Finally, the sequel that everyone has been dying to see is out and ready for audience members to nerd-out all over the place. A: AOU was awesome…not excellent, nor was it the best Marvel movie yet- it was fun. As a superhero fanatic I went in with only good vibes and even greater expectations, yet I left with a feeling of injustice from the film.
As a synopsis of this film: The Avengers are back, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner (Hulk) create an “armor for the world” (Ultron) All of a sudden, Ultron begins to think for himself, and becomes a threat to the world. Alongside Ultron are newcomers, Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver- two orphaned twins, whose powers match those of the Avengers. The two siblings team up with Ultron because the three have a common desire – the alienation of the Avengers
The problem I had with this movie was that not only did it feel forced for more then ¾ of the film, but that it didn’t take the time to really explore the characters and find a way to connect to us. For example, in the 1st Avengers, the action only started to occur in the final act (about 30-45 minutes of a amazing battle). Which personally gave me more of a reason to care for the team and question “How strong are they?” as opposed to watching A: AOU and watching them kick-ass within the first 10 seconds. Sure, they add sub-story lines in the film such as Black Widow and Hulk’s relationship and Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch’s issues, but other then those two examples, the whole movie is just an all you can eat buffet of fighting, without any real meat.
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Why would that be an issue, especially for a super-hero movie? Because people want to see what makes these individuals human, not just wondering what else these guys can destroy/save. If the film wasn’t so congested with robots flying everywhere and screaming from civilians, then maybe I may have felt something. As hard as I tried, I just could not bring myself to believe that A: AOU was amazing.
I’m not knocking the whole film, ill admit there were some really awesome parts and some really really worthy laughs, such as Hulk vs. Hulkbuster and Ultron’s omelet joke, but that doesn’t make up for the rest of the film. While writing this review I tried to figure out why I am hostile to this movie, and it’s probably because Marvel does this exact thing a lot- being deceptive.
In recent movies, Marvel has baited us with their villains. For example, when Iron Man 3 trailers were out, everyone thought that the Mandarin was going to be Iron Man’s greatest threat (as in the comics) but then he turned out to be a drunken British actor who was just portraying what could have been an amazing foe. The same goes for Ultron- in the trailers, the movie seems dark, apocalyptic and smart. Yet, while watching the movie, Ultron was just an AI robot that did not act/feel anywhere near as threating as he did in the trailers. James Spider is an amazing actor, alongside with almost everyone in the film. If only Marvel showed us what we were actually going to be dealing with in the film as opposed to the trailers perception of Ultron, it would have been more of a fun and meaningful ride.
Overall, A: AOU was fun and enjoyable by delivering new characters as well as trying out new sub-plots-its always nice to see that they are trying new things. Yet, I feel that Marvel lost something that made all of the past movies great- a mind-provoking and effective story that makes you care for the characters (i.e.-Groot and Rocket in GOTG or Agent Coulson in Avengers. Although the film lacked in plot, it redeemed itself by paving the path of what is yet to come for the wonderful MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).
