“No Spoilers.”
Poor Joss Whedon. I can see exactly why this film has nearly killed him. I think the demands of trying to weave together the movie he wanted to make with the one that Marvel needed from him must have put him in a terrible predicament at times. The result is still a very strong one , but occasionally you can see the awkward stitching.
First off though it’s great fun and everything that you’d expect of a MCU movie as done by JW. And I do mean EVERYTHING!! It’s absolutely jammed to bursting point , so much so that they could have lengthened it a wee bit more . But believe me you can all relax about spoilers and the tiny amounts you’ve seen in the clips because they are just nothing in comparison to what’s stuffed in here with the story ,nothing at all!!!!!! What a cast!!!
And you can also “forget” about the VFX because that’s an almost flawless process now (apart from the odd Hulk /Iron man shot), and there are action set pieces here that are truly stunningly heroic and I really DO mean that. I really loved the “Veronica” sequence!!!! Anyway it mostly looks brilliant and it roars off into dazzling combat from the word go. Very TESB like.
But where do you go after that great beginning? What do you do once the parties over and the mind games begin? Well then, there’s the rub.
It’s a typical Joss Whedon film. Trademark humour ,and tons of it , sharp dialogue and a cast working with each other like proper old mates. It’s a very well worthy Avengers sequel but its what has happened to the MCU since it came out that’s partly an issue . I recently watched Daredevil and most of the others in order , finishing off with the Winter Soldier last night. So I found the tone set by AOU felt slightly out of sync and some of the key relationships. It’s not Joss’s fault thats his directing style, and although it is darker and very much more character driven , its still a bit lighter than what’s come out since, and certain pieces were a little off because of them. I guess he wrote and filmed it whilst they were being completed.
A lot of people have said AOU is the “The Empire Strikes Back“, which given the opening and the ending I can kind of see. But it isn’t. Truth be told it was “The Winter Soldier” that was the stunning game changer for me. And so AOU struggles a bit against that rather more robust and serious story style. Its just too funny sometimes and a little too dreamy. So I can see now why the Russo brothers are doing CA: Civil War and “Infinity ”.They 'll bring back that change in direction that’s probably necessary to nail the remaining stories. Now I’m not knocking Joss’s effort here at all as he succeeds brilliantly for a huge proportion of the story and he's had the vision and the stones to manage most of the difficult changes through to the end magnificently well.
Anyway personal preferences aside I thought Ultron was an entertainingly sarcastic villain (though I thought the logic to his creation origin a tadd off) and with Spader’s voiceover he’s totally Tony Starks evil AI twin. Talking of twins they are both great early additions, particularly the Scarlet Witch, from which most of the stranger elements in the movie come. So some of the back stories you get slow things down and with the rest of the guest list being as epic as it is it flies less well than the Avengers , but then it needs to be the lead into phase three and I’ll be curious if none comic book fans will be overwhelmed by all this or not.
“The Avengers” was a much simpler and successful movie because of the steady introduction of the characters into it from their own films so some storylines felt rather briefly shoe horned into AOU, just by way of an introduction. Marvel probably gave Joss Whedon one of the hardest pieces of work to do for any Marvel film that’s been released yet. They threw down the gauntlet and he has pretty well succeeded in taking it where they need to go, I can see why he deserves a hell of a holiday after this (and why he gave that icecream salute to Edgar Wright)!
In summary neither Marvel or Joss have dropped the ball. It’s yet another great Marvel film, but finds itself up against some stiff MCU competition recently and might unfairly suffer a little by comparison. I’m going to need to see it a second time, just to pick up what I missed and I might shoot for 3D.
Go see and enjoy. It really is excellent fun and spectacular.
PS: The audience really enjoyed the “Ant Man” trailer, it got as many laughs as “Minions” anyway. And NO Star Wars teaser trailer. Who would have guessed!
My top five so far : The Winter Soldier
The Avengers
Age of Ultron
Iron Man
Thor
("Guardians of the Galaxy" would have been top, but I don't feel it fits in with the rest of them just yet)
