After the decent but overly predictable Fast and Furious 7 the summer blockbusters have properly arrived.
First up in what should be a monster summer of huge actions movies is the latest adventure in the Marvel universe, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
To be honest I am not really looking forward to the new Superman vs Batman (I can't stand Zack Snyder's style) or Star Wars (Lucas has killed his golden goose in my heart). I am ambivalent about the reboots for Jurassic Park and Mad Max as well, but I am hoping Chris Pratt and Tom Hardy can rescue them. So this was keyed up to be the highlight to start a summer of potential disaster blockbusters with Spectre awaiting at the far end.
I had tried to avoid some of the spoilers that were rife on the internet before I got to the film, but still I knew who was coming, from the trailers and from the cast list. And then knowing the title, and some of the characters comic book history also meant that I either knew or could predict large chunks of the plot.
The big guns are all back, and most of the minor characters are squeezed in for minor appearances while others (2 incidental girlfriends and the secretly undead Phil Coulson) are dropped but referenced. This does lead to a bit of wandering around by the script to try and get to useful everyone that has been built into the previous 10 Marvel films.
The references to future films are in as well, and not just in the post-credit scene (the single extra scene this time rather than two was a bit of a let down). Some of these set up scenes are a bit of a distraction as are some of the scenes where the individual Avengers have to chase little sections of their own story to justify their appearances.
Spoilers from here:
Stan Lee has a 'real' part this time with a few lines and a purpose rather than just turning up with a one liner.
Paul Bettany's graduation from the disembodied voice of Jarvis to the full-bodied Vision is as fantastic as expected. He mixes the humour and action effortlessly despite being given a secondary character to play with. (His replacement as the iron man computer voice Friday was disappointing though).
And Elizabeth Olsen does a solid but uninspiring job as Scarlet Witch. Although she is helped out by a couple of natty outfits and some clever shooting angles of her cleavage, she never really gets enough to show what she can add.
Aaron Taylor Johnson though is something of a disaster. He is outclassed every time he is on screen and barely provides a decent foil for Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen to work with. It is no great loss when he is killed off.
The section in the middle where they all head of to Hawkeye's house is good for his character development, but otherwise it is just a real detour that doesn't make sense.
The ending with the 'New Avengers' is a bit of a let down as well. They are not nearly in the same class as the originals and I do hope that they don't try and spin them out into a new movie on their own.
It isn't as good as the first Avengers movie, but it is still a perfectly watchable action adventure and it keeps the bigger Marvel picture ticking along nicely.
Overall 8 out of 10.
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