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024 MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
visit REVIEWS CINEMA
T he new Avengers film is bigger,
busier and more chaotic than
the 2012 assemblage under the
direction of Joss Whedon, who returns
for this second round. We all know
that with great power comes great
responsibility, and steering this mighty
Marvel flagship comes with even greater
responsibility, expectation and pressure.
This is a massive movie for the Buffy
creator (or any filmmaker for that matter),
and fortunately Whedon has the fanboy
smarts to maintain control of this comic
book behemoth. Just.
Age of Ultron opens in the midst of a
frenetic battle between the Avengers and
HYDRA, as the former attempt to reclaim
Loki's scepter. Once in possession of
the arcane artifact, Tony Stark and Bruce
Banner play Frankenstein and use it to
create an Artificial Intelligence program
named Ultron (voiced by James Spader),
designed to keep the peace so these
weary superheroes can all take a well
deserved break.
The pair have obviously never seen
any Terminator movies, and before long
Ultron is following in Skynet's digital
footprints and plotting an extinction level
event that will wipe out humanity and
ensure world peace.
Joining the Avengers in the battle
against this megalomaniac machine are
the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and
the nimble Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-
Johnson) – the latter not as fleet-footed
as his X-Men: Days of Future Past
incarnation – as well as a red-skinned
hybrid of Tony Stark's techno-butler
Jarvis and Ultron's AI program (Paul
Bettany). Marvel have never been shy
when it comes to world-building.
In a market currently crowded with
superheroes and big screen spectacle,
what's refreshing about this Marvel
bunch is that, unlike the Transformers
and the Man of Steel, they actually give
a damn about civilian lives as everything
is being reduced to rubble. Sometimes
it's the little things that count. And as
in The Avengers, Whedon manages to
find time for some quieter, character-
focused moments, including backstories
for Hawkeye and Black Widow. Despite
so many characters, villains and CGI FX
vying for screen time, everyone gets
their moment in the spotlight. There's
even a cameo by those mechanical
dinoshark things from the first film.
In terms of Marvel movie rankings ,
Avengers: Age of Ultron is like Iron
Man 3 – bigger and busier, but not
necessarily better than the original.
Scott Hocking
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that applies to the Marvel movie universe. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and
the Cap have all had variable solo outings, but together as the Avengers, they raise the bar for comic book movies.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
RELEASED: April 23
DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon
CAST: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans,
Mark Ruffalo
RATING: M
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