Age of Ultron was fantastic. It's the Empire Strikes Back of Marvel sequels as it was 10 times better than the first Avengers movie. Why it's even set to break all of the records the first film did in 2012. So if you have yet to see it, you are in for a treat, just be sure to get to it early as even on a Sunday afternoon, it was pretty crowded.
Age of Ultron starts off with the team attacking a Hydra base in Central Europe in hopes of retrieving Loki's staff, stolen during Winter Soldier. When the Avengers finally take the base, Tony Stark is ambushed by the Hydra influenced Maximoff Twins, Pietro and Wanda, who show Stark a vision of the future in which Iron Man's failures resulted in the end of life on earth.
Determined to not let this happen, Tony and Bruce Banner work to design an Artificial Intelligence that would cover the earth in a defensive shell and hopefully put the super hero in retirement. But when the programming takes a life of its own in the form of Ultron, the Avengers find themselves on the run of their lives.
This film has everything- action, adventure, a budding romance between two Avengers, great banter and running jokes galore. It also has a ton of superhero cameos, along with the occasional villain. But with the numerous interweaving plots and threads in this film, it's getting to the point where if you aren't watching all of the films, you're going to get lost quickly and that includes the supposedly unconnected Guardians of the Galaxy. When it comes to comic books, I hate it when you have to read a different title for the story to continue but since Marvel films come out at a rate of about once every few months, I actually like the interlocking storylines of the movies.
The film as I mentioned before was heavy on action. While the opening attack on Hydra had some sequences that looked a little fake, the majority of the special effects were stunning. Speaking of stunning, the Iron Monger suit that's been popping up in the films as an easter egg since the end of the Edward Norton Hulk film finally gets some use. Thanks to some nasty tricks of the Scarlett Witch, the Hulk goes on a rampage that only Tony Stark's mighty armor can stop and holy cow! (And established fans, be ready to be overwhelmed by a scene at the end of the film in which all of the Avengers battle a legion of Ultrons. It was like that moment was taken from the dreams of George Perez, as there's so much happening in such a confined space.)
I must warn you that some of the action in that scene is too intense for a very young child. I know this from personal experience as no less than 3 kids under the age of 5 went into simultaneous fits because if the violence during the showing I went too.
As for whether this is a film for the whole family, I'm going to say no. The are some violent scenes that might be too much for those under the age of 10. There's also a little bit of language though that's not too much of an issue as there aren't any biggies. But this is a PG-13 movie for goodness sakes and the character of Ultron did seem to scare some kids in the theater.
Speaking of Ultron, he was voiced by the always amazing James Spader. He gave the terrifying robot a very scary vibe balanced with some great one-liners that help prevent the character from being a total 'monster.' As for monsters, Mark Ruffalo's troubled Bruce Banner and his quest to balance the beast within was very well done and he should be nominated for a Golden Globe for his dual role of man and monster/ Hulk.
The film had a ton of easter eggs. Most of them hint as the next chapter in the series; Infinity Gauntlet, parts one and two. But the seeds of descension planted by the mind games of the Scarlett Witch, played by a very goth Elizabeth Olsen, I think will play heavily into the next Captain America film based on the epic Civil War storyline. The line for that 2016 film starts right here, behind me!
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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