Age of Ultron review

I know there’s a lot of people who have written about the second Avengers movie, and it isn’t exactly brand new, but this is when I have the chance to give my impressions, so I’m gonna write about it now.

I think Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great movie. It isn’t nearly as good as the first installment of the Avengers, but it still entertained the heck out of me.  It does a very good job establishing the Avengers as a team that know how to work together while at the same time giving a reason why THIS story is worth having a major motion picture to tell us about.  There are great moments in this movie, and the best to me did not involve the big battles scenes or even the big bad guy, but rather were the more emotional, character moments that show us that these heroes are people with powers, and are best defined by their actions and not their abilities.  That being said, the ending- with the passing of the torch to a new lineup, was my favorite part and the most Avengers-y moment in the film.  I’ll explain:

The Avengers was initially created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a collection of the Marvel Super-heroes that existed at that moment in the company.  The idea was to make a super-group out of the amazingly successful individuals.  But the difficulty with this concept is that nothing happens to the characters while they are in the Avengers that will be more important than what happens to the characters in their own books. Stan solved this problem by changing the lineup of the group.  The characters who had their own books left and the new Avengers consisted of Cap, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch.  The three new recruits would become iconic Avengers.  I’d say this is because they were, first and foremost, Avengers, not solo stars appearing in a second book.  This is also why characters such as the Vision and Wonder Man have become iconic Avengers.  They were created in the book.

In the movie, all characters have significant character arcs, but the most interesting involve the characters who do not have their own movie series.  The best arc in the film belonged to Hawkeye.  His surprise family and vulnerability were both different from the printed page and a welcome sight.  It also shows that the movies aren’t going to be “filling in” the traditional histories of these characters from the comics. I like this a lot.  Finally, the movies ends with the introduction of a new Avengers lineup, with most of the original movie team leaving.  This is wonderfully similar to the comics and yet done in a totally new way with different characters.

So, bravo Marvel for putting out another great movie!  I know there’s more on the way and I can’t wait to see them!