The Avengers: Age of Ultron Review (2015) - SPOILERS!!!

WARNING!
AS STATED IN THE TITLE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015;
Marvel Studios)

Going into the Avengers: Age of Ultron I had high hopes.  I think everyone did.  I made a point to not check out information on the movie.  I stayed away from online sources containing anything about the film and its cast and went in entirely objectively and unspoiled.  I begin the movie wanting to know two things: How did they pull of the Ultron storyline and how badass was Scarlet Witch?  I essentially satisfied in both respects.  That does not, however, mean Age of Ultron is a perfect movie.

The problem with making a sequel to a movie as big as the Avengers is it will be very hard to top it.  Initially, I was unsure about what they were going to do, but by the beginning of the third act, I was pretty certain I had guessed at exactly what was going to unfold by the film’s conclusion with around 60% accuracy.  The movie steps things up by having the swarms of enemies that were certainly meant to be more menacing than the Chitauri, and is successful in that… kind of.  Early in the movie, a struggle breaks out with a group of Stark’s automaton sentries that come off as would-be cannon fodder but there is a sense of menace with the team battling just a handful of Stark’s creations.  However, by the end we see the Avengers decimating hundreds of them with little-to-no effort.  Did they discover their weak points?

This is a recurring problem in Age of Ultron, too.  Action scenes are built up and are, for the most part, concluded and only briefly addressed until we get to the end and the lead characters find themselves facing off against Ultron’s hoards in the climactic battle.  However, each scene that has a strong start is often cut into with momentary lapses in tension.  A key character is killed and we get a few moments of sadness, followed by more explosions, then he’s never really addressed again.  A major event will occur, and will be negated or disregarded almost as quickly as it began.  This goes most notably for the film’s anti-climax.  It ends exactly how you expect it would by the start of the third act and it just sort of peters out.  It literally ends with a bang but hits like a shot from a Nerf gun, really.  Honestly, it feels like a step down from the New York set piece in the first movie.  This isn’t helped by the fact that it uses one of the most cliched and most often-horribly done evil-plan cliches and does it well, but only as well as this goofy, overused premise can be done.

Other major problems occur in the characters.  The first Avengers had a small team of characters and we are able to get a lot of characterization in their interactions.  However, Age of Ultron goes the sequel route of adding so many characters (nearly doubling the size of the team by the end of the movie) that most of their little moments end up lost in the shuffle.  I appreciate the attempts to flesh out some of the more overshadowed characters from the first movie (like Hawkeye, for instance) but this is still the Robert Downey, Jr. Show.  I do not blame Whedon for this, though.  RDJ’s magnetism is on full display, driving up the arrogance and intellectualism of Tony Stark much more than the first movie.  He’s still a wise-ass, but he comes off as more of the brilliant character he is in this outing.  Yet, the problem with having such a big cast and only a few characters dominating the foreground is you have a lot of questions, and a lot of characters that really just feel pointless.  Quicksilver suffers this in many respects, as he is mostly just relegated to “clean-up duty” while his much more prominent sister, Scarlet Witch is elevated to full-on goddess (even though, in-canon she is significantly more-powerful than almost all of the other Avengers).  She gets her big moment.  Quicksilver doesn’t.  Don Cheadle makes his appearance as War Machine which is welcome, but he is also given next to nothing to do, and just feels like a pointless addition in the end.

Now, with all of the negatives aside, this is still a good movie.  It isn’t complex.  It will not wreck your brain-area with convoluted exposition and over-blown pseudoscience.  It gives you just enough to lay the foundation for some truly well-done action scenes.  Like in the first film, Joss Whedon lines up wonderful moments of kineticism with smart, interspersed, and occasionally funny dialogue.  Sure, some of the action scenes go on a little long, but they never drift into Michael Bay/Roland Emmerich-Level CGI Porn.  Instead, each scene is clearly-lit, everything is vivid and easily discernable (with a few brief exceptions) and the layout of each scene is solid.  Whedon also employs his trademark single, long tracking shots that flow to each character nearly-seamlessly multiple times and it’s always a welcome technique, never coming off as exploited or poorly done here.

Acting is good all-around.  The only truly weak performance comes from Linda Cardellini, who I liked in ER and loved in Freaks and Geeks, but here, she just plays Worried Pregnant Housewife #2.  Despite having a direct association with one of the MAIN characters, she’s wasted.  We cut back to the occasional worried-wife-shot then back to the action.  The editing in that one cut to her is awkward, too.  It just felt… off.  That said, James Spader was immensely entertaining as the ultimate super-intelligence, Ultron, though his reasoning does fall squarely into Final Fantasy villain territory.  Aside from that, there really was no reason to have a big supporting cast.  This is the Avengers’ show and do you know what?  That’s okay.  That is exactly what we all went to see, and Joss Whedon seems to recognize that.  He didn’t flood the movie with too many pointless subplots (there are a few, but they aren’t too awfully intrusive) and, thanking all that is holy, no obnoxious comic relief characters that are so endemic in action movies these days.  

Now I’m going to touch on Ultron a little more as a villain here.  As I said, James Spader is awesome and I do not think I’ve ever disliked a performance from him.  Even when he’s in a bad movie, Spader still busts his butt to craft a memorable character for the audience.  His inflections work very well in the role as his subtle, personal touches on Ultron’s voice gives the entity life.  Lesser writers would have just made it a cold super-T-800-style-villain-bot.  However, Whedon knows how to write characters and its dialogue, mixed with Spader’s performance makes a nice blend.  That said, in all of his efforts, I think Whedon failed to really build Ultron up to be the force it really is.  Ultron’s a powerful dude here, for sure.  Is it menacing?  Yes.  Yet, by the end of the movie, one of the most powerful figures in comic book lore is dispatched in an anti-climax that has it fade away quicker than it appeared.  With the rest of the action scenes in this movie lasting in the 10-20 minute range, the fact that the final showdown that leads to the villain’s end lasts only about two minutes in total was just a big letdown.  Note that I’m only referring to the machine Ultron built for himself, disregarding his consciousness in the rest of the sentry bots because… well, so does the movie.  This was all an obvious hint at Ultron’s return.  Which, it seems, will certainly happen.

My final thought is as a big, loud, packed action movie.  This one is a lot of fun.  It’s accessible, there’s nothing in it that’s too disturbing for younger audiences, nor does it feel like a cartoon.  It is a well-balanced movie overall.  I would say it’s probably the lesser of Whedon’s most recent film projects factoring in the first Avengers movie AND Cabin in the Woods (which he co-wrote), but it’s not obnoxious outside of being about thirty minutes too long, and it has enough fun action moments and entertaining dialogue that I would give a whole-hearted recommendation.  It won’t be topping any “greatest action movies” lists, but it’s definitely better than most of what we get from Hollywood these days.  Given the chance, I’d see this again.  It’s a balanced movie and though I feel Joss Whedon is a much, MUCH better character writer than he is an action film director, I respect his choice to make an accessible movie that cuts the fat and delivers exactly what fans want.  The Avengers: Age of Ultron a pretty fun movie.

The Dark Knight Rises Review.

Cartoon by Christopher McElfresh

The Dark Knight Rises is the highly-anticipated finale to the massively successful and critically-acclaimed Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy.  So, how does this one stack up in the trilogy?  Well the best thing I can say is it is my second favorite film in the trilogy, after the Dark Knight, if only because it is a pretty intense, dark story with great set pieces, not because it is a great film.  The events that occur in this film line up nicely to a (somewhat) probable, violent, tragic and truly frightening series of events, culminating in an army of maniacal zealots and violent criminals keeping the good citizens of the city of Gotham in their homes, in fear for their very lives.

Initially, while I watched the film, I was utterly pissed off by just how broken this film really is.  There are so many problems with this movie, it may take a two-parter to really, honestly provide the necessary information as to why I did not thoroughly enjoy this movie.  Still, I’m going to keep this brief and start with this very important note:  If you take this as a dumb Summer action blockbuster, it is good by comparison.  However, if expectations are set for an intense, powerful, psychological drama with action, like the Dark Knight, then you will be entirely disappointed.



WARNING!!!:  SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

I’ll start with the acting.  First off, the best performances in the movie.  For me it goes to Michael Caine (no duh?!) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  The latter is essential to the plot, while Cain’s Alfred is there when the plot needs some drama and then he disappears, ultimately getting thrown out entirely until the very, VERY end of the movie.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the principal connection of the idea of Batman to the average citizen and the downtrodden.  He is the embodiment of the idea of a hero and how heroes inspire the best in us.  His character really drives this movie, as he is the actually conscience of the City of Gotham and he takes up the mantle during a large chunk of the movie where the Bat is out of the picture.  

Now, the worst acting comes from the two main sources of conflict in the most of the movie, Tom Hardy as Bane, and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (she is never actually referred to as “Catwoman”).  Starting with Bane, Tom Hardy’s accent is simultaneously unintentionally-hilarious and incomprehensible.  Probably about a third of his lines are actually coherent, the rest sound like a jumbled mess of digital filters and some really bad ADR that sounds like it was recorded clear on the other side of the world and sent to the editing booth via the worst possible mail service in the world on a dirty old audio cassette tape.  Now, my understanding is that test screenings had people saying they couldn’t understand ANYTHING that was said by Bane so they redid the whole of his lines and added them back in.  Note, this is third-hand information that I have not fully verified.  

The Dark Knight Rises Batman Logo Flat-Brim Baseball Cap

Now, I’m devoting a whole paragraph to Anne Hathaway because her character represents a principal issue with this whole film.  Catwoman had no reason to be in this movie.  Those who know me know that I have no love for Anne Hathaway.  Oscar aside, I find her exceptionally annoying and her expressions and vocal gymnastics she goes through in the Dark Knight Rises only further affirm my dislike of her as an actress.  I don’t know how she is personally, but as a talent, she is greatly lacking.  In DKR she is lost in how to carry Ms. Kyle.  She bounces between voices and demeanors and even goes so far as to mimic Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry (WHY!?) all in a single brief scene.  This is not a good performance and it hurts the movie, not only because it was bad, but because it was completely unnecessary.  As I mentioned, she bears none of the weight of the plot and it is entirely obvious that she was written into a final draft of the script to throw in another female lead that wasn’t kidnapping fodder.  This is ultimately my big issue with this movie.  The Dark Knight Rises has studio stink all over it.  

You can make a freaking drinking game out of the elements that are obviously marketing decisions, not artistic ones.  A few other examples of this include the return of Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane as an evil judge and the last-minute reference to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character name change from “Robin”.  Both of these were eye-rolling and unnecessary and were obviously meant to quell speculation and ensure they can make the same little Scarecrow action figures, this time with a Dark Knight Rises graphic on the cardboard packaging instead of Batman Begins.

The Dark Knight Rises Bane Tee

DKR is really just a poor Batman Movie.  Batman is barely in it and when he is he is thoroughly getting his ass kicked.  I do like it when the movies makes their heroes breakable and human, but this is excessive.  The first time he doesn’t make the climb out of the pit I said “Man, you’ll get there.  I know you can do it Bruce!”, the second time I said “Oh, come on!” and when he finally makes it out I thought “About freaking time!”  The scenes with him in prison are some of the most boooooring parts of any movie I’ve seen all Summer, bringing the intense events we see in Gotham to a grinding halt so we can watch Christian Bale work out.

Now, I’ll offer few more positives before I seem like too much of a hater.  The action is good.  Like, really, really good.  This makes the Dark Knight Rises a fun sit, if you fast forward through the dragged-out prison scenes.  I did not completely hate DKR, and I was thoroughly entertained throughout most of this film.  The exciting action is sort of what pushes this one just a little higher than Batman Begins for me.  The climax is tense and well-done despite them going for the lowest-common-denominator in the obligatory “bomb diffused in the last second” cliche.  I do, however, like how the various citizens of Gotham work together to stop Bane’s boss, Bane himself and their army instead of just having Batman do all of the heavy lifting.

All in all, as a Summer blockbuster, DKR is not a bad movie.  It is a solid film with lots of good action and some great tension.  Still, it is not a great film.  It is not going to be a game changer and it certainly feels like a massive step backwards from the Dark Knight.  It will continue to make a ton of money through its run and through merchandise, but at this point, the Avengers remains my favorite blockbuster of this Summer so far.  I haven’t seen a single film yet in 2012 that can come close to the fun I had while watching that movie.

A Little-Late Film Review - The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Cartoon by Christopher McElfresh

More than a decade ago Evil Dead begetter Sam Raimi launched a rebirth for Spider-Man, who had been mostly neglected by the studios, and turned it into a Hollywood cash cow.  A few years later, the first sequel to the series became one of the very few sequels in film history that were actually BETTER than their predecessor.  And then he broke it.  Spider-Man 3 was such a tremendous pile of FAIL that the series subsequently died.  Now, five years after we saw an emo Tobey Maguire slide not-so-gracefully across a dance floor causing a synonymous groan amidst the isles of theatres across America, (500) Days of Summer-director Mark Webb takes up the reins of the beloved franchise to redefine, revitalize, and make Columbia Pictures a shitload of money.

I’m not going to spend too much time on the story as, since this review is a little late, I’m sure anyone reading this has either seen it, or has already read up on the film.  Still, I wanted my piece to be out there, for the twelve people that will actually read this.  I’ll start by saying that this film is definitely a different take on the story.  

Batman Begins made it cool to have a darker tone in your comic book movies and, because it worked in that film, Hollywood once again misses the point entirely (it’s par for the course, really) and assumes the dark tone was precisely why those movies were pretty good.  Well, they were wrong.  We’ve seen a number of comic book franchises completely slaughtered on screen over the last few years and, with the exception of the Dark Knight and the Avengers, it has been brutal.  The Amazing Spider-Man is another film that tries to go this route, and the “dark” tone does not really seem to fit in this universe.

The premise takes Peter Parker all the way back to High School where he struggles with bullies and with his crush for the out-of-his-league-obligatory-female-co-star Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), who was one of three lovely ladies whom Peter Parker courted over the years in the comics.  Many of these high school scenes are really just set up so we can see him master his powers and fight the film’s villain along the walls and ceilings of its corridors.  It also provides some lead in to the romance between Parker and Stacy but is not the location at which their real character interactions and arcs occur.  What I’m basically saying here is most of the high school scenes are pointless, really.  I do, however, appreciate the inclusion of legacy Spider-Man jock Flash Thompson in the story, though he really only exists as a thin point of conflict, and the most pedestrian of villains, the bully.  His character is never even fully realized.  He gets his ass handed to him at basketball in a scene that is kind of entertaining but is really just trailer-bait and then his attitude and role changes entirely when Peter’s Uncle Ben is killed, at which he is pretty much dropped from the film entirely.

The scenes leading up to Peter obtaining his abilities can only be described by the most dreadful of film descriptors: Boring.  It’s hard to really care about the characters as many of them are barely flashed over (the same mistake the X-Men movies made) and after Peter becomes Spidey we really couldn’t care less about most of them, mainly because the film doesn’t.  Aunt Mae just exists to worry about Peter and the few relevant scenes she has are wasted.  They cast Sally Field and Martin Sheen as Mae and Ben, which I speculate was an attempt to make the older audience and film nerds go “Ohhhhhh!” but is really just kind of distracting, and is sort of a waste.  Still, the intimate scenes with Ben reaching out to Peter are some of the best in the movie, and thanks to the caliber of talent behind the roles, we do get a sense that these characters really do care about their nephew and the path he is traveling.

The point where the film really falls apart is when we are first introduced to the villain, the Lizard.  This is an odd choice to me as it sort of defeats the purpose that (I think) they were trying to achieve: bringing Spider-Man into the real world.  If it were the doctor just slightly deformed, or maybe a different villain entirely (preferably), it wouldn’t have been so bad.  But the dumb-looking CGI villain is such a out of place and really killed much of the tension for me.  He just looks so... bad!  What’s worse is the actor they chose to play him is really only okay and his performance has about as much subtlety as an in-costume Cirque-Du-Soleil performer riding an LED-lit unicycle through Times Square while blowing a flaming vuvuzela.

The action scenes are where this movie really shows its mettle, as they are well-directed and paced.  Little moments of tension and heavy scenes of pounding action flood the screen.  However, much of the tension is lost when we realize that these two characters are virtually indestructible.  They’re thrown through walls, blown up, slashed and shot and yet they remain unphased.  It sort of kills the tension when your hero is Reb Brown-level bulletproof and is seemingly fully invincible.  Yet, the way they flow, and the way the camera is used makes these gladiatorial bouts look good.

Now, a note on performances.  This is one of the Amazing Spider-Man’s biggest strengths over the original trilogy in my opinion.  Andrew Garfield is a much better actor than Tobey Maguire and the same applies to Emma Stone versus Kirsten Dunst, despite the fact that they are playing different characters.  The scene stealer, however, has to be Captain Stacy, Gwen’s father, the loud-mouthed, gung-ho leader we’d expect from a character played by the talented Dennis Leary.  The only performance I really didn’t like was Rhys Ifans’ villain.  I just found him too cartoonish and hammy for this film’s tone.  I also would like to point out a good performance from E.T.’s C.Thomas Howell in a small part as a construction worker and devoted father.

All that said, as negative as this review may sound, I would actually recommend this film.  It is not some great achievement, but compared to most comic book movies, it is not all that bad.  There is enough enjoyment to be had in this film to warrant a recommendation.  It just requires the viewer to put aside pretension and maybe just a little expectation to find entertainment in some of the film’s action scenes and the occasional bouts of humor.  The things that drag this one down is the endless melodrama, the lame villain and the idea that there really wasn’t any reason for this film to be made in 2012 (Besides making a ton of money, of course).