The reviews for Avengers: Age of Ultron are hovering around the 70% mark now, and I’m hearing a lot of panic last-minute. Let’s remember that Rotten Tomatoes gave Thor: The Dark World a 66% and I think that’s one of the strongest films Marvel has produced. The film, though, that I’m hearing it most compared to is Iron Man 2 (in a negative way). Here’s the thing: I liked Iron Man 2. It made Whiplash cool and introduced Black Widow. It was also tasked with doing what I think (and this is speculation) Age of Ultron will be tasked with doing. It had to set up A LOT. Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were the first two MCU films and their success made it necessary for Iron Man 2 to set up a ton of characters, plotlines and themes that would be explored not just in that movie, but in phases to come. If you watch the film now, you can see how much of a pivotal film it was. You could compare it to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which JK Rowling used heavily to set up plot points that would resonate throughout the rest of her epic and, when reread, those books are much more powerful in retrospect.
That being said, my favorite scene in Iron Man 2 is the pure Marvel porn that is Tony and Rhodey versus Whiplash and his drones. You have the trademark banter, You have an amazing fight that shows everything those two sets of armor can do at that point. I giggled like a little kid through the whole thing.
I have passes tomorrow to see Age of Ultron and we’ll see what we see. I compared it to Harry Potter, because this is a franchise unlike any other. It’s a cinematic comic book with each movie an issue in a giant overarching story. Some chapters may stand out more than others, but in any huge story there are going to have to be chapters where you lay a lot of groundwork. Let’s not forget, also, that after Ant-Man, we have Captain America: Civil War, which will feature most of the characters in Age of Ultron AND MORE, so we’re closing out Phase 2 and also beginning what will be a very dark Phase 3 before the climactic battle that will be Avengers: Infinity War.
I don’t put too much stock in review aggregators. Of course the critics aren’t going to like Thor 2. It’s way too nerdy.
Still, I’m glad you’ll be seeing A2 in advance. If you give it a positive review my mind will be put at ease, because doubt has crept in.
When I first saw Iron Man 2 I wasn’t that impressed. I was mainly just enamored with RDJ’s performance. For that matter, I wasn’t too impressed with Iron Man 1. But I loved the first Captain America so much that I quickly came to appreciate the earlier films.
Iron Man 2 did have too many balls in the air, and I thought it was detrimental to the forward drive of the movie, but when you watch it knowing what to expect, it’s actually quite good. Avengers 2 kind of has to have a lot of balls in the air, but unlike IM2 it won’t be trying to force them into a film that’s mainly about a single character.
Also, in Joss we trust.
LikeLike
Iron Man 2 goes down much easier once you’ve seen the Avengers and Winter Soldier and are more familiar with Fury, Coulson, and Black Widow. It makes more sense in retrospect. Possibly Age of Ultron will the be the same way once Phase 3 is under way.
LikeLike
Over 200 million so far in foreign markets. At this, point, these guys have the luxury of playing the long game. If the movie is being compared to IM2 I’m going to take that as a positive. It means the film will move things along even if it sacrifices some forward momentum.
LikeLike
I think that’s true Marc, because when you look at it; Guardians did very little to advance the overall IMMEDIATE plot (certainly advanced toward Infinity War), Ant-Man isn’t, going to do much to advance things and then we’re at CIVIL WAR and the arrival of Spider-Man. So this film has to create so much dissension and crack the team to the point where when Cap 3 picks up, it doesn’t have to spend its first hour splitting things. I think we’ll look back on Age of Ultron and Civil War flowing into each other as almost a two parter. Phase 3 is the dark night of the soul of the MCU before the glorious mega team-up of everyone for the two part Infinity War, which Chris Evans has revealed is shooting next year for NINE MONTHS. Guardians, Avengers, Defenders, Dr. Strange, Inhumans?, Black Panther all coming together to battle Thanos. AoU, in that context, really HAS to set up all of that because you have an immediate epic following and new character films coming in with Ant-Man, Dr. Strange and Black Panther which can only do so much to advance the plot. I assume Guardians 2 is going to bring them closer to the mainstream MCU/Thanos fight, but when you look at the schedule the only film that has the characters and time to set all of this darkness before the dawn up, is A2. And that’s fine. We’re comics fans and these are really just issues in a giant cinematic graphic novel. And just to hearken back to IM2, Whiplash is still the best villain he has had and that blows my mind apart lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person