100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 53: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon

Genre: Action/ Science Fiction/ Adventure

Runtime: 141 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans,Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, James SPader, Samuel L. Jackson, Coby Smulders, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Stellan Skarsgard, Claudia Kim, Thomas Kretschmann, Andy Serkis, Linda Cardellini

Description: When Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and it is up to the Avengers to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plans.

Review: “The Avengers” was a huge success. A grand, funny, lively superhero movie with colorful characters. It was unique and exciting to see all those larger-than-life characters together in one film. And now they are back in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, to save the world again. Will Joss Whedon succeed again? In two words: hell yeah!

We get the same ingredients: Tony Stark/ Iron Man makes sharp remarks, Steve Rogers/ Captain America tries to do everything by the book, Thor is the macho who as a God feels more majestic then the rest, Bruce Banner/ Hulk tries to control his anger and Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow is the kick-ass chick of the group. A well-known formula with the perfect actors to play the roles. The action is out of control: fighting, flying, demolishing, lots of spectacular action scenes. The opening scene was so amazing, you are right in the middle of it all. And that action is combined very well with comedy.

The introduction of the villain, the titular Ultron voiced by James Spader, is fascinating. He is a pretty scary villain and powerful. Spader does a great job voicing the character.

Joss Whedon gave some of the characters, that don’t have standalone films yet, a bigger role then the first movie. We get to know Clint Barton/ Hawkeye a bit better and he also has some good one-liners. Black Widow doesn’t only get more physical scenes, but also gets more depth. Her connection with Bruce Banner also gets more depth. Do we need a love arch in this action packed movie? Why not, it’s only minor.

New characters Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch add, besides new cool superpowers, also an interesting dramatic and moral component to the story. They could have used a bit more depth.

With this many characters in one movie, it’s a challenge to not make it superficial or let one character overshadow another character. Whedon managed to give each character a development, more depth or a memorable moment.

“Avengers”Age of Ultron” is highly enjoyable movie. A perfect cast, a huge amount of action, fun humor. I could think of a lot of worse thing to do in 141 minutes.

Rating: 4,5/ 5