Rebellious Teens (Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015)

As with every sequel, things must get bigger and louder. Unlike the first film, the danger really comes from within. Tony is obsessed with changing the way things are done by building a peace keeping for that will put an end to the need for the Avengers. He has been working on an A.I. to watch over the world and prevent tragedy. Even as the Avengers are in action, he has Iron Man like robots trying to do crowd control. But the people are not as confident.

When Tony gets access to some Asgardian technology, he recklessly uses it to try and jump a hurdle with his A.I.’s processing power. Of course it goes wrong, resulting in a mad child called Ultron. Ultron constantly works to better himself. And one goal is to put an end to the Avengers. Not quite in the way Tony anticipated…he was thinking retirement. Ultron is thinking annihilation. To better reach those ends, he brings brother and sister Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. The orphans consented to Hydra experiments that have given them super-powers. Pietro is the super-fast Quicksilver and Wanda has reality warping powers.

In a confrontation with Ultron, the Scarlet Witch manipulates several Avengers, including the Hulk who goes on a rampage. Eventually the reveal of Ultron’s plans (including wiping out the human race) horrifies his cohorts. His continuing evolution actually leads to the introduction of a new character for the MCU. The Vision is introduced when the Mind Stone and lightening (along with the Jarvis AI) are combined to create the Vision.

Age of Ultron tries to be the Empire Strikes back, and is certainly loaded with darker themes than the previous films. The performances are strong, and when the Scarlet Witch exposes Iron, Cap, Black Widow, Thor and the Hulk to their greatest fears of their past or potential futures, it threatens to break their bond apart.

The action is top notch. There are several excellent and memorable fight sequences. The jokes mostly land (but who thought it was a good idea for Tony to suggest if he can lift Thor’s hammer that he would reinstate the practice of kings sleeping with new brides on their wedding night). There are a couple running jokes that can be particularly entertain. The running gag about lifting Thor’s Hammer (which has a very good payoff) is especially fun.

The movie gives more attention to Hawkeye. There was talk that Renner was very frustrated with the path the character took in the first Avengers. This may be Whedon’s way of saying “sorry” to Renner. It also establishes firmly the friendship with Natasha.

The effects are very good. Vision looks very close to his comic book counterpart, without looking to fake. Yet he is slightly unnatural. Which is kind of the point. Bettany gives life to the role. It only took his seven years to be more than a voice-over (now he is a motion capture voice-over).

The film faced some criticism over Natasha calling herself a monster to Bruce Banner. Some viewers felt the takeaway was that Natasha saw herself as a monster due to being sterilized. I don’t know that I accept it was that clear cut. Because the film is quite direct that it is the idea that she was a cold and efficient killer, and the folks who sterilized her believed this would make her that cold and efficient killer. But I will agree it was somewhat clumsy in the writing, and Whedon deserves the credit for that.

In the end, I enjoyed this second outing with the Avengers. It has some weak points, but nothing that ruined the overall enjoyment.

September 30, 2016 0

Burning Love (Iron Man 3, 2013)

When they announced Iron Man 3’s villain there was concern The Mandarin was a character with a rather troubling past. An evil magical Asian. Then they announced he was being played by Ben Kingsley. He isn’t an example of Whitewashing exactly (Kingsley is not white). But in the end, this was not the big concern for most viewers. Favreau was out…Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black was in.

Borrowing from the comic’s Extremis story-line, Tony runs into a guy trying to outdo his armor by creating soldiers who don’t need armor. They are living weapons. The problem is that they are volatile and prone to exploding. Then there is the mysterious terrorist the Mandarin. As Tony finds the situation escalating, he goes into hiding. He is still struggling with Post Traumatic Stress for the alien invasion in the Avengers. As it all comes together Tony discovers a few twists, including the possibility the terrorist organization does not even exist.

As usual, the cast is stellar, and Kingsley’s reveal is entertaining. Though as the Mandarin he has this weird southern drawl that seems…out of place. But other than that, the performances are quite good.

Of all the action sequences, there is a sequence where Iron Man saves people in freefall that is just great.

The effects are strong, though at times the powers seem arbitrary. People with Extremis technology exhibit some really random powers (such as breathing fire). They do look pretty cool though. Also, the ending seems to make no sense. Tony destroys all his armor for…I guess…reasons? It feels like they were trying to put a stamp of closure on the Iron Man franchise when we knew he would be back for another Avenger’s movie.

All in all, I found Iron Man 3 a bit of an improvement over the second film. It has intrigue, action and humor.

September 16, 2016 0

Strike While the Iron Is Hot (Iron Man 2, 2010)

Seriously…Iron Man 2… not Invincible Iron Man??? What a miss…

Anyways, The first Iron Man was a surprise hit. Marvel was building towards their shared movie universe and did not want to mess that up. So, they stuck to their guns. Favreau was back to direct Downey Jr. and the entire cast that survived made it back for the sequel.

Well, almost everyone. Terrence Howard tried to renegotiate his fee, and Marvel was not interested…so they asked him to not let the door hit him on the ass and brought in Don Cheadle. I was pretty torn. I thought Howard did well and was likeable as Jim Rhodes. On the other hand? Love Don Cheadle.

One of the harder parts of Iron Man is his rogues gallery. He fights a lot of armored guys. That can get repetitive…on the other hand, you have guys like the Mandarin. A Magical Asian. So they went with…um…Whiplash. I wondered how they could make that interesting They kind of succeeded.

Whiplash is obsessed with Stark because he feels Stark’s father betrayed his father. The other villain in the film is Tony’s weaker competitor, Justin Hammer. Hammer is trying to give the government the same kind of technology Stark has. Ultimately they achieve it by using Whiplash, who has knowledge of Tony’s tech.. The film also introduces us to Natasha Romanoff, also known as the the Black Widow. Whiplash is freed from the authorities by Hammer who wants to use his expertise. Hammer is cocky, but he he is less competent than Tony or Whiplash, who double crosses Hammer to get his revenge on Tony.

There is a lot to like here. But the best stuff is almost all at the end. We get Stark and Rhodey fighting together against Hammer’s drones, Black Widow kicking butt and just a lot of cool stuff. But at times, it feels like it is taking forever to get there. This film has the exact opposite issue of the first film. The build up is not all that involving as an audience member, but the ending is great.

Again, the chemistry between Downey and Paltrow is magnetic. And Cheadle slides right into the role like he was always there. Johansson gives us just a taste of the character to come, and it is great. Rockwell is wonderfully sleazy as Justin Hammer. Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is established as a major player tying the Marvel Cinematic Universe together.

Iron Man 2 is not quite the follow up I would have hoped for, but it would not sink the franchise or the MCU either. It is one of the weakr entries, but strong enough to not be totally dismissed.

September 15, 2016 0

Player vs Player (Captain America: Civil War, 2016)

Captain America: Civil War was a risky gamble. It has a bloated cast. I mean, Captain America is joined by practically everyone (Except Thor and the Hulk). The film was also going to be introducing us to a couple Major Players in Both the Black Panther and Spider-Man. There was always the possibility that this would be so bogged down, we would have Marvels first failure…the first Marvel film that outright sucked.

And the film should be a huge mess. We are being introduced to characters left and right. And as usual, the villain of the film is pretty thin. And yet, somehow? The film works. It stand and manages to remain extremely engaging. The film is dealing with the fallout of collateral damage we have seen through the previous films. All that destruction we have seen through the Avengers, Thor, Captain America the winter soldier. Culminating in an event in this film in which an attempt to save people kills several visiting Wakandans.

The United Nations is determine to intervene. And Tony Stark, after being confronted by an angry and heartbroken mother (Alfre Woodard) whose son died in Ultron’s Sokovia attack, is determine to see it happen. He, quite understandable, sees a need for Oversight. And this is what sets off the Conflict within the Avengers. Steve Rogers is certain that being shackled and having to get permission to fight the bad guys is a bad idea. We of course, sympathize with Cap, but one of the things the film does very well? The character motivations. They make sense. You understand why they choose the way they do. And the the fact that certain characters miss the villain’s big plan is quite believable.

The film is action packed, but not at the expense of the overall story. The characters get meaningful exchanges and yet, the film avoids feeling overly bogged down by a sense of self importance. The events matter, questions are asked, but without the self aggrandizing approach other Super-hero films had recently. Not naming names. The cast does great work with the script they were given. They bring the characters to life.

And then there is the humor. This is by no means a light film, but it has very effective humor. The film is not afraid that if we laugh we might miss “the important and heavy epic story being told”. These people are friends. They have history. They care about each other. And that is what gives the story it’s real conflict and weight. But it is also those established relationships that allow the fun.

Of course, the big question was…Spider-Man and the Black Panther-will they work? It is nice that we do not get an origin story (it should be pretty clear that T’Challa was already the Black Panther, he is not becoming the Black Panther for revenge). But he does get a nice story arc focusing on the thirst for vengeance, leading him to wisdom in his new role as King. Chadwick Boseman plays T’Challa as young, confident royalty. And yet, when he suffers lost, he gains a restrained ferocity.

And Tom Holland? He is Spider-Man. The portrayal of Spidey in this film was almost instantly lovable. His rapid fire chatter was dead on. He looked great in costume and his position of siding with Tony makes complete sense. I am genuinely excited to see both Spider-Man and Black Panther’s solo films.

James Gunn (Director of the Guardians of the Galaxy films) said this was the best Marvel film to date. And, in the end, if it is not actually the best? It is pretty darn close. This is a terrific adventure and worth seeing.

May 9, 2016 0