Jay Shares a Few Thoughts on Joss Whedon's "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

Jay here.

I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron last night at the Arclight in La Jolla. I'll refrain from writing a full-fledged review since Matt's review does a good job summing up many of my own thoughts on the first blockbuster of summer. Overall, I enjoyed it immensely and I think it does its job well, which is entertain the masses with high-quality comic book goodness. Now, Matt is a D.C. expert and will extoll the virtues of Batman, Superman and all the other Justice League characters, but I was always a Marvel devotee. Sure, I read and loved Batman just as much as he does, but I always preferred Marvels more gritty world, grounded in our own reality. So, I would like to highlight some of the parts of the movie I like the most through the context of someone who read these comics as a kid and is seeing them on the big screen in a way I never imagined I would.

Ultron

One of the strongest aspects of these Marvel films is the brilliant casting choices they have made, going back to the first Iron Man movie and the decision to put Robert Downey Jr. in the metal suit. Having James Spader voice the mad robot, Ultron in this Avengers sequel was an inspired decision. Spader's sarcastic and condescending tone is a perfect fit for Ultron and matches well with Tony Stark's similar snarky and narcissistic personality. Besides changing his creator from Hank Pym in the comics to Stark for this movie, they've stayed pretty true to the origins of one of the Avengers' greatest villains. Director, Joss Whedon did a good job trying to portray Ultron in more human terms. Even Tony Stark himself seems to have apprehensions about destroying his creation at first. He's a great villain.

The Scarlett Witch

Wanda Maximoff, played here by Elizabeth Olsen, is a complicated character to bring into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Her powers don't easily translate and are difficult to describe. I mean how does one portray "probability manipulation" on screen? I don't know. To be honest, even when I read the comics I didn't know what the hell her powers did. Here they've basically made her Jean Grey, and I think it works well. Like Grey in the earlier X-Men movies they give hints at the enormity of the Scarlett Witch's powers and I'm sure they'll explore some of her reality warping talents in later films. I really liked Olsen in this movie. Every time she was on screen she was pretty freaking cool. Kudos to Whedon for making her more interesting than she was in the comic.

The Infinity Gems . . . . er . . . . Stones

I don't know how many years we're going to have to wait until Thanos finally gets his hands, or glove if you will, on all 6 Infinity Stones, but I hope its coming soon. All of the Marvel movies have been building towards The Infinity War, a storyline based on the popular 1991 mini-series called The Infinity Gauntlet. When it does get here (by 2018's The Avengers: Infinity War, I hear) it's going to be huge. Geeks heads everywhere will simultaneously explode when all of the Marvel heroes have to stop the Mad Titan, who basically makes himself omnipotent by collecting all six stones. Until then, we get teased and teased some more.

Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson ruled this movie. With each Marvel movie she's in the Black Widow becomes more and more of a fleshed out character. Her romance with Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is an emotional heart within what most would call a childish comic book movie. I totally agree with Matt that it is time to give her a film of her own, and not one like the one that SNL parodied when Johansson hosted the other night.

Iron Man vs. Captain America

It's coming and this Avengers sequel is laying the ground for the inevitable conflict between Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark. This all happened in the Marvel crossover event called Civil War which basically detailed what happened when the U.S. Government tried to force all super-powered individuals to register their true identities and powers. Stark thought this was a good idea and helped make it law and Cap thought it flew in the face of everything that makes America the land of the free and the home of the brave. I liked how Avengers: Age of Ultron showed how these two men have very different ideas about what's in the best interest for protecting the planet from future catastrophes. I'm sure this in no way is meant to be a funny-book reflection of how our real country is divided along political and partisan lines . . . . . yeah, just a coincidence.

There was lots more I enjoyed about Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was a lot of fun and did its job well. I do think it is good that Joss Whedon is moving on to other projects and leaving the MCU behind. It's time for him to try something original again, I hope. Seeing as how we will probably never get that Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie we're dreaming about, it would be good to see him get back to writing something entirely new and fun. Until then, go see Avengers . . . . that is if you're one of the five people who haven't seen it already.