‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ delivers more action to win big at box office
Expect a monster report on Monday as The Avengers: Age of Ultron will certainly destroy the box office this weekend. Director Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios accomplishes the impossible, deliver a sequel to equal the success of the first film – and they do with Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo and a ton of action.
As the team battles Hydra, Baron von Strucker, the disturbing obsession of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark result in the creation of Ultron, an artificially intelligent android which is bent on destroying humanity to save humanity from itself. Quickly the team is thrust into action, but two new twin mutants, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, played by Godzilla co-stars Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, reveal the group’s fears and flaws.
The curse of being the Hulk is brought to life (and results in a supercharged battle with Iron Man’s Hulkbuster), emotional back stories (and side stories) for the mortal characters and the continued tensions between the characters drive a simplistic “bad guy” storyline.
Chris Evans is back as the “perfect” Captain America, Chris Hemsworth is just a great Thor (BTW, there is a ton of jokes surrounding the hammer and I’m impressed at how well that all worked) and Samuel L. Jackson’s arrival drew an applause from the audience.
Audiences will get a full 2 hours and 21 minutes of chaos and full immersion into the Marvel Universe which include: Andy Serkis’ Klaw set up for a Black Panther film, a prelude of the fights which lead to the “Civil War” and of course, a ton of lead-in for the two-part “Infinity War.”
Ultron is not a dynamic villain in the comic book and Whedon serves him well, but he is no Loki. An army of robots and a metallic face trying to deliver James Spader’s wit is no match for Tom Hiddleston and an army of Chitauri.
Whedon does the unthinkable and kills off a character while still introducing more. The Vision (Paul Bettany) is a unique and interesting character, but offers more dialogue than fighting on screen. AOU has a ton of flaws, but serves to be a successful follow-up to the billion dollar blockbuster.
Try not to over think the plot and enjoy the ride. There is also plenty of humor to help make the popcorn go down.
Overall The Avengers: Age of Ultron receives 4 out of 5 stars
Overall fans of the film series will not be disappointed, but die hard comic book nuts will have their list of grievances. Marvel continues to impress, sets up the next “Phase” of films and will earn their big box office numbers.