Disclaimer: Be prepared for some spoilers during the review, but enjoy either way.
There is a point where man goes too far in trying to play God and there are certain things we should not tap into, even though our intentions may be for good. Tony Stark is a man who is taking his genius towards a path of Dr. Frankenstein in trying to build a better defense against outside threats. As he puts it, a world that is shielded by a suit of armor. Now the kicker is the source of this motivation and how it will blow up in his face, especially since he is not being a team player about it. The second movie is finally here and it seems the Avengers are in for the fight of their lives.
Comic Book vs. Movie
In the comics Ultron was originally made by Hank Pym, but with different writers the inventor of Ultron went between Hank and Tony. I guess with the Ant-Man solo movie coming out, they had to use Tony since Hank is not part of the Avengers in this universe. At first I was a bit skeptical that it was a bit too soon for the Ultron program to come to light. But how did it favor in the movie adaptation?
The Story:
I pretty much gave you a synopsis of Tony’s fear, but here is more to the story. Baron Von Stroker, who is part of a bigger picture in Hydra, has been doing some human experimenting with two twins. Their abilities were in hopes to tip the balance in Hydra’s favor, but two enhanced beings are not enough to stop the likes of the Avengers, at least we hope. Wanda Maximoff manipulates Tony’s darkest fears into wanting to build the perfect A.I. defense using Loki’s scepter, which I thought they had under wraps, but I believe was acquired by Hydra with the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. In that with the help of Bruce Banner, who seems to have things under control thanks to Black Widow, that fear has come true. Things of course take a turn for the worst when Ultron eliminates Jarvis and takes control of Tony’s Iron soldiers. Ultron believes that the only way to save the world is to eliminate the only threat that makes sense and that is mankind, but first he must take down the Avengers.
The trust has been scattered thanks to Tony and certain questions on the team needs to be answered if they are going to stick together with a growing threat.
The Good:
Avengers: Age of Ultron owns when it comes to the action and we get a deeper look in the past of many of the heroes we know and love. The cast of characters were very colorful and then we have Ultron which was the highlight with his dark humor. His utter hatred towards Tony Stark was well placed and became the driven element to the movie. I particularly favored how they played out the decisions of Tony in this movie, because his superiority complex shined a lot in the comics and now seeing it in film was brilliant. Tony is not really a team player or is still learning on how to properly be one, but he doesn’t like walls when it comes to his decisions. We saw that in the first Iron Man movie when he stated, “You have to run before you can walk!” to Jarvis testing out the Mark One Iron Man armor. The evolution of that ego was great.
The ladies of Marvel are really shining now. Between Black Widow and newcomer to the films Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch played by Elizabeth Olsen. They did a great job showing their strength and I felt that they chose the right person to play Scarlet Witch because, since she has a lot of conflict with her own powers, her rage showed well through the film. The accent was not needed though I have no clue why they decided that into the story, but you know… Hollywood.
The humor not only stops with Ultron, but gravitates to the other cast members. For example when Rhodey, played by Don Cheadle, is looking for attention, as he has been fighting solo as War Machine was hilarious. The battle between Tony and Thor was great as they play the game of “Whose Girlfriend is Better?” with Thor ending the argument with, “Jane is better!” I do hope we see more of their relationship in the next movie and how it ends, because if you read the comic books he end up with Lady Sif. So here is to hoping that it is done right. The Hawkeye and Quicksilver banter between the two was fantastic. I have a favorite scene when Quicksilver tells Hawkeye, “Hey catch up, Old Man!” and Hawkeye draws his arrow at Quicksilver as he speeds away stating, “Nobody would know, Nobody… Last time I saw him Ultron was sitting on him. Oh he will be missed, that quick little basta*d, I miss him already!” That was classic Hawkeye right there.
The Vision has been one of my favorite characters in Marvel because of how he interacts in the universe and his abilities. This time seeing him in live action was the best thing since the invention of Orange Soda. Paul Bettany was a fantastic choice as the Vision and I am kind of glad that they steered away from the Wonder Man origin, which would have been too much. They didn’t go too much into all of his abilities, but one particular thing happened between him and Thor that made the audience go nuts! Not going to say what particular thing, but if you saw the movie you know what I am talking about.
The Bad:
The pacing of the movie was rushed to me. I am sorry, but Ultron is one of the scariest villains in the Marvel universe, being as how he operates his world extinction plans. He was structured and was on point with each calculation in his plot to take out the Avengers; however this movie version was a bit too chaotic and at times emotional to really be the villain I could appreciate. The fact that (and yes I shall spoil this portion) Ultron was defeated completely ruined the story entirely. I like the fact that he was seeking the vibranium to build his better self to evolve, but they failed to mention (due to contract issues) the combination of adamantium to totally make him indestructible and that would make him difficult to defeat. That was not the case in this movie at all, so the villain was to me at least, “meh”.
Let’s touch base on the Maximoffs again, because I do have some concerns. The fact that the writers decided to move on from them being miracles to now being enhanced beings, like Steve Rogers, kind of vexes me. The age of miracles idea was working well with me since Marvel lost the rights to call them mutants, but now they eliminated that key story to saying they were created and not born that way. Quicksilver as a character in this universe was too bland and didn’t have the same humor as the X-Men version which worked really well. If you were to take the personality from X-Men: Days of Future Past with Age of Ultron’s look; you would have a better Quicksilver. Also, without their father Magneto, their story is going to have gaps and I am also surprised that they let them use the name Maximoff. However Marvel is clever because their origin is that they were adopted by a gypsy family and took their last name so it can still work in a way, but Marvel needs the rights to the X-Men universe to truly make this work.
What was up with the Hawkeye Seventh Heaven episode portion of the movie? I mean the whole family man thing felt kind of forced more than being a, “OH SNAP, Hawkeye has a family?” moment in the movie. However I will let that portion slide because different universes and different writers can be a factor when it comes to that.
The epic fight between Iron Man and the Hulk was pretty cool, but the end result was not convincing. That factor came to light when my movie partner asked, “Does the Hulk go down that easy?” which made my comic book mind come back to the theater screaming, “HELL NO!” I give Tony credit on the Hulk Buster armor, but throughout history he could not calculate the actual strength of the Hulk, so his Hulk Buster always got busted by the Hulk. In all reality the fight would have knocked some sense into the Hulk eventually and he would’ve left knowing what he had done. It usually took the whole team to subdue the Hulk, but in that situation it made sense why Iron Man had to fight him alone. I give them props, the fight was great and full of humor.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Avengers: Age of Ultron was a fun and action packed movie that didn’t overshadow the first movie, but was enough to be a great movie to see in the theaters. There were some problems as stated earlier, but this all leads up to the Marvel line up in the future, especially the Civil War which it seems they dropped the ball towards the end of the movie. This leads well into the Infinity Wars, but I am hoping that we get a well done Civil War movie, because that ending was a bit too friendly. In the end Age of Ultron gets 3.5 out of 5. Avengers: AoU even though fun, had some bad points that made me concerned, but still worth going to the theaters to see.
Thank you all for checking out my review and I hope you enjoyed. If you have seen Avengers: Age of Ultron please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment area below. I want to read your favorite parts and what you had problems with. Stay frosty true believers.
Edits by Delildel of Video Game Tidbits
