and soothing personality in comparison.

What I Didn’t Like:

Though I love the cast to bits, I gotta say I missed Loki. His brand of humor instantly makes any marvel movie better as far as I’m concerned.

I also have to say that I think I am becoming more attached to the individual films. While Avengers develops this massive cast as best as can be expected, I also missed secondary characters. They conveniently explained them away here (like the lack of Pepper and Jane for instance) or they had a little more than a cameo appearance and I just found myself wanting more.

And we can’t ignore the elephant in the room, the Black Widow/Hulk romance. On one hand I want to complain a little bit about the girl getting the love story, but as I think back on the MCU series the character really hasn’t pursued anyone seriously until now. The chemistry was off for me in all honesty. It just didn’t feel like a necessary element to make the film any better and I wasn’t invested in it at all. And let’s be real here, if Black Window needs to hook up with anybody, it needs to be Bucky. I ship it. No apologies.

If the film suffers from anything, it’s mainly that some might think of it as more of the same. The novelty from the first Avengers film has worn off a tad. It gave me a similar feeling to the Playstation Uncharted series. Uncharted 2 is one of my favorite games ever. It set the bar so high for me that Uncharted 3 was only “good”. It’s as if you can only create that really special feeling once, and that’s honestly okay for me.

4.5

Summary

Avengers: Age of Ultron is an absolute must-see for Marvel fans. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. While I find myself still partial to last year’s Captain American 2: The Winter Soldier, this is a worthy sequel in every way and I’m looking forward to the next MCU movie already.

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