Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

By Charlie

It’s been a few weeks and I guess many people will have now seen it so here are some of my thoughts on Avengers: Age of Ultron. SPOILERS AHEAD (obviously) plus much waffling:

– I’ve seen it twice now and overall I really like it. It’s definitely not as good as the original and that surprise factor is gone, but despite the flaws I had a blast watching it. Whatever one’s opinions on the film in general, I do think this was the best film they could have made, given the circumstances of being part of the MCU.
– Each of the last few MCU films has had some distinct characteristic – Iron Man 3 bears the stamp of Shane Black, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 21st Century political thriller, Guardians of the Galaxy is a cheerful Boys’ Own adventure. Age of Ultron is a blockbuster with Joss Whedon wisecracks. I’ve seen some people complain the film has too much of this. For me, there’s no such thing as too much Whedon dialogue. So I loved all the character moments, from ‘Language!’ through to discussions of Thor’s hammer in a lift.
– There’s just so many characters that some inevitably get short shrift (hello Thor!), and the film creaks and grinds to a halt when it has to set up future films. I wasn’t surprised to learn afterwards that the whole Thor in a cave bit was a massively truncated subplot.
– Thank god someone on a messageboard told me who has what Infinity Stones at the moment, because I’m damned if I can remember/care.
– You’re still doing the whole climactic battle in the air thing guys, is nobody allowed any other ideas?
– Ultron is easily the best MCU villain bar Loki to date (not that there’s been much contest). I wasn’t quite expecting him to be so goofy but it makes sense the more I think about it considering who created him. I just wish there’d been more of him.
– I had a real hankering to buy Adidas trainers and fly Korean Air after seeing the film.
– Hawkeye’s family and picture-perfect house in the country was maybe a bit much but it was worth it for the reactions of the other Avengers – plus it meant we got Linda Cardellini in the film *swoons*
– Hawkeye was great this time round. Jeremy Renner may be a bit of a prat off-screen but he deserves more success on it. Oddly I never thought that Hawkeye was likely to get the chop, it just seemed too obvious a move, especially considering all the jibes the character gets.
– Wow, that Black Widow stuff really blew up online, huh. Personally I quite liked her and Banner, maybe in part because Ruffalo and Johansson are both so good. Or maybe I just like to believe in a world where Scarlett Johansson would prefer Mark Ruffalo to Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth.
– The sterilisation revelation ruffled a lot of feathers, but I just saw it as someone being understandably angry about being forcibly sterilised.
– Natalie Portman and Gwyneth Paltrow should have been billed as Sirs Not Appearing in This Film
– Stellan Skarsgard is Sir What Am I Doing in This Film?
– ‘Boom! You looking for this?’ Love Rhodes’ smug look when the non-Avengers laugh.
– Now the whole world knows how good Elizabeth Olsen can be. Now go and see her in Martha Marcy May Marlene.
– As someone mentioned on Twitter, ‘prima nocte’ is the ‘mewling quim’ of this film.
– Sokovia. Always love made-up countries in films. Though they all remind me of ‘Kreplachistan’ in the first Austin Powers film somewhat.
– I maybe wish there’d been a bit more of a rift between Stark and Captain America at the end, considering what’s to come. I guess having a fairly downbeat Empire Strikes Back type-ending isn’t so popular in the MCU though.
– Favourite moment in the film #1 – Vision picks up Thor’s hammer, moment of complete bewilderment from everyone else. Perfect payoff to the party scene earlier.
– Favourite moment in the film #2 – all the Avengers vs. all the Ultrons. What the Burly Brawl (remember that?) wishes it had been. I was just giddy with delight at this point, especially as the camera pans across them all fighting.
– Hope the Russo brothers can continue the good work from here. As I’ve said before, more Danny Pudi/other Community cast member cameos please!

Have you seen Avengers: Age of Ultron? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below.