Ok, big question “Is it better than the first Avengers?”.
Not really, but then it was never going to be – the first film was a great film
in its own right but also had the huge novelty factor of getting all of these
heroes together on screen for the first time. Saying that, A:AOU is still one
amazing film so let’s get into the detail…
First of all, this film is dense. It is jam-packed with
action set-pieces, interesting story-beats, character development and set-up for future films in the MCU. Yet there is no fat, every
sequence or piece of dialogue has a purpose and either drives the story forward,
explains a character motivation or lays the ground work for a pay-off that
comes later. The fact this is shorter than the first film is
down-right incredible.
This density is the films greatest strength, but as a result
means character motivations or plot threads are sometimes explained in one line
of throw-away dialogue and if you’re not paying attention you could miss it
(the second viewing helps keep up with this). Secondly, because there is so
much going on (especially in the action sequence) there isn’t any real
stand-out moments (i.e Hulk punching Thor out of the screen, or Hulk using Loki
like a rag-doll) instead we get a boat-load of little ones which are all great but
don’t quite leave the same impact!
But the fact we live in a world where we get to marvel at
all of this on screen really is incredible, this is my child-hood dream. The
opening sequence with The Avengers fighting in tandem throughout the snowy
forest is a comic book panel come to live. The banter and interactions between all
the different characters is masterful, clever and witty.
Now on to specifics, so they’ll be MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD and
some of it won’t make sense unless you’ve seen the film…
The Hulk vs Iron-Man/Hulk-Buster fight is incredible! Filled
with great action beats and funny dialogue “Go to sleep, go to sleep, got to
sleep…” I was surprised how early this occurred in the film, as I was
expecting this to be part of the climax.
Thor’s side story feels rushed and it’s not overly clear
what he sees in his dream that makes him take the decision to support bringing
Vision to life(?). I know it had something to do with the Infinity Gems, the
destruction of Asgard and an impending threat, but not 100% clear on it all
exactly. Rumour has it that there is an extended version to be released on the
upcoming blu-ray, so hopefully this section of the film is fleshed out.
On the whole Thor seemed to have the least amount of
screentime this time around, with more time dedicated to Black Widow, Dr.
Banner and Hawkeye. I get why they did this as they don’t have their own
solo films, but it’s a shame, as I’m not overly interested in these three and would
have preferred more time with Thor.
The hammer scene is being referenced a lot as one of the stand-out scenes for when The Avengers are having some down-time, but honestly
all of the scenes when it’s just the group having banter among themselves is
great.
I was actually surprised how happy and the complete the
ending felt, knowing that Civil War is coming I was expecting the film to end
with more tension between Cap and Stark. But as it stands they ended on pretty
good terms.
The new Avengers… so we end with a new team; Captain
America, Black Widow, War Machine, Vision, Scarlett Witch and Falcon. It’ll be
interesting to see how Marvel handle this transition with general audiences as
it may feel like we’ve now got the B team in place (a result of the big 3’s
contracts coming to an end). I think we’ll see how this works soon though, as we have
Civil War coming and with Captain America leading the squad I assume all these
characters will be in the that. By the time we get to Avengers 3, we’ll most
likely have Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Black Panther and Dr.Strange floating around
too!
I would have also liked a bit more variety in the action
sequence, as although we travel the globe - all the big sequences tend to take
place in the middle of a city in the middle of the day, so they all look a bit
samey.
Shame to see Quicksilver go so soon, really liked the
character and don’t think we got enough time with him. Though you never know he
might be back soon!
I thought Ultron was a good villain, his witty banter made
him quite unique for an AI robot but his arc is pretty standard affair. AI is
created to protect humanity, decide humanity needs to be destroyed. Again, may
be a result of the editing, but I don’t think we ever really spent enough time
with Ultron to fully understand his motivations or hatred towards the Avengers.
Based on the trailers, I was expecting a very dark and sombre
film however the film had its fair share of laughs and witty banter. Ultron
himself was also much more comedic than filled with dread as we were led to
believe…
The opening shot with all the Avengers fighting through the
woods was incredible and the obligatory money shot of the camera revolving
around our heroes in the climax was insane.
I could go on for hours about specific pieces of dialogue or
sequences, but there’s only a finite
amount of time. So overall I’d say, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a solid movie but
it never quite surpasses the original.
9.5/10
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