Since the first “Avengers” debuted on May 4, 2012, fans have been waiting for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” to be released. Now, after 3 years of preparation, it has arrived.
Finally, the team is back together. Starring Chris Evans as Captain America/ Steve Rodgers, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk/ Bruce Banner, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/ Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanova, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/ Hawkeye, Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, Paul Bettany as The Vision, and James Spader as the voice of Ultron.
After the Avengers raid an active HYDRA base and collect an important item, Banner and Stark think they have unlocked a way to carry out the “Ultron” program, an A.I. (artificial intelligence) that will take care of their business for them, as a peacekeeper. When a malfunction in this program occurs, it unleashes a menacing new foe named Ultron, whose ultimate goal is to wipe out the Avengers and destroy humanity. Although we as fans see this as a villainous plot, Ultron thinks it is the only way to declare peace on earth.
“I thought it was great,” said freshman Erik Viovode”, and I couldn’t agree more. This film did everything a sequel should do. The action was more spectacular, the jokes were more funny, and ultimately more was at stake.
So far in the Marvel cinematic universe, we have seen a barrage of crummy, throw away villains that have not provided anything new. “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” was the antithesis of this, as Ultron was a fantastic villain. The best bad guys seem to come when they believe they are actually helping the world, and doing a good thing, and this movie proved this notion to be true yet again.
The director, Joss Whedon, seemed to know exactly what he was doing when it came to the action scenes. With each exciting sequence outdoing the next, it was an absolute pleasure to watch. The pacing of this film was perfect, with each action packed scene being followed up with story progression and much needed character development.
The new heroes this film introduced were great, including Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and The Vision. Each addition brought a new dynamic role to fill, and the actors killed it.
Hawkeye and Hulk were more of true characters in this movie, rather than just plot device. Where as Hawkeye was under mind control and was of no use in the first installment, he played a key role in the film. Hulk was given an actual role to play, opposed to just smashing his enemies.
Now, the only negative I really have about this film is that there is just simply too many characters to juggle. While Whedon did a great job with the amount he had, some characters got too much screen time and some not enough.
“The Avengers: Age of Ultron” is an extremely entertaining and heartfelt film, while reaching to extreme limits to maintain its level cohesiveness and organization throughout. Easily standing out as one of the best films in the Marvel cinematic universe, I give this film a score of 9.5/10.
