2015 is a great year for movies, and a summer of great releases was jumpstarted this past weekend with the premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The sequel to the highly popular 2012 blockbuster, The Avengers, came with high expectations, and in my opinion, even exceeded them. All in all, this is a great time at the movies and has just about everything a summer moviegoer is looking for in a popcorn flick.
The plot is pretty simple, although I'm guessing that fans of the comics (of which I honestly don't know anything about) will probably see a lot of hidden meanings and intricacies that casual viewers don't. Essentially, the film focuses on Ultron, a peacekeeping program (created by Tony Stark) that goes wrong when it decides that eliminating humanity is the best way to create world peace. I don't want to go into any other subplots or details so as not to spoil it for those who haven't yet seen it, but it follows the basic formula followed by the first film (a few big fight scenes, some tension between the team members and a big climactic battle) while introducing a few new characters to the mix.
Personally, I feel that the first Avengers is overrated. Yeah, it's cool to see that many superheroes in one movie but I felt that aside from its cast it was a very generic superhero movie. I also thought a lot of it was overly hokey and cheesy. I still enjoyed it, but not to the point that a lot of other people seemed to have.
The sequel fixed a lot of this, however. The overall tone is darker than that of the first. All is not well with the Avengers this time around – there is tension between them, and several times the script raises the question as to whether what the Avengers are doing is right or wrong. It's an interesting take on the genre.
That's not to say it's a super serious drama – there's actually a lot to laugh at in this sequel, and it seems that the jokes are a lot less forced this time around. The movie never lets you take its ridiculous premise too seriously – at its core, it's still really fun to watch.
The movie isn't perfect, though. The villain, Ultron, was a lot cooler in the previews. While he's still neat to look at, his development is very rushed and he doesn't pose much more of a threat than any other villain from any of the former Avengers movies. Considering how cool he sounds on paper, seeing him lack a well-thought-out backstory or major, "what the heck did I just see" action set piece was kind of disappointing. There is also a very rushed feeling to the third act, which sees a lot of unexplained events and straight-up weird things that happen (maybe people who are familiar with the comics will understand, but you don't make millions of dollars in tickets catering solely to comic book fans).
But every element of the movie, good or bad, is overshadowed by the amazing action. The first scene is a continuous single shot showing the Avengers doing their thing, and it is awesome. The choreography through each fight sequence is done perfectly and every hero seems to have a fair amount of screen time in every action segment. This movie also has some of the most convincing special effects ever created; I happened to see it in IMAX 3-D and, despite not being a huge fan of 3-D most of the time, I highly recommend this. Visually, the movie just looks awesome.
All in all, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great way to kill a few hours this summer. It's big, it's bad, and it's a lot of fun. Most movies wish they were this entertaining.
