![]() Upon returning the scepter to the Avengers’ spiffy Manhattan HQ, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) proceed to examine the gemstone embedded in it. (The super-monikers are never used but, yes, these are Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.) Therein they find both Loki’s scepter and a pair of decidedly unfriendly super-powered twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen, respectively. Having located the wooded alpine lair of Hydra commander Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), the Avengers proceed to assault it. Not at the end of the previous Avengers, mind you-that would be too straightforward-but at the end of last year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. ![]() The sharp, interpersonal dramedy that made the first movie such a delight is again present in flashes, but not infrequently it is drowned out by the noisy, inevitable need to Save the World. ![]() (To belabor the metaphor: He may have dropped a chainsaw or two, but he got across safely.) Age of Ultron is a strong opener for the summer blockbuster season it’s just not a mind-blowing quasi-revelation like its predecessor. To say that Whedon succeeds only in part scarcely counts as a criticism. ![]() (Hello, Black Panther’s Wakanda!) It’s the cinematic equivalent of juggling chainsaws while riding a unicycle. In addition to all the above, the movie throws into the mix four new major characters (Ultron, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Vision) all of their respective origin stories cameos of various sizes by fellow Marvel personalities War Machine, Falcon, Peggy Carter, Heimdall, and Erik Selvig and the ever-heavier burden of serving as a bridge between all the Marvel movies that have been made to date and all those yet to come. For Avengers: Age of Ultron, that already ridiculous challenge has been upped exponentially. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |