#also i didn’t realise Andy serkis was the director and by the scene in the church i was like oh wait. andy serkis isn’t in this

[selfcarecap]

I loved it so much

WATHCINF VENOM TODAY

[robedisimo]

Black Panther [SPOILER-FREE REVIEW]

[Disclaimer: this review is based on the Italian dub of the film. As such, all opinions on the quality of dialogues and acting are subjective and partial.]

So, it’s been a while since my last review and, to be completely honest, I didn’t expect Marvel’s Black Panther to be a hard one to come back on. I went into this movie expecting to enjoy it thoroughly, and in many respects I did, just... not as much as I thought I would. To cut a long story short, I spent the better part of a week trying to make up my mind about whether I walked away from this movie impressed or disappointed. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

First of all, let’s address the mini-skirted elephant in the room: in more than just a few coincidental ways, Black Panther is a retread of last year’s Wonder Woman. Both films star characters who were introduced as supporting players in a previous movie, in both cases big tentpole cross-over films – Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War, respectively – revolving around a conflict between the two main figures within the respective mega-franchise universes. Both act as more self-contained tales, in terms of cross-franchise elements, than previous movies in their narrative universes, and both feature different but thematically contiguous settings in the shape of secluded, secretive, mythology-laden kingdoms ruled in utopian perfection by a fictional society reflective of one of America’s mistreated social minorities.

On the production side of things, both were surprisingly helmed by directors known for poignant, socially-involved projects – Monster’s Patty Jenkins and Fruitvale Station’s Ryan Coogler – and, on the promotional side, both sailed towards theatres on a wave of sheer hype, being hailed as the beginning of a new era for Hollywood blockbusters and propelled forwards by baffling headlines – born, I assume, either out of stunningly poor memory or else a frankly understandable wish to forget that Steel, Supergirl and Catwoman ever happened – about how they were the first female-led, or black-led, superhero movie ever made.

Neither film, it goes without saying, rises to meet those unrealistic expectations. Though entirely enjoyable in its own right, Wonder Woman was an uneven and ultimately formulaic film that tried to juggle too many things and be too many different movies at once, and Black Panther certainly falls into the same category to a lesser degree. Part James Bond instalment, part Lion King and in part also Thor rerun, what we got on our hands in the end was a fairly mundane genre flick with a number of highs but also a handful of lows.

The good: the film looks amazing. Where its DC equivalent was content with just a few opening minutes of generic pseudo-Greek utopia, Black Panther instead realises its fictional setting to a much deeper, richer degree, to often impressive results. The mythical kingdom of Wakanda is most definitely a kind of spectacle not before seen in theatres, a bold vision of African futurism that meshes hi-tech sci-fi with tribal spiritualism in oftern stunning fashion. Its setting is easily the film’s best aspect, brought to life on the shoulders of the great conceptual design work done by Marvel’s art team.

On top of that, Black Panther is energetic and well-acted, perhaps with less overt humour than most recent Marvel projects but certainly fast and action-y enough to satisfy genre fans. The story is emotional and poignant, and Michael B. Jordan definitely shines – although I feel a pang of white guilt in reporting that Andy Serkis, for once appearing with his own tribal mask of a face, steals away the trophy for most enjoyable performance in the film – as one of the MCU’s most complex theatrical villains to date... if not, like Cate Blanchett’s Hela before him, one that truly and definitively manages to buckle well-established Marvel villain trends.

The soundtrack – if a touch obtrusive at times – is another of the movie’s high points, way less hip-hop-heavy than trailers suggested and much more genuinely African in its tones and beats. For a film that’s obstensibly about identity, the fact that its visuals and acoustics come together to form such an original, easily-identifiable cinematic brand is certainly Coogler’s, and everyone behind him, greatest achievement here.

The bad: the film looks amazing, except when it doesn’t. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is definitely developing an overreliance on CGI lately, and even Black Panther’s rather sizeable budget can’t do much to distract from some of the film’s worst effects – no spoilers, but you’ll know when you see it – and its general overabundance of green-screen shenanigans, especially in the cliché-laden climax.

The action itself isn’t especially praise-worthy either, despite a couple brief highlights: much like in Creed, Coogler blows his best action scene midway through the film and it’s all downhill from there, with a few missed opportunities along the way. The film’s focus on hi-tech gadgets, for example, sort of fizzles out without much fanfare after a while, with the same two or three tricks being repeated throughout the movie.

Other issues may be found in certain aspects of pacing, although in that area your mileage may vary. Black Panther starts off a tad slow, and then unfolds as a series of self-contained vignettes that take too long to develop a coherent throughline. When the plot finally kicks in it works in fairly satisfactory fashion, but there’s one big twist that honestly could’ve been dropped earlier in the film’s generous runtime and, generally speaking, I feel that the script could’ve stood one more round of polishing.

So make no mistake: on my personal scale, as far as enjoyment of my theatrical experience is concerned, the verdict at the bottom of this review should not rise above “MOSTLY POSITIVE”. It gets knocked up a peg for two specific reasons:

Black Panther’s impact on the American public is undeniable. In the United States, the film’s themes resonate in a way they simply can’t anywhere else, and as such this is the one Marvel movie that is perhaps the least designed for, and the least accessible to, foreign audiences... even if it is frankly quite mystifying that Wakanda’s core values would end up being framed in the context of the plight and struggle of people of colour in America, rather than pretty much anywhere in the surrounding African continent. Ultimately, I think, it’s not even a matter of said themes being satisfactorily addressed or resolved, and indeed Coogler’s film presents challenging ideas that are entirely unexpected from a superhero movie, but – partly because the script starts dealing with them too far into its runtime, as I mentioned – there’s not really the proper time for them to breather. Other critics have written that Black Panther is more interesting to think about than it is to actually watch, and I tend to agree: the ideas behind this movie are impressive, but their execution is not always the best. Despite that, Black Panther most definitely is an important film, at least in the here and now. Its missteps are easily overlooked in light of that, just as I imagine Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historical speeches would’ve still be commended for their convention-buckling message even if the reverend himself had been saddled with a comical stutter. This movie’s heart is in the right place, and it’s easy to see why that is being rewarded above all else.

From a purely technical standpoint, my viewing of this film was crippled by an adequate, and just adequate, Italian dub. I’m perfectly capable of recognising when a mediocre localisation gets in the way of a film’s original underlying richness and this was most certainly the case, with the whole English-language cast providing an array of diverse – and, I’m sure, memorable – performances, many of them in fictional African accents, that got “flattened” to an unvarying standard inflection in the version I got to see. At least in that respect, I expect a second home-video viewing in the original language to elevate my opinion of the performers’ work.

So in the end we’re left with a pretty tough question on our hands: is Black Panther a movie that exploits the genre to draw attention to relevant political themes, or one that exploits those political themes to justify its run-of-the-mill script? It is perhaps both, and that becomes a rather large problem when the film can’t make up its mind as to which of its two identities deserves its full commitment. Nonetheless, I’m eager to see how this franchise, and the larger Marvel machine whose gears grind around it, carry forward what’s been put in motion here. For the time being, Black Panther is perhaps not as good as it could’ve been... but even then, it seems to be good enough.

[Verdict: POSITIVE]

[the-working-class-guide-to-films]

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

The newest re-imagining of Rudyard Kipling’s famous tale, The Jungle Book is a much darker version of the most recent film released by Disney two years back. Mowgli is very un-disneyfied (if that’s a word) film. Whilst it takes some getting used to, the film slowly begins to grow on you, especially once you realise there’s no singing bears. 

It’s hard to not compare it to the classic animated Disney film, and the other Disney film the other year. Unfortunately, it will be compared to them. There are many good things about this version. This Mowgli wasn’t as annoying as the last one. It was fun to see the whole man village setting. That hadn’t been explored at all in the other two.The chase scene was exhilarating. Bagheera was much more developed, he had more screen time, this could possibly be because Christian Bale was voicing him but still, it was nice to see. The previous film has been very much all about Baloo, so it was nice to see a change. Speaking of Baloo, this was very different to what we have known. Andy Serkis (also director) voices Baloo as a sort of East End gangster, it felt odd, but it sort of worked.

Whilst there is still the whole ‘shere khan vs Mowgli’ story there are different elements in the story. This does make it interesting. The 2016 version was basically the same as the original except for some updated and improved scenes from a technologically point of view. It was darker which again was a nice change, we love the Disney songs, but this felt, at times more realistic. However it would have been nice for it to have been more gritty and dark. There was one pretty horrific scene but other than that, nothing really over a 12A certification. I think this will let it down slightly. It’s slightly too dark for children under 12, but possibly a bit too tame for adults.

I felt there were a few things that let it down. Freida Pinto’s character as Mowgli’s adopted mum was basically non-existent. She was hardly used and had very few, if any lines. That was a shame. Cate Blanchlett as Kaa was odd. Kaa was like Galadriel, sort of all-knowing all-seeing. It was just really weird and didn’t make much sense. Again Kaa wasn’t really in it much and when she was it set the film back in terms of it’s realism. 

3/5 It’s an odd film to be honest. Once you get over the fact it’s not the story you know and Baloo isn’t dancing all through the film it’s good. There’s different things happening to what you know which is good but when it breaks that barrier it stops, and doesn’t explore it further which is a real shame because it becomes a bit messy. It’s not better than the 2016 version, but it’s not worse. It’s just...different.

[threeoutoffive]

BEST OF 2017

It’s almost a new year which means it’s once again time for my personal Top Ten movies of the past twelve months.

There have definitely been some less-than-great movies this year from true turkeys such as The Mummy and Alien: Covenant to movies that didn’t quite live up to my own expectations such as Justice League and Jigsaw. I would also add Star Wars: The Last Jedi to this latter category as, whilst not a bad movie, it personally left me feeling a little underwhelmed and didn’t live up to The Force Awakens or even last year’s Rogue One, both of which made my Top Ten.

Without further ado, please enjoy my Top Ten of 2017.

10. LIFE

With sci-fi blockbusters Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Blade Runner 2049 smashing this year’s box-office, it would be all too easy for this sci-fi/horror released way back in March to be forgotten about. However, with a great cast and even better story, it would a real shame if this were to happen. Life is essentially “Alien meets The Blob” and follows a crew of scientists on a space station who are the first people to discover signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life in the form of a small one-celled organism. When the organism quickly begins to learn, grow and evolve, they realise that the organism could be far more dangerous than anticipated. Released in the same year as Alien: Covenant, it manages to be ten times scarier and a hundred times more necessary with a killer ending to boot. A must-see for any sci-fi fans.

9. LOGAN

Out of all the superhero franchises, the X-Men cinematic universe has always been the most willing to push the boundaries and step out of its comfort zone; see last year’s Deadpool and next year’s horror-themed The New Mutants for evidence of this. Even with this in mind, I don’t think anybody expected such a stunning, artistic piece for Jackman’s final appearance as Wolverine. Jackman is fantastic as Logan at his most tragic (and violent) but I felt Stewart’s performance as the aged Professor X was a personal highlight and I would put the “psychic seizure” moments up there with my favourite scenes of the year. If this is definitely the last we see of this incarnation of Wolverine on screen - a high likelihood thanks to the recent Fox-Disney deal - there could be no better way to go out.

8. THE DISASTER ARTIST

I admit I am a sucker for so-called “bad movies” and followers of my yearly movie lists will know the Sharknado movies have appeared more than one occasion. Needless to say, when I originally watched The Room - often referred to as the “Citizen Kane of bad movies” - I was blown away in the best way. As it turns out, the behind-the-scenes story of The Room is as fun and outright bonkers as the movie itself. The Disaster Artist follows the story of director Tommy Wiseau and wannabe actor Greg Sestero as they accidentally make one of the worst films ever made. Those looking for answers to some of the most-asked questions (how did Tommy finance the movie? where is Tommy really from?) may be left wanting but, within the confines of the movie itself, Tommy’s question-dodging makes for some of the funniest moments of the movie. As well as being a great movie about filmmaking in general, it also manages to be one of the funniest films of the year. The Franco brothers are fantastic as the co-leads but I genuinely believe James Franco should be in Oscar talks for his spot-on portrayal of Tommy. Considering Tommy’s misguided belief that The Room should receive an Oscar, I feel it would be hilarious for The Disaster Artist to be nominated.

7. MOTHER!

This is likely to be the most controversial and divisive movie on my list this year but I personally thought it was absolutely great and had to be in my Top Ten. Aronofsky has made some strange movies in the past but it’s fair to say this movie is way more abstract and unsettling that any before it which is why it seems to have alienated some of its audience. The movie follows a young woman whose life starts to unravel when her poet husband invites a stranger into their home. Saying much more would mean going into spoiler territory and Mother! is a movie that greatly benefits from going in blind. There is a lot to be read from the movie which is essentially one big allegory but, even without looking for hidden layers, I found Mother! to be one hell of an unsettling psychological horror. One scene in particular towards the end - those who have seen it will know exactly what I’m talking about - truly shocked me and caused an audience-member I watched it with to actually cry out in horror. Any horror movie that causes such an involuntary, visceral response from anybody deserves a place on my list.

6. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Since his introduction to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in Captain America: Civil War, I never thought for a moment that I would be disappointed by the new Spider-Man movie. That said, it managed to even surpass my expectations to become one of my favourite movies of the year. Tom Holland is an inspired choice for Peter Parker and I feel he manages to combine the characters of Peter and Spider-Man more seamlessly than either McGuire or Garfield before him. There were more MCU links that I’d expected and even more of Tony Stark than the trailers had suggested. However, rather than suggesting an lack of trust in the Spider-Man property, I felt that it actually grounded Spider-Man more in the universe the audience are used to and believe it would have actually been odd if they hadn’t taken this direction. Michael Keaton as The Vulture was another great choice and, even out of his mechanical flight-suit, he is a worthy opponent for the titular hero. Here’s to hoping for many more Spider-Man appearances in the MCU as, if they do it right, Peter Parker could soon become the real heart of the franchise.

5. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

When news broke that a live-action Beauty And The Beast remake was being made, most peoples’ first question was ‘why?’ The more negative critics said it smacked of unoriginality and cynicism on Disney’s part but, after watching it, it became clear that it better than the sum of its parts. For me, if the upcoming Disney remakes are half as good as Beauty And The Beast, I would be more than happy to check them out. It seems like the entire cast and crew had a blast making the movie but the stand-out performance is Luke Evans who puts his heart and soul into bringing the arrogant, villainous Gaston to life and clearly has fun hamming it up to the max. The general plot and songs are almost identical to the original animation and it’s clear the filmmakers have taken a “ain’t-broke-don’t-fix” approach but still add enough changes and a couple of original tunes to make it feel fresh. Possibly the most re-watchable of all the movies on my Top Ten this year.

4. PADDINGTON 2

When the first Paddington movie came out I went in with fairly low expectations. After all, how good could a quaint movie with a marmalade-loving CGI bear as its lead really be? However it managed to completely charm me in a way that I hadn’t expected and the sheer niceness of it and old-fashioned aesthetic totally won me over. Expectations were therefore high for the sequel and so I was pleased to find my expectations were more than exceeded.  The story is so simple – Paddington wants to buy his aunt a present for her 100th birthday – but quickly escalates into a fantastic set of scenes where Paddington finds a job and eventually finds himself locked up in prison. The idea of throwing a young, idealistic character such as Paddington against tough, grizzled characters like the prisoners he is forced to live with is a touch of genius and the end result is more charming and heart-warming than any recent movie I can remember.

3. WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

When Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was released in 2011, I wasn’t actually a fan of the original Apes movies. However I was quickly won over by the story of Caesar the chimp and have enjoyed every movie in the franchise since. The third in the rebooted series is very much the end of Caesar’s tale and focuses on him and his group of apes as they attempt to survive one final stand against a group of desperate human survivors led by Woody Harrelson’s Colonel. Whilst Harrelson is great in the villainous role, full kudos goes to Andy Serkis whose mo-cap genius truly brings Caesar to life and the story is so enthralling it is almost easy to forget what a technology marvel War really is. Many of the shots of Caesar (along with the other apes) are done in extreme close-up which, even in the prior Apes movies, would have not been possible or at least would not look as incredible as they do in this movie. Wherever the Apes series goes now, it’s safe to say that this is a fantastic, fitting end to the current story arc and one of the most emotionally moving stories of the year.

2. THOR: RAGNAROK

Just when I thought Spider-Man: Homecoming would be the funniest Marvel movie of the year, Thor: Ragnarok came along and became probably the funniest Marvel movie of all time! When it was revealed that Taika Waititi would be directing the latest Thor movie, some people thought his particular comedic style could steamroll the film and reduce any potential stakes set up by the existing MCU movies. It clear after watching the movie that this is not the case; I mean did anyway expect the total destruction of Asgard to occur in this movie?! Thor: Ragnarok is effectively a ‘buddy movie” with Thor and The Hulk teaming up, along with Loki and a ragtag group of warriors, against Hela the goddess of death. Whilst the stakes are as high as they have ever been, the comedy factor is the biggest take-away from the movie and I simply cannot review it without mentioning Waititi’s role as benevolent rock-creature Korg who acts as a vessel for the director’s comedic chops and is by far one of the funniest MCU characters to date. Whilst the big event lies with next year’s long-awaited Infinity War, audiences have been truly spoiled after receiving such great MCU movies this year. Here’s to many more ahead!

1. IT: CHAPTER ONE

As a fan of all things horror-related, there was no way IT wouldn’t be at the top of this year’s list. It took 31 years but they finally did it. They finally made an adaptation of – in my opinion – Stephen King’s magnum opus that is worthy of the title and a whole lot of fun to boot. The basic story follows a group of children who are forced to fight for survival against a supernatural, killer clown that is killing the townsfolk. However the tale has always been much more than that; a coming-of-age story, a slice of nostalgic Americana, a twisted “adventure” tale of sorts… Everything that the 1990 TV movie got wrong, the remake manages to get right, from the children interacting the way children actually act with each other (see the 90’s version for the very definition of overacting) to removal of the more schmaltzy moments.  There have been some criticisms of the amount of CGI in the movie – required, I would say, to pull off many of the weirder scenes from the book – and the lack of true scares. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that the movie could have been a lot scarier, Skarsgard’s performance of Pennywise the Dancing Clown manages to be extremely unsettling nonetheless and I feel it may even top Tim Curry’s from the original for me. IT has become the highest-grossing horror movie of all time and it’s great to see it’s been commercially as well as critically acclaimed. We have to wait until 2019 for It: Chapter Two but I have no doubt it’ll be worth waiting for...

Well that’s that! It’s been another great year of movies and it would be utterly dismissive not to add some honourable mentions for the likes of Wonder Woman, Get Out, Baby Driver, Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol 2, Kong: Skull Island, John Wick 2 and The Lego Batman Movie, all of which were pretty damn great and made it very difficult choosing my Top Ten this year.

2018 looks to be a great year ahead in cinema with superhero big-hitters Deadpool 2, Black Panther, Ant-Man And The Wasp, The New Mutants, Aquaman and a little movie called Avengers: Infinity War as well as The Predator, Ready Player One, Insidious: The Last Key and, probably my most anticipated movie if next year Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

See you all on the other side!

[martens-movie-reviews]

Released: May 1, 2015 Running Time: 2 hours 21 minutes

“When Tony Stark jumpstarts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go terribly awry, forcing him, Thor, the Incredible Hulk and the rest of the Avengers to reassemble. As the fate of Earth hangs in the balance, the team is put to the ultimate test as they battle Ultron, a technological terror hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they encounter two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.”

Marvel Cinematic Universe – Source – Marvel Studios

You can find all of the reviews for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the link here. At that link, you can also find the dates that the other reviews for the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be posted. My plan is to release one every single day, and because I’ve already reviewed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 here, and Spider – Man: Homecoming here, they will not be included in the two weeks leading up to Thor Ragnarok.

As such, I will now move onto the actual review of the film, and I hope you enjoy!

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer – Source: Marvel Studios

Cast and Crew

This film was written and directed by Joss Whedon, returning for the last time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after he was ‘absolutely drained and exhausted after this film.’ Now, I’ve already mentioned his previous work in the review for ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’, however, I will do a quick recap of it here. Before joining the MCU, he was known for directing and writing hit television shows including ‘Firefly’, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and Dollhouse. He has since worked on writing and directing portions of the ‘Justice League’ movie that is coming to theatres on November 17, 2017, and is currently working on ‘Batgirl’ for Warner Brothers as well.

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The cast for the ever expanding Avengers: Age of Ultron includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini, Claudia Kim, Andy Serkis, Stellan Skarsgård, Thomas Kretschmann, Kerry Condon, Josh Brolin and Stan Lee

Review

The opening sequence of this film is straight out of a comic book onto the big screen, and it was beautiful. The scene featured the Avengers all working together, having been clearing out the remnants of Hydra and going after Loki’s Scepter to finally get rid of the threats left behind by the Chitauri. It was exciting, and fun, and even has Cap telling people to watch their language. We are also briefly introduced to two new characters in Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, who use their powers to mess with the Avengers a bit.

The one thing that I had a problem with at the beginning of this film was the lullaby, that was used by Black Widow to soothe the Hulk, and to calm him down enough to get him to revert back to Banner. While that is something that they would have obviously tried to figure out as a team, I didn’t like the execution of it, nor the implications that would later be revealed between the two characters.

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Dr. Helen Cho, developed a machine that is able to create and synthesise quick healing of flesh wounds, and perhaps more (never explored further). It’s a quick and easy explanation that can be used if ever the Avengers are scene injured in one scene, and ‘fine’ the next. I enjoyed that little scene where Barton was getting fixed up, as it displayed the camaraderie that the Avengers had with one another.

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With the Scepter back in the Avengers hands, the mad scientist, Banner and Stark (mostly Stark), decide that it would be a good idea to use the scepter that they’ve been studying to help them in creating Ultron, the peace program that would be able to protect the planet. As everything Stark does with good intentions, it doesn’t really go all that well.

The celebration scene where we get to see the Avengers all relax and have fun, is somethign that the movie did extremely well. They managed to make these superheroes extremely relatable, especially in the Mjolnir scene, where all the men try and take turns in lifting the hammer. The best part of that scene was when Rogers made it budge, and the priceless look on Thor’s face was extremely satisfying and hilarious.

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Ultron as a character in this film starts off really terrifying as he has no control over the emotions that he has, and translates the phrase ‘peace in our time’ into meaning that to have peace, humanity must be extinct, as they are the ones fighting one another, and destroying the planet. It’s not a wrong analogy that Ultron comes up with, but the execution of the idea of manufacturing peace is not humane.

Over the course of the movie, he becomes more obsessed with destroying the Avengers in a grand and theatrical way (something he got from his creator (Stark), that he comes off as weak.

From Left to Right: Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Steve Rogers, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes / War Machine, Claudia Kim as Dr. Helen Cho, Thor, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff – Source: Marvel Studios

The music in Avengers: Age of Ultron was done by Brian Tyler & Danny Elfman. I feel that they both delivered great scores and themes for the heroes, while also being consistent throughout their differences. Before writing this review, I was under the impression that it was only Elfman who had worked on the score, not realising that they worked together and separately on this film.

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The cinematography of Avengers: Age of Ultron was done by director of photography Ben Davis. This film featured really somber framing, as well as gorgeous shots. I enjoyed and am surprised by how many characters he was able to fit into a single frame, as the group is only getting bigger. I really enjoyed the action scenes, and appreciated the one shot scene in the church with the Avengers fighting the Ultrons.

Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue – Source: Marvel Studios

The character of Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the ultimate android, using the Mind Stone as some sort of super battery. To Ultron, Vision is the perfect being, and as displayed when he picks up Mjolnir, he is worthy of that ability. I feel like they might be backing themselves into a corner with this character whenever the character meets Thanos. Once Vision loses the Mind Stone, will he be finished, or will he somehow live. Infinity War will answer a lot of questions, and will probably feature a lot of deaths. I hope that one of them isn’t Vision just to be able to see people’s reactions if ever Marvel Studios decides to further explore the love interest between himself and Scarlet Witch as implied in Captain America: Civil War.

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The Maximoff twins, without the use of Mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they have been named ‘miracles’, given their enhancements via the Mind Stone that was in Loki’s Scepter. Wanda / Scarlet Witch was portrayed wonderfully and creepily by Elizabeth Olsen. I really loved what they did with the character, even showing glimpses of the potential of her power after her brother’s death. I am happy that they chose to keep Wanda, and ‘let Fox have Pietro’, however I wish we could have had both.

Pietro Maximoff, Marvel’s ‘answer’ to the Flash from DC. He is able to run extremely fast without getting tired, however they chose to add that limitation in the movie so that he would not be overpowered. I feel like the back and forth that he and Clint Barton had throughout the film was fun and enjoyable, and I was happy to see that he will be remembered in the MCU through Nathaniel Pietro Barton, Clint’s third child, after Quicksilver sacrificed himself to save Clint and the child that he had gone to get.

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Scarlet Witch got to mess with everyone’s minds, and show them visions of either their worst memory or their worst fear? It wasn’t very clear on that, one thing I truly enjoyed of that was Clint Barton’s response in not wanting to be mind controlled again, and decided to electrocute her with one of his non-lethal arrows.

Tony’s vision showed him the death of the Avengers, and the gaping wormhole that the Chitauri were coming through in New York, it leads him to really go after the Ultron project as wants to prevent that from ever happening, and continues the journey that he was on in Iron Man 3, with wanting to protect those that he cares about.

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Natasha’s vision was a memory of her training that she went through in the Red Room, forcing her to remember the horrors that she experienced, including the graduation ceremony where she was sterilised, which influences her to taking the path towards Banner, especially because he doesn’t want to fight, and she just wants to escape, as he once did.

Steve’s vision included him back in the 40s, after the end of the war, where he survived and got to have that dance with Peggy Carter. It was a touching scene, where you realise that his worst memory / fear? is that he couldn’t grow old with the person he loved, and that everyone that he cared about is now long gone. I was surprised that we didn’t see Barnes in that scene of his, even if it was only a glimpse.

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Scarlet Witch had one more victim in mind for her mind games, and unfortunately we don’t get to see what caused the Hulk to change, but it’s easy to figure out, most likely the hulk is his worst memory / fear, and in that becomes self explanatory. The good thing about that scene, is that it displays to the world what the Hulk is capable of, and we also got to see the Hulkbuster armour go toe to toe with the Hulk. They caused so much destruction, and the fight was so intense and fun to watch, that you can understand that the Hulk is something to be afraid of, especially if he loses control as he was forced into doing.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron is also the start of the rift that will grow to cause the Civil War between the Avengers, with Tony wanting to protect the planet at any cost, while Rogers wants to have the power of free will, and be able to save who he wants and when he wants. The scene between the two chopping wood really shows the tension between the ‘two leaders’, and I feel like it was brilliantly acted by Evans and Downey Jr..

The part of the movie that I feel was the most forced thing out of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe was the whole Banner / Romanoff ‘relationship’ throughout the movie. It wasn’t needed, it was awkward, boring and just plain weird. Natasha must know that there could be no sex life with Banner, as evidence from ‘The Incredible Hulk’, where Banner can’t sleep with Betty Ross because he can’t even get a ‘little bit excited.’ I feel like it was forced, as I’ve already mentioned, and I still don’t know why Marvel thought it would have been a good idea.

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The final confrontation between the Avengers and Ultron felt weak, and copies the same third act formula from the first Avengers film. A shit ton of robots (Chitauri) that are extremely expendable and able to be taken down with ease, versus the Avengers team, with two new heroes added, after an inspiring speech from Hawkeye to Scarlet Witch.

That is one of the greatest problems with the film, was that it felt very much like a carbon copy of the first one, while also throwing in Deus Ex Machina of a Heli Carrier with the help from Maria Hill and Nick Fury. It felt like they just didn’t know how to properly do a third act of the film on this one, and that’s a shame because the first act was fantastic, the second one was good, but the third one was weak.

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I really enjoyed that Clint Barton had a secret family that Natasha of all people knew about. It was a little convenient in that Ultron had access to everything on the internet, but wouldn’t have known that Barton was married and had 2 kids. I found it really touching, as it gave a reason for Barton to be a part of the team, he is the most human out of them all, and he is doing the superhero act because it’s his job, and he wants to protect his family. I thought it was touching to see the Avengers reactions upon finding out.

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At the time, I thought that Thor’s vision that Scarlet Witch had given him was kind of lame, and took him out of the story and it added a storyline that wasn’t needed in that movie. I still believe some of that, as it doesn’t add anything whatsoever in the film, but it does set up the next movie that he is set to appear in, Thor: Ragnarok. He sees the infinity stones that have been seen in the MCU thus far, and he knows that it’s not a coincidence, so he decides that the best thing to do, is electrocute the cradle to bring Vision to life with the Mind Stone. One thing that doesn’t really make sense is how would he know about the Power Stone being in the MCU?

His vision also hints at the whereabouts of the last Infinity Stone, the Soul Stone, when he questions Heimdall about what happened to his eyes, which were white in this scene, but are usually orange, the colour of the Soul Stone).

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The Hulk, after being tricked and forced to turn by the Black Widow, decides to leave the Avengers after the events in Sokovia, and ends up disappearing. We will hopefully find out exactly what happened in Thor: Ragnarok, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just gloss over that little detail.

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The Avengers end up getting a new facility, courtesy of Stark using one of his father’s old warehouse in upstate New York to avoid a confrontation where civilians can be hurt near their base of operations. We also get to meet the new Avengers, which include Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Falcon and Captain America.

We get a fun little chat between Thor, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark where the ‘humans’ debate whether Vision being able to lift Mjolnir counts, as he’s an android. Thor finally leaves, running Stark’s lawn, and heads off towards Ragnarok.

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There was only one post credit scene in this film, and that was of Thanos grabbing a gauntlet and saying that he’s going to have to do it himself, leading into Avengers: Infinity War.

Josh Brolin as Thanos ‘doing it himself’: Post Credit Scene – Source: Marvel Studios

Overall, I feel like this movie could have been a lot better in terms of how the villain was used, the manipulation / release of the Maximoff twins, the lullaby, the hinted relationship between Banner and Romanoff, and being too much like the first Avengers film. There was a lot of good moments, which is why the score might be higher than people think. I really enjoyed the opening sequence of the film as well as the after party that followed. I feel like it made the Avengers relatable and fun to see them interacting as the friends that they’ve become since their first mission in New York.

The twin’s ability was visually well done, except I had problems with Quicksilver being tired. I loved the realization that Barton was hiding a whole life from his friends, having his family off the books at S.H.I.E.L.D. which was really convenient but held true to the character. This film also helps in setting up a lot of films from Phase III of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with; Ulysses Klaue for Black Panther, Stark and Rogers starting to have more friction due to their beliefs for Captain America: Civil War, Thor on his side mission & Hulk disappearing for Thor: Ragnarok, and Thanos in the post credit scene for Avengers: Infinity War.

Promotional poster – Source: Marvel Studios

At the end of the day, this movie had a lot of shortcomings, and was extremely noticeable after coming off two very great movies in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. I have to give this film a score, and that score is 7/10.

What did you think of the film? Are you excited for Thor: Ragnarok? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Alex Martens

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Review Released: May 1, 2015 Running Time: 2 hours 21 minutes "When Tony Stark jumpstarts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go terribly awry, forcing him, Thor, the Incredible Hulk and the rest of the Avengers to reassemble.