Hello and welcome to the 05/03/15 edition of The Comic Shop! A very happy early May the 4th to you all!
So all formalities out of the way "Avengers: Age of Ultron" lets get at it!
The Good:
Two things that really stood out to me as phenomenal when watching this movie and they were the absolute high points for me as a fan of storytelling & narrative.
The first is that screenwriter/director Joss Whedon used Hawkeye to establish a passenger for the audience to experience the movie through. While the team is comprised of many different people most of them have superhuman to near superhuman capabilities while Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye is "a guy with a bow & arrow." It was quite a clever gambit on Whedon's part to set up Hawkeye as a father with 2.5 kids and shacking up with Velma from the "Scooby Doo" movies. The end result is that he becomes the most Avenger that is most easy to relate to. He's nothing superhuman he's a guy doing his job like a police officer or a soldier. The archer has no higher aspirations than to do his duty and get back home safe to his family. Without this emotional human tether this movie could've faded even further into the "big, loud, stupid, unmemorable fight scene after unmemorable fight scene" of summer movie purgatory. This narrative raises the stakes in the final climax of the film, and makes the events that transpire all the more heart wrenching by putting our view into this world in danger.
The second is that there is a very clear distinction made early that this film is the anti- "Man of Steel". There is a very clear emphasis throughout the film that protecting the people near the scene of the action is what is of the utmost importance. In fact part of Banner/Hulk's story arch is that he feels extreme guilt for his battle with "Veronica" and how it endangered people, but we will get more into that later. I really felt that it makes those final climax scenes all that more important to realize that these are real lives that matter, and to see the struggle that these heroes face to ultimately do the noble thing when they have other clearly dangerous matters at hand. I don't say this to be flip about "MOS", but I think it also served as the antithesis of the original "Avengers" where we saw very little care or concern for the city & citizenry of New York in the final battle.
There are a lot of strong performances in this movie, but I have to say that Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch was the most riveting for me. Getting a little bit into spoiler territory, but when she returns to battle after having a minor mental breakdown she absolutely starts incinerating Ultron drones and it gave me as much joy as when Hulk smashed the giant snake transport in the original "Avengers". I wanted to jump out of my seat and scream "HELL YES!" It is wonderful to have such a powerful female Avenger who can absolutely hold her own and wreak her own brand of chaotic ass kicking.
James Spader's Ultron was a performance that weighed heavily upon me, because I openly questioned why he was making jokes for most of the movie. After thinking more about his relationship with Tony Stark it made sense to me that this AI would be a bit of a smartass.
Obviously the usual players like Chris Evans' Captain America, RDJ's Iron Man, Scarlet Johanson's Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo's Banner/Hulk, and others turned in their normal solid performances. It was really cool to see Don Cheadle suit up as War Machine and join the team in the final battle, and it was nice to see Sam Mackie back as Sam Wilson to tease the plotline for the next Captain America solo outing.
Visually this movie is very beautiful to look at in 3D, and all the vocals are very clear and concise. I thought Paul Bettany's Vision was especially a work of art as I couldn't tell if it was makeup or prosthetics when he finally made his onscreen debut. He is a very neat character visually, and I am very interested to watch him grow in the future of the Avengers film franchise.
One of the stronger points of Scarlet Witch's characterization was that they did a wonderful job explaining her powers, and then showing the different levels that the worked on. The different fever dreams that she caused the Avengers to have were especially poignant and powerful images.
There is a lot of good humor in this film and while it can be a bit too much at times it seems that Whedon strikes a decent balance between the comedy and drama so that either doesn't become too overpowering for the viewer. In a meta sense he actually uses Hawkeye as I discussed earlier to poke fun at the absurdity of the whole affair, which I found quite fun.
The Bad:
The film's biggest plothole is easily either it's disregard or ignorance of the events of the finale of "Iron Man 3". While that movie may be no one's favorite in the Marvel catalog it is disrepectful and damaging to blatantly ignore the fact that Tony Stark had already decided to quit being the man in the suit. When this movie picks up he's in suit stomping out Hydra bases with the rest of the team. There is NO explanation of how or why he decided to get back into the suit, and for me that is quite a plot hole to just leave hanging. Something that could be explained away in 2 lines of dialogue is instead a distraction from the main narrative of the movie.
I was not a fan of the Black Widow-Banner/Hulk romance. Not for any comic reason, but just that I felt that it was unnecessary and it took time from other things. It did nothing for the plot other than to possibly set up tension in the next movie, and set up one of the more comical bits of dialogue. Hopefully the Russo Brothers will not feel the need to pick up on this useless contrived romance.
Speaking of pointless. Thor's vision quest was literally a commercial for the "Infinity Wars" movies to come. I wish when he went in that cave of reflection they would've just shown the trailer for the upcoming two-parter as it would've achieved the same end.
The Ugly:
As far as we know this is the last time that Joss Whedon will handle this team of Avengers. The contracts for Evans & Downey Jr. are coming to the end, and they will likely be replaced on the team one way or another. It was fun with these two movies and I'm sure it will be great with the Russo's back at the helm, but it's always cause for concern when one creator sets something up and hands it off to someone else.
I think at this point the question also has to be asked "why are they continuing with solo films with established Avengers?" Sure newbies like Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Ms. Marvel, and others deserve a right and proper introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but are there really things that Thor, Cap, & IM don't need the Avengers to deal with? It sure would've helped to have the team's help when Tony was getting his ass handed to him in "IM3", or when Thor was trying to save an entire universe in "Thor: The Dark World". I'm not saying there is anything wrong with solo sequels as "The Winter Soldier" is probably my favorite Marvel movie, but I think the stories would be even better with the Avengers team on the case. In fact why call it "Captain America 3: Civil War" if it's going to feature Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, and others? Why not "Avengers: Civil War?" Just my opinion on the subject as it appears that these solo films are nothing more than a cash grab if they have no impact on the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In all: I have to give this movie about an 8.5/10. It's not perfect, but it is of good quality for the summer movie season. The bad stuff doesn't weigh it down too much and it actually accomplishes quite a bit.
Batman #40: Endgame Review
I don't know how to really do this without getting into spoilers, so SPOILERS people. When we last left our heroes Batman, the Bat-family, and most of his rogues gallery waded through the huddled, infected masses of Gotham to try to get some of Joker's spinal fluid to get a cure for the poison that he used. As it turns out the whole "final" battle was a bit anticlimactic in an effort to set up the real final battle between Batman and the Joker. This is because the only way to extract a cure was to tap into a final dionesium deposit in the caves under the city. As writer Scott Snyder confirmed both men knew entering the cave that they would not be leaving alive. The final battle was fantastic as the two wrestle with their issues while pummeling one another. After Joker is killed by falling rock, a dionesium sample is extracted and removed from the cave Batman finally decides to lay down for a nap next to his longtime "friend".
I thought this was a really great arch that lived up to the "Endgame" name. This is how I think most Batfans knew things would eventually have to play out as Batman would eventually have to end Joker to preserve life in Gotham. It was refreshing to have a creative team that didn't embrace the constant will-they-or-won't-they of the history of the characters. Snyder & Capullo once again blazed a brand new trail and did it their own way, and I enjoy them all the more for it.
That's all for today folks! I'm sure there is more that I wanted to cover, but I'm ready for an eight hour nap. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading and your continued support!
See you next time at The Comic Shop!
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