Written by: Joss Whedon, based on the Marvel comic created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie and about 1500 other people
Age of Ultron is just another day at the office
How does one follow up a movie that is arguably the most entertaining display of blockbuster prowess in recent memory? How does the ever growing Marvel Cinematic Universe hold up these days? The answer is a straight forward and simple as it is beautiful: everybody is doing their job.
[ad#right042415]There has been much information from official sources and even Joss Whedon himself about Avengers: Age of Ultron before its release: the teased Bond-like opening. The masterful voice acting by James Spader and a ton of what this site’s bottle washer likes to call kicksplode–it’s all there.
The sequel to Marvel’s answer to antidepressants delivers on all the same levels its predecessor scored so high on: it’s fun, it’s big, it’s loud, it’s epic. The biggest difference between the first Avengers movie and this one is its pacing. If you compare movie number one to this sequel, the first film looks downright slow. Age of Ultron hits the ground running (in the same way Quicksilver does) and gives you a break to breathe and think if only the story demands it to. Whedon and team managed to compose an action-adventure movie that ties up storylines, plot points and character developments almost casually, as an afterthought, while the audience is still looking at all the pretty explosions.
Only…this crafty way of telling not one story but many stories at the same time…that’s what makes this movie exceptional. Supported by a ton of backstory from all the other movies and shows inside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some things just need a nod, a one-liner, or a musical queue to engage the audience or make a point. There are almost no long exposition dialogues in this movie and definitely no long exposition monologues.
Even more than the first go-round, this movie is about the team. Thankfully, the one character who seemed to get the short end of the stick the first time around is the most important character in the movie this time around. Hawkeye truly is the working man of the Avengers–and since this movie is about another day at the office, having him up front is just the logical thing to do. If you didn’t know how you felt about Marvel’s archer before, you will love him now. If you are Need Coffee’s Kim, you will just swoon.
To use another staff member of ours as a reference: our friend Wolven should be more than pleased with Vision. In just a few lines of dialogue after his first appearance, he sums up and comments on some of the biggest issues regarding artificial intelligence.
One could write a lot more about certain scenes…the hints at future developments of the MCU’s storyline and how good the marketing team of Marvel truly is but that would be telling. It’s not so much about the infamous spoilers (after all, the original Avengers had almost no surprises in it and was as entertaining as it gets) but about going in cold and being pleasantly surprised. I’ll leave you with this: Ultron is the funniest villain out of all the Marvel movies–and that is a good thing.
I. CANNOT. WAIT.