The Avenger’s: Age of Ultron – The Review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAUoeqvedMo
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| That's me during the past year... After a year Fuzzylogic999 is back...!!! I’ve been away from the movie review scene since time was really scarce and I’m not sure if I will do as many movie reviews as before, but I will try my best... |
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| As always the central idea with Fuzzylogic999 is not to merely tell you the movie’s plot line or provide you with a brief summary or give away many potential spoilers (some of which does eventually happen, but I always try to limit that) but to discuss and critically evaluate the movie, its larger message, the quality of the overall product and above all if movie is capable of making me go weak in the knees and recommend it to you guys... |
So here we go...!!!
The Avenger’s: Age of Ultron
So after all the hoopla, super duper success and Billions of dollars in box office collections with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU) Phase I, we are now at the conclusion of MCU Phase II with The Avenger’s Age of Ultron (AOU). Phase II has also been very successful for MCU. Just to put it in perspective Phase II’s numbers are below –
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| Phase II – Phenomenal Box Office Success... |
1. Iron Man 3
Release Date: May 2013 Budget: $ 200 Million Box Office: $ 1.215 Billion
Fuzzylogic999 Mini Review: Highly disappointing kiddish movie with numerous flaws, un-
imaginative action sequences, weak ending, disappointing music but a surprise winner at the Box Office... My least favourite Iron Man movie and left me a little shell shocked... I watched it twice but still couldn't digest it...
Fuzzy-O-Meter: 3/5.
2. Thor: The Dark World
Release Date: November 2013 Budget: $ 170 Million Box Office: $ 645 Million
Fuzzylogic999 Mini Review: Pretty decent, Thor’s story is taken forward... Loki is brilliant, as always. Music and execution is slick and fast paced... Action and cinematography is crisp... Although I don’t usually enjoy total science fiction films, this one is acceptable...
Fuzzy-O-Meter: 4/5.
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Release Date: April 2014 Budget: $ 170 Million Box Office: $ 715 Million
Fuzzylogic999 Mini Review: Superb execution and story lines... Highly intense action scenes with brilliant individual performances from the entire caste... I’ve become a huge Cap fan now! Probably the best of MCU II. The Ruso Brother’s are amazing directors...
Fuzzy-O-Meter: 4.5/5.
4. Guardian of the Galaxy
Release Date: August 2014 Budget: $ 196 Million Box Office: $ 775 Million
Fuzzylogic999 Mini Review: A little out of the box with totally different characters! So I would like to consider this a little separate from my own definition MCU. But it’s well made, has a good theme, classy execution, nice sense of humor and some good old fashioned music... It was entertaining and that’s what matters... Still since it’s completely Si-Fi, I’m always a little reserved...
Fuzzy-O-Meter: 3.5/5.
So as you can see the least successful movie in MCU Phase II has made $645 Million... Woah... Given this it means that MCU now is so big that to a certain extent no matter what they dish out it will run and make money... That’s a big worry within the super hero genre of movies as plot lines and action quality blurs and all that’s left us viewer is mind numbing action in 3D which leaves you with sore eyes and a head ache... And the box office records just keep tumbling with inflated tickets for 3D and Imax screens... A bit like every Salman Khan movie making a 100 Crore irrespective of the content or the quality!!!
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| In fact many would argue that Salman & RDJ are quite similar in real life too... Good looking and a history with law that one shouldn't remind them off... Any how that's besides the point... Bottom line - RDJ is incomparable, what he has achieved is the stuff of legends and I am a huge RDJ fan!!! |
Anyhow beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder so who am I to judge, I am only writing what I feel and why I did feel so... My disappointment with Iron Man 3 is legendary with many not agreeing and numerous critics praising the movie as the best Iron Man to date. Shane Black’s direction which I found atrocious and disjointed was praised internationally and history was made as the movie went on to become the 3rd most successful movie of all time!!! Phew...!!! Just to refresh the Iron Man 3 review - http://fuzzylogic999.blogspot.in/search/label/Iron%20Man%203%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Review
Age of Ultron:
With AOU though my expectations were sky high... I am a huge Joss Whedon fan... My praise for The Avengers is also legendary and the reasons are well documented in my earlier reviews... http://fuzzylogic999.blogspot.in/search/label/The%20Avengers%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Review
But more than this I was very impressed with Captain America 2 and Thor 2 and also from the trailers for AOU I had seen... I was expecting really big shock and awe moments from AOU and some amazing on screen chemistry with the stars...
Artificial Intelligence is also a fairly logical concept and an AI that goes rouge is definitely acceptable... All that it needed was a slick execution and good script with certain level of logic in the making of Ultron... The most bankable stars are already there in one screen for us to lap up... So does AOU live up to the hype then is the Billion dollar question...???
The Outline:
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| Post the highly explosive initial meeting (The Avengers) where each Super Hero thinks that he is the best and tries to literally blow each other up until they decide to unite against Loki to save the world... AOU kicks off on much more sedate and well oiled kinda pace where in the Team is working together seamlessly and doing business as usual... |
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| In fact the might Avengers also find till to chill out and just be together and enjoy each others company after successful missions... Some thing which would have been hard to imagine earlier... One of the best scenes of the movie!!! |
But not even a Super Hero is beyond mind games and the fears that one of them faces leads him to create a monster which ultimately wants to kill everyone on planet earth staring with the Avengers themselves... Will the Avengers avenge or will they fail is the crux of the story???
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| Ultron's creation is suspect at best for me... I follow a number of AI shows and have seen much better presentation of this concept... Ultron falls short as a villain and his plans are quite stupid... I think the script was hashed quickly and is raw, it deeded more depth... |
While is sounds interesting and compelling enough, it falls a little flat and somehow that's where I was left a little disappointed...
The Script:
Marvel's scripts have usually been winners always and right from the Iron Man 1 times... They've been logical and inspiring and have a huge sense of believability... Somehow for me AOU couldn't quite convince me....
I found the entire Ultron creation idea a bit haphazard and weakly executed... There has to be some really tough and complex reason for an AI peace initiative created for the purpose of saving lives to go rouge and try and kill everyone by crashing a flying city...??? Right...
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| The greatest show ever according to me not just for AI but as a concept in general... Person of Interest showcases what an AI can and cannot do... Its very realistic and hugely relevant... Snowden is not a myth... Perhaps Wheadon needed to show how Ultron became Ultron... How he managed to have a physical form and survive till the end... |
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| But Ultron's motives, reasons and logic are shady... In fact I thought to my self his creation scene is a lot like SRK's Ra.One... Okay may be I am wrong about it, but honestly that's what I was reminded off and to be fair, that's not really a great comparison to have... So you can imagine what I felt... |
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| I am a little surprised but I really missed Loki - his charm and wit and on screen presence were way better than Ultron... For a super hero to be a super hero you need a great villain ... Ultron just didn't quite get there for me... Perhaps it was the Villain that made The Dark Knight such a thrill and success... |
The Chemistry of the Team:
More than anything else I had huge, heavy and surreal expectations from Wheadon that let me down... What he created in Avengers will never be re-created again... Except by him, maybe or maybe not...
The chemistry between the stars was so good in The Avengers that it was crazy... Although he has been able to show a good transition from that point on... Something was a miss...!!!
I didn't really feel the adrenaline rushing in my body this time around like it did when Dr. Banner transforms himself suddenly in the New York fight... I didn't shout or clap the way I did last time when Tony falls from the building and wear his suit to save the world... I was not in shock and awe this time like I did last time when the Hulk smashes Loki into bits...!!!
Maybe its just me or maybe not but I am being honest about what I felt... The Hulk Buster scene was good but somehow it wasn't wow... Maybe the marketing of the film just gave away a bit too much too early... From just seeing a 1.29 minute clip I had a very good idea of what was going to happen... So maybe Marvel can work on this next time around...
Also in the final fight sequence the time each hero gets on screen is not as well paced as last time around... So that's that...!!!
The Vision:
I'm still fairly unclear about The Vision, the cradle, Tissue re-generation, Thor's bad dreams and poor Jarvis... Perhaps there was too much information or too less, I can't tell but these are some of the things that I found average and this took away the wow factor for me...
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| So Stark & Banner create Ultron... He kills Jarvis... Jarvis survives and then through some new tissue re-generation process gets a body, which Captain America dose not believe in but Thor's seen it in his vision to have him fight and save the world so together they create Vision... Wow... That's a lot to understand...!!! |
The Music:
I didn't find the music as good as the last time... And Ultron's initiation music reminded me of Jaadu's music (Koi Mil Gaya) but with more metal and horse voice...
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| There was no Shoot to thrill or Highway to Hell - "Did you miss me Agent Romanoff" type music or no great heavy metal sounds that we usually equate Marvel with... Not sure why this aspect was not developed more... |
Having said all that I did enjoy some things in the movie... Some of the jokes are very well executed...
The dark side demons that Wheadon has spoken about for all the characters in his interviews is very good... Each character has an inner side that is dark and scary and getting over this is what makes them a true Super Hero and this was very impressive... I was impressed with the way in which this was weaved into the characters and shown a key moments in the movie...
Tony Stark's fears and dark side are the main reason behind his logic for the creation of Ultron... Although how the AI would protect an Alien attack much stronger than The Avengers still needed some more development.... But the vulnerable side of Stark show much tough it is to be Iron Man and Tony Stark and why his story is the most remarkable Super Hero story of all time.
Action sequences are good but could have been better... But the camera angles are much better than most action movies these days... I saw Fast 7 a while back and thought it was decent, nothing great but it had bad cinematography... The way the sequences were shot was not stable and too close to the actors... Wheadon got it perfectly well for his part...
The Sense of Humor:
Some of the one liner are superb... I'm very impressed with how this was shown... Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye & Widow all have their moments and it was great fun to watch... The over all tone of the movie is light hearted and much enjoyable... It will appeal to kids as well as grown up people...
Overall Message:
The overall message in the movie is significant - nothing can replace the human heart and mind when it comes to saving humanity and never to trust a machine... The victory of the human spirit is what's shown most strongly and in the end the good wins over the evil and we all can go home to our beds, safe and sound...
The Twins:
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| A special mention of the 2 new major characters introduced i.e. the Maximoff Twins - Quicksilver & The Scarlet Witch... Both we good in their respective roles however their back story was not captured completely... Anyhow they have enough of a base to work with for the future... I really loved their spirit and hard working attitude - it is inspirational and enjoyable... |
Individual Performances:
Iron Man: He was good but I think he didn't get much screen time in the final fight sequence and much of the his amazing wit that we usually see was missing... He carried The Avengers on his shoulders last time around but wasn't able to do the same this time...
Captain America: A much larger role than last time and got a good amount of action to show off... He also got some of best one liners... Evans is a superb actor and playing Cap is so natural to him... Full marks...
Thor: He has two of the best joke lines and his Hammer legend was the talk of the town when the Avengers sit back and decide to chill... Hemsworth as Thor is a seasoned, hugely lovable and extremely impressive... In the final fight sequences though he was not seen much except here and there and not as much as last time...
Hulk: Under used with less shock and awe than last time... Hulk need more development... But Ruffalo is brilliant and he is the only actor in the world who can and should play Hulk... I look forward to a stand alone movie of his, hopefully soon...
Black Widow: Deep and dark back story, she carried herself well and did more work than last time around... They tried to explore her chemistry with Ruffalo but that needed a little more work...
Nick Fury: Lost and not seen for a major part, he does come back but has nothing new to offer... I was disappointed by the way in which his role was shown, needed more of him to make more impact... He was so so good in The Winter Soldier...
Hawkeye: A secret family man with an eye to kill and human among the God's he played his role well... Hawkeye has grown well to be used again...
Ultron: James Spader's voice over is very very good and made Ultron look nuts and crazy, if only a slightly better and more developed back story was there to make us more afraid of him...
So what's the final verdict - It's a decent movie that can be watched but its not as good as the 1st one... I think Wheadon has too much material to cram into one place and after a while it became tedious and began to show... I still appreciate his efforts but I think the next two Avengers coming from the Russo Brothers should be good fun...
Fuzzy-O-Meter:
3/5 - Watch it for the actors and characters come together again to save the world but have slightly expectations... I love Marvel and above all Iron Man, so I was entertained, but not like the 1st time... Its already made $ 200 Million at the Box Office and I expect it to make around 1.2 Billion unless people agree with the things I've said above and it gets limited to $ 700 Million... Bottom line anyways is that Marvel have a money spinner no matter which way you look at it...
PS: After I came back I watched about 35-50 minutes of footage from the 1st movie and relived my shock and awe moments again... Perhaps creating of another scene like this may never happen again and its something I will have to live with...
Or this one...
Or this one...
Or this one...
Or this one...
Or this one...
Oh God this list is endless... Why Marvel Why...??? You've been so good I can only expect better...