I hear that the original cut of Age of Ultron was over 3 hours long. I’d very much like to see that version, because I did not want this movie to end!
Avengers: Age of Ultron is the movie event of the year. It is bigger and better than the first Avengers. The stakes are raised, the villain is more impressive, and the characters are taken to new levels that I think no one ever expected. When you walk out of this film, it’s obvious that this franchise is picking up more speed. It was already picking up after the first Avengers, but now this train is going freakishly fast with no signs of stopping. These movies aren’t getting old like people keep saying they will. They’re getting progressively better and better, and I’m on board all the way.
If you’ve seen the trailer for AOU, you already know the basic central story. Tony Stark wants to create a computer program that will protect the world from threats that the Avengers never could, but his little program evolves into a genocidal murder-bot named Ultron. He goes haywire and proceeds to take action to save the world. And in his mind, saving the world means killing it. Horribly.
Right off the bat, this film engrossed me, and kept me engaged from the beginning to end. It take 40 minutes to set up the characters, since we already know them. It started off directly with the action. It accomplished what any real sequel should do- advance the story. It can’t rely on the novelty of having all these heroes together, like the first film did. It had to up the ante in several different areas in order for it to work. AOU succeeded in every aspect.
Each of the characters, both old and new, are developed flawlessly. With the old ones, the film took the necessary next steps with each of them. Some of these steps were so wide that it took everyone off guard. The most notable improvements include Black Widow, Hulk, and more than any other, Hawkeye. Remember how people were joking how useless Hawkeye was in the first Avengers film? Those people aren’t joking anymore. They’re loving him with the rest of us. Not only does he do more action, but he’s both an important component to the plot and we get to know his character on more of a personal level. He’s not only an agent. He has a life. He’s a person, and at the end of the day, that’s what each of the Avengers are- people.
But the one who doesn’t count as a person is Ultron himself. Take it from me when I say that Ultron is the best villain that any Marvel movie has ever had to date. He’s cooler than Loki. The best part about him is that he’s not an emotionless robotic program like Skynet from Terminator. He’s charismatic, and has a… particular sense of humor that I didn’t expect in a villain like him. He’s basically an evil Tony Stark. He’s undoubtedly the most interesting character of the whole film. The credit must be given to James Spader for playing such a fantastic villain.
Then comes the Vision. The Vision is another robot who is the exact opposite to Ultron. Instead of destruction, he’s the protector of life, and he is a major character for the overall plot of the upcoming films. Strangely enough, Vision was the character I was worried that the filmmakers wouldn’t pull off that well. After experiencing it first hand, I can safely say that Vision has officially replaced Optimus Prime for the rightfully deserved title of “Robo-Jesus”. The other characters I was concerned about were the twins, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Just like Vision, both were written very well. Everything was written well. When have these films not been written well since Iron Man 2?
The only thing, the one singular thing that I thought was lacking in this film was the score. The story, characters, action, and special effects were top notch, but the musical score was the only thing that I felt could have been improved. Other than that, there isn’t a damn thing wrong with this film. It is THE summer movie event of 2015, one of my favorites of the year, and I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. Don’t miss out on it. See it while it’s in theaters. See it in IMAX. Just see it in some way. It’s the most fun you’ll have at the movies all year.
FINAL RATING: 49 / 50
STORY: 5 / 5
ACTING: 5 / 5
CHARACTERS: 5 / 5
EFFECTS: 5 / 5
ACTION: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 4 / 5
TONE: 5 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 5 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 5 / 5
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