Avengers: Age of Ultron

I am an old and conservative man who is no longer fast enough for the pace of Michael Bay's hypnagogue sessions, and I am increasingly enjoying wooden characters who constantly need to feed their egos. I can laugh at all that and forget about the absolutely tragic love cooing of a rookie and Russian, which I would without hesitation call one of the biggest directing failures in the history of Marvel. Again, the Avengers are not getting anywhere and are working with the same (and not completely fresh) model of action, and I do not see any exorbitant escalation in them. I enjoyed it, for example, because for the first time in the history of Marvel films, I was afraid for the life of one of the characters, and also because it is the first solo for Hawkeye, who knocked me on my ass from the back lines. I got what I came for. A slow, lightly leather and conservative costume event, which is starting to be particularly intimate in its grandeur, because it is basically a party of friends who long for rest. (04/30/2015)

So after watching this movie, I wondered if I were crazy, thinking that all these comic book adaptations are all very much the same in the last few years, so I decided to give The Guardians of the Galaxy another try after the second Avengers. And it really had it. It had what I really missed in this instalment of the Avengers. And this essential thing is nothing but the humor that the first instalment still somehow kept going. And that’s too bad, because Age of Ultron would have had the characters for it. Iron Man and Thor are clearly a pair of top catchphrase makers and here it’s as if someone deflated their ego. I have a feeling that it is humor and catchphrases that make comic books into movies that will create an extraordinary experience for the viewer, to which they will be happily returning. And now I know that I will definitely not return to this film. It is not just about humor, but also about the villain, who not only does not have the charisma (which is difficult to have by default in robots) but mainly one is not afraid of him, let alone respect him. Technically, it’s handled well, including action scenes that are exquisite. But everything else just doesn’t work here. In fact, this film accurately describes the type of comic book adaptations that I would prefer not to be repeated, but of which there are more than enough in recent years. As far as content repetition goes, I hope that the next episode will be called Avengers vs. X-Men to experience a complete Marvel recycling. (10/19/2015)

As with the first episode, I give it an awkward three stars and save any more for the DVD version. It's not that I didn't like the second Avengers, there were just so many things to fault in it that the film doesn’t deserve a higher rating from me right now. I was disappointed by the underutilization of Baron Strucker (and he was played by Thomas Kretschmann!), Joss Whedon's annoying need for someone to say or do something at least a little funny every now and then, a bland Ultron who was not scary (and who of course also had to say things that were supposed to be funny), and the near absence of suspense. But I liked the scenes like the hammer raising (really funny) and the conversation between Black Widow and Dr. Banner (dramatic, touching, it had everything), I was thrilled by the Hulk and Hulkbuster duel, ILM's special effects were a joy to behold (except for the first Hulk and Black Widow tranquilization scene, which is actually topped by any King Kong - even the oldest one) and, so I don’t forget, Vision was the best of all. (05/08/2015)

Successful continuation develops on some loose ends and also manages to warn against AI. Unfortunately it suffers from being a sequel and the movie would benefit from half an hour of character background building, because there simply isn’t enough time for that, what with all the action. Even Ultron’s motivation to attempt to annihilate the Avengers seems to me unconvincingly explained, but he certainly doesn’t lack charisma. Spader enjoys himself. Sidetracking to the infinity stones take your attention the wrong way, even though Whedon tried to squeeze Age of Ultron into the story legitimately, this way it just acts as a bridgehead for the two-part Infinity War which won’t come along for another three years. The powerhouse of the movie it Jerry Renner’s quite (pleasantly) surprising Hawkeye in together with the anti-heroes Stark and Banner who spoil everything they touch. The digital orgies are occasionally a little exhausting, because the action tries to focus on all characters at once. The chemistry in the chit-chat scenes works splendidly, however. I’m quite curious how the changed team lineup affects the next Marvel movies. I’m pleased that they decided to go ahead with something like this. The vision deserves more space. (05/01/2015)

"Marvel is playing games with the audience "Find ten differences". Leaving aside the obligatory "bigger, longer, more expensive, more computer effects", it is indistinguishable from the first movie. What you would miss terribly is a charismatic villain (again), it is noticeably lacking the human element (again), what is completely absent is any fear of the characters (again), everyone is just playing with each other in a harmless way (again) and the final hour turns into one big not escalating, confusing and an interchangeable CGI action mess (again), in which just a bunch of bad guys from space replace countless robots. It is almost impossible to tell the first and the second movie apart, because each of them has the same pros and cons, so you know exactly in advance what and in what form you will get. Which, of course, applies to some extent to all (cinema) Marvel movies. The question is whether to take this established "corporate unified approach" as a good thing or bad. (04/30/2015)