Avengers: Age of Ultron – The Avengers’ Greatest Challenge

After absolute ages, I went to a movie with friends last week. Like almost half the world, our choice of movie watching was Avengers: Age of Ultron, and we decided to watch it in IMAX to get the full 3-D impact.

Avengers: Age of Ultron Synopsis

When Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) jumpstarts a peacekeeping program, things go awry, and Earth’s heroes (Chis Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlet Johannson, Chris Evans, and Jeremy Renner) are put to the test to save the planet from the villainous Ultron (voiced by James Spader).

My Thoughts

I saw this movie last week and I loved it. People tell me it’s not as good as the first one, but to this Avengers novice, it seemed like a pretty good movie, and I do plan to go back and see the first one.

I loved the interactions between all the lead characters and thought the characters were incredibly well-developed, considering it is an action movie. In particular, I who didn’t have a background of all the superheroes, could so easily have gotten lost, but thankfully that was not the case. I could watch the movie and very quickly gauge who was who and the motivations and relationships of everyone in the movie.

Two new characters are introduced – Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Aaron Taylor Johnson as her twin brother Pietro / Quicksilver and they form a big addition to this movie. In the first half of the movie, they are pitted against the Avengers, and they make a formidable enemy. I loved how just Ultron and the two of them could completely overcome the Avengers. In the second half, they change sides and fight on behalf of the Avengers, which is crucial in the battle against Ultron.

Normally, superhero movies aren’t my thing, but I’ve been a huge fan of the director Joss Whedon since his Buffy days, and in my eyes, he can’t do any wrong. He always hits the sweet spot between over-the-top action and softer sentimental scenes. And I think he hit bulls-eye with the tender scenes between Black Widow and Hulk and the protective relationship between Wanda and Pietro.

If there was one thing I disliked, I thought some of the action was a little over the top, and I was like fine, get over it already. Some scenes, such as the fight between Iron Man and Hulk, seemed to go on forever.

What I loved were the softer scenes – the romance between Hulk and Black Widow, some of the existential angst by the Avengers, and Hawkeye’s family life. All these were the appealing points and formed a strong buffer from the crazy over-top action.

So, overall, while I enjoyed the movie, I think I want more of a plot, a little more tension, and a little less action in the next one.

PS: Late addition to this blog post. After me-too, I can’t help cringing at how I raved about Joss Whedon in this review. Definitely need to mention that all my soft sentimentality over Buffy is gone now. Can’t help feeling sorry for Charisma Carpenter and all the others who suffered while working with him.

What about you? Have you seen this movie? What did you think of it?