AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - updated

(2015) 141 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review: Not quite as good as the first Avengers movie, but it was still pretty darn impressive.
The only few things I had a problem with were that I thought that Tony Stark's - Avengers tower seemed too dark and unwelcoming. It was lacking the cool "toy" filled feel of his workshop basement. But that seems kind of minor to the other problem I had with the movie and that was Ultron.  Ultron just didn't come off as that bad of a bad guy for some reason.  He seemed more like a computer virus, that was in a way, pretty easy to wipe out.  I mean in the movie he did some gnarly stuff, but when I think of bad-ass wipe out the human race type of Artificial Intelligence I tend to lean more towards a Terminator or The Borg.

On the other side of this I thought Ultron was pretty funny.  He had some pretty good one liners as well as some pretty well done CGI.  Another stand out character this time around was Hawkeye, he had some good one liners as well.

On a sad note it was sad to see Jarvis go, but it was really cool to see him come to life as The Vision, not only in voice but as the actor as well. Paul Bettany did a really good job.

Best scene:  There were a couple of good scenes.  You can already see the tension building up between Iron Man and Captain America which will be battling it out in Captain America: Civil War.

Mike’s rating:  Must See of course

Bean's Review: I do not have the background knowledge of the Avengers from the comic books, so my review is based on the first Avenger movie, Capt. America and Thor movies.  I also did not see all of the Iron Man movies.

As expected, a very action packed movie with a lot of fight scenes.  The fight scenes are much more palatable than in “normal, human” based movies of recent viewings, as these characters are “super heroes” or super-beings or AI’s.

As a lot of comic book characters are silly, the acting needs to be good to carry the wild/farfetched story lines.  This movie has quite good acting.  I enjoy the banter amongst the Avengers.  Ultron was done well.  James Spader as the voice and mannerisms of Ultron was a very good choice.

The time spent on Hawkeye’s personal life was strange and out-of-place.

The development of the storyline to reflect the Twins becoming “good guys” was satisfying and I was sorry to see the male twin killed.

My favorite characters are Capt. America and Thor.  I would have liked to have seen more of Thor.  I also enjoy Hawkeye’s quips.  Iron Man provides some comic relief, but his constant talking becomes annoying.

Best scene:  Hawkeye’s conversation with Wanda, the female twin, when they are being attacked by Ultron’s army

Bean’s Rating:  Matinee/Full price – depends on your obsession with Marvel characters

A.C.'s Review: After a three year wait THE AVENGERS are finally back and are facing their biggest challenge ever…not Ultron but topping their first film from 2012. Do they succeed? Not quite.

There are a lot of positives about the film. The special effects are second to none. So many things are well done. At the climax the visual of the Slovakian city being lifted in the air was so believable it look like someone was filming the real thing.

Also the film scores a direct hit with the introduction of Wanda Maximoff a/k/a the Scarlet Witch. Though her powers aren’t well explained actress Elizabeth Oleson (younger sister of that famous set of twins) does an amazing job bringing the character to life and is a welcome addition. I am glad she will be turning up in next year’s CAPTAIN AMERICA-CIVIL WAR.

I also liked how numerous side characters form the solo superhero films were included in bit parts such as Sam Wilson’s Falcon from CA: THE WINTER SOLDIER.

Unfortunately with all the positives the film just cannot live up to the original film. There are several key issues that derail the film from greatness.

The number one problem was Ultron. The trailers were building him up to be an incredibly dangerous opponent…perhaps the most dangerous ever to be seen in the Marvel films and he looked and sounded pretty terrifying in those previews. However in the actual film he doesn’t come off as anywhere near as menacing as he was made out to be. Worse in fact they have him cracking one liners like he was Tony Stark. There is one point where he temporarily cannot remember the word children and when he remembers and laughs he sounds for all the world like a FAMILY GUY character.

Second was too much Hawkeye! I get what they are trying to do…make up for the short shrift he got in the original film but giving him a while subplot and a family nobody cares about is not going to make him more interesting. He’s just a guy with arrows that are eventually going to run out and he would get squashed like a bug. In fact he would be dead but not for the heroic sacrifice of another character. It should have been Hawkeye dying and not his savior.

I will admit straight bias with these two complaints. While there was too much Hawkeye there was not enough of my favorite character Thor. He spends most of the movie in a truncated subplot to set up events in films to come and is barely on screen. He does get the best line in the movie when he is stalling for time and tells Vision he is running out of things to say to Ultron so he should hurry up and attack.

Second SHIELD arrives to help save the day and I am a huge fan of the AGENTS OF SHIELD TV show so I cheered when this happened but due to  a weird turf war between Marvel’s TV and Movie division…none of the characters from the TV show appeared or were even referenced. A major disappointment. The causal movie goer would have no idea that the initial scene where the AVENGERS are in Slovakianwas directly related to intel achieved by the agents in the TV show.

Bottom line is some of the magic wore off between movies but hopefully it will return by AVENGERS 3: THE INFINITY WAR Part 1.

Best Scene: A tie. I  really liked the party scene at Stark Tower where the Avengers and friends are just hanging out and having a good time…followed by the subsequent first attack by Ultron. However when the SHIELD Hellicarrier showed up to help save the day I loved it!

A.C.'s Rating: A reluctant Full Price