Avengers: Age Of Ultron - Review

In 2012's The Avengers, Nick Fury and Joss Whedon were both faced with an impossible task:

How do you solve a problem like Maria Hill? Just kidding.

No, I obviously meant how do you bring together Marvel's greatest individual superheroes together into one successful and cohesive unit?

Well thanks to Whedon's writing and directing skills, the answer was... "Very easily" because it became the most successful comic book movie of all-time.

It couldn't have been easy coming back to try and achieve the impossible one more time. Particularly when Marvel Studios have really raised their game in Phase 2, with them on their best run of movies so far with Iron Man 3, Winter Soldier and Guardians Of The Galaxy (we'll skip over Thor: The Dark World).

Thankfully Joss is up to the task, delivering a film that simultaneously feels bigger in scale but more intimate in terms of character development.

Following an attack on a HYDRA base, Tony Stark is haunted by a vision of a world (and Avengers) defeated by the return of the Chitauri army.

He creates the Ultron program, designed to be "a suit of armour around the world", but as anyone who has ever seen a movie about artificial intelligence would know, it is not the best idea as any Skynet-esque defence system will soon realise the best way to protect the Earth is to rid it of its most destructive force... Humans.

And so Ultron is born. Brought to life (so to speak) by a fantastic vocal performance by James Spader who brings charisma, humour and villainy in spades.

He recruits two "Enhanced" characters, whatever you do don't call them "mutants", in the form of super fast Pietro and telekinetic Wanda Maximoff to take down the Avengers whilst preparing his masterplan.

As if that wasn't enough for them to deal with, the Avengers all have their own issues going on:

Stark is faced with the Frankenstein-esque guilt of his creation. Black Widow and Bruce Banner are getting close but the Hulk keeps getting in the way, with them sharing one particular exchange reminding us of Whedon's work in Buffy. And it nice to see Hawkeye finally get a proper story arc with a surprise reveal as to his past.

As mentioned before, the action set pieces are HUGE and while at the end it once again falls into the third act trap of people fighting metal men but interestingly there is continuous mention of how Captain America and the gang focus on saving lives and minimising damage.

Was this a deliberate middle finger to Man Of Steel? I for one like to think so.

Every single member (of the ever expanding team) gets a chance to shine with the movie's most crowd-pleasing moment going to new character Vision.

On first viewing there is just so much happening in Age Of Ultron that it seems overwhelming and certain bits can feel lost in the overall mix but it could benefit from repeat viewings.

Overall Whedon has once again assembled a great movie out of Hollywood's biggest and busiest franchise and his absence going forward will be sorely missed.

In the meantime with Marvel Studios advancing to Phase 3 and rumours of the fall-out of this film affecting the plot of Captain America: Civil War does this make Age Of Ultron technically aka Ul-Tron Legacy?

4 stars

Guardians Of The Galaxy - review

Ten films in and approaching the end of Phase 2, Marvel Studios are showing no signs of fatigue or the inevitable bursting of the comic book bubble because Guardians Of The Galaxy might be one of their very best films, perhaps for the very reason that it doesn't feel like a Marvel film.

In fact beyond the appearances of previously established characters Thanos and The Collector, and the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, there is nothing to link it to the Marvel Universe and refreshingly director James Gunn is left to create his own universe, albeit one that will eventually tie into the bigger picture come Phase 3 once Thanos gets his hand into that pesky Infinity Gauntlet.

It is strange not to see any involvement from Joss Whedon in this particular slice of Marvel as it is the one that is most similar to his previous work.

This feels like Marvel's very own Serenity/Firefly with a rag-tag group of misfits flying round the galaxy occasionally saving the world but mostly arguing with each other and getting into trouble.

With Whedon busy on Avenger detail, he probably hand a hand in bringing in James Gunn who has similar traits (writer-director, comfortable working with ensembles, has strong relationships with actors and uses them regularly e.g. Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry and Whedon's lucky charm Nathan Fillion all make appearances here).

Gunn very quickly and effectively sets up Peter Quill's backstory in a moving segment where he loses his mother to cancer before being transported off Earth in a spaceship a la Flight Of The Navigator, before bringing together this thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac through the MacGuffin of a mysterious Orb which Quill himself calls "An Ark Of The Covenant, Maltese Falcon kind of deal".

Yes, this movie features more 80's pop culture references than Marvel Universe references which leads to some inspired gags and hilarious moments including one that I will not spoil beyond the fact it revolves around the plot to a particular film from 1984.

It is certainly the funniest Marvel film with Chris Pratt channeling the perfect amount of Noughties funny man and Eighties Harrison Ford action star, Cooper and Diesel providing terrific vocal performances that generate a lot of laughs and Bautista showing some great comic timing to steal some scenes.
If Guardians falters slightly it is in the Marvel trend of CGI-heavy, world threatening third act battle led by an underdeveloped main bad guy.

Really, apart from Loki in Thor and Avengers and to a certain extent The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, the villains have not really generated the level of evil and danger that say The Joker provided in The Dark Knight.

Having said that the climax is a vast improvement on the space battles that featured in the Star Wars prequels and being our introduction to the Guardians simply our first step into a larger world and there is no doubt that now this particular Marvel universe is established that the recently announced Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 will follow in the footsteps of X2, Spider-Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier as a superior sequel.

How good is Guardians Of The Galaxy? It can be expressed in just three words. I Am Groot... Rocket knows what it means!

4 stars

P.S. Still amazed at the number of people who leave before the end of the credits. Come on guys, this is Marvel movie. There have been nine others so far, all with a scene at the end! So stay in your seats for a VERY unexpected cameo!

Much Ado About Nothing - GFF review

Back in February, the Glasgow Film Festival was lucky enough to host the first UK screening of Much Ado About Nothing or "Joss Whedon, I Know What You Did Last Midsummer Night's Dream".
Many people, including Joss himself, must have been asking the question "What does a man who has just directed The Avengers, the third highest grossing film of all time, do next?". Ay, therein lies the rub...
Yet rather surprisingly the answer was not "I'm going to Disneyland" but instead he took the opportunity to brush up his Shakespeare and film a black and white adaptation of one of his plays in his own house with all the parts being played by his actor friends, all in the space of a Twelfth night.
Two weeks in the Magic Kingdom it was not, or perhaps it was depending on your point of view.
Now modern takes on Shakespeare are nothing new and have taken many forms over the years from musical (West Side Story) to teenage rom-com (Ten Things I Hate About You) but what has always been tricky is combining a contemporary setting with the original text.
The most successful of these has been Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet", which managesd to stay faithful to the Bard but opened up his work to a brand new generation.
It is certainly possible that Whedon's work could have a similar crossover appeal, especially with it being marketed as "From the director of The Avengers", and he's avoided the tragedy of "For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo", instead opting for a comedy of errors and one of Shakespeare's funniest that you could describe as "For never was a story of more wit, than this of Beatrice and her Benedick".
With the rapid-fire dialogue, battle of the sexes and striking black and white cinematography, this adaptation has the feel of a screwball comedy from the Thirties or Forties.
The Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn of this particular production are Alexis Denisof as and Amy Acker.
Both are completely at ease with the fast-paced, whip-smart dialogue and also adept at comedy as evidenced by Acker's pratfall down the stairs and the sequence where Denisof combat rolls outside a window whilst spying on a conversation about him.
Whedon's version certainly does play up the comedy but never at the expense of the romance which has a real spark, helped by the fact that the two have played lovers in the past on Angel.
By adding a scene at the beginning of the film which reveals a past tryst between Beatrice and Benedick, it puts a fresh spin on their relationship.
There is always a danger with this play that it could become the B&B show but of course this is a Joss Whedon movie, and therefore a perfect ensemble piece with not a weak link in the cast from Sean Maher's dastardly Don John, Agent Coulson Clark Gregg's loving father Leonato to Nathan Fillion's security chief Dogberry who secures the film's biggest laughs with his constant iterations that "forget not that I am an ass".
Casting his friends in the roles not only helped the production as Whedon had confidence in their abilities to deliver in such a short time scale but the sense of family that he has built up over the years with his actors transfers to the screen in this play where family plays an important role to the story.
The adaptation, set in the world of war heroes and politics, contemporises the text and while the words still hold their power (even if it does take a little time to acclimatise to the rhythms of the speech) some of the behaviour and romantic notions will still be considered odd and old-fashioned by some audiences but love is eternal and hey, remember this is Shakespeare, the man who had two teenagers kill themselves after knowing each other for only a week, so what are you going to do?!
So all's well that ends well for Joss Whedon because this labour of love is anything but lost because, measure for measure, Much Ado About Nothing is one of the best Shakespearean adaptations to ever grace the silver screen.

5 stars

Desperately trying not to geek out... Joss managed to keep his cool ;-)

Following the screening, Joss Whedon was on hand to take part in a Q&A and was met with a rapturous reception from the GFT audience.
Below is a video of the Q&A in which Joss was on excellent form and as eloquent, witty and self-deprecating as anyone who has listened to any of his DVD commentaries can attest to.
Highlights include talking about how he first developed a love for Shakespeare, the decision to film in black and white, winding up Nathan Fillion and that if he was to do another film like this following Avengers 2 it would be Hamlet.

P.S. The silly and off-topic Cabin In The Woods question was mine!

Marvel Marathon - The Avengers Assemble during The Adventures of Agent Coulson

Ever since Samuel L. Jackson turned up at the end of Iron Man, in 2008, talking to Tony Stark about the Avenger initiative, Marvel Studios have been building towards this epic moment. The release of The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble for us "stupid Brits" who might confuse it with the TV series or terrible 1998 movie of the adventures of John Steed and Emma Peel) is a landmark moment in superhero movies as it is the first time that characters from different franchises have appeared in one movie.
To get myself in the mood for the film, I am revisiting the entire Marvel studios canon of films leading up to Avengers in a giant Marvel marathon where I'll pick out the best fanboy moments, Stan Lee cameos and how much Avenger assembling takes place in each film along, etc.
I'll also take a look at the evolution of my own personal favourite character within the series, Agent Coulson played by the fabulous Clark Gregg. Much like how you can view Star Wars through the experiences of a seemingly minor character like R2-D2, like in Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress, it is fun to view the lead up to The Avengers as the continuing adventures of The Son Of Coul.

Iron Man

Marvel Studios knocked it out of the park with their first solo production, mainly thanks to the performance of Robert Downey Jr. For far too long, comic book movies had the problem that the villains were far more interesting and entertaining than the heroes. Tony Stark changed that. This is a man who is, in his own words, "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist...", and RDJ plays the role to perfection. It is easily a part that could lose the audiences sympathies but you totally buy into his characters journey into the superhero he becomes, and refreshingly one who doesn't care who knows it.
There is also excellent support from Gwyneth Paltrow, someone who I'm not normally a fan of, as Pepper Potts and Jeff Bridges being "very un-Dude" as the villain.
It is a welcome light and fun antidote to the dark and dour world of Nolan's Batman, and excellent start to the long road to The Avengers.

Marvel Canon Fodder - Rhodey gets a nice moment, looking at the Mark II suit and remarking "Next time baby", setting up his War Machine storyline. The terrorist cell is called The Ten Rings, hinting at the involvement of The Mandarin. Last time Nick Fury was on our screens, he was portrayed by David Hasselhoff (no, really!), but having Samuel L. Jackson assume the role places Iron Man and the subsequent films well and truly within the Ultimate Marvel universe as first featured in the comic series The Ultimates written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Bryan Hitch who based Fury's look on Mr Jackson.

Fanboy Geekout Moment- While the first flight in the Iron Man suit is a terrific sequence, it has to be Nick Fury's appearance at the end of the film that seemingly promises fans that we will see an Avengers movie.

Avenger Assembling - Iron Man is very much a stand alone film. Besides the introduction of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division (which Coulson is repeatedly told requires a new name) there is only Samuel L. Jackson appearing in a post credit sting teasing the Avenger Initiative.

Coulson Factor - Created for the movie, Coulson acts as a liason for S.H.I.E.L.D. and is continually dismissed by Stark until he helps protect Pepper against the Iron Monger but Clark Gregg's straight-faced deadpan delivery provided enough for producers to see the potential in the character.

Loki's Fact of Fiction - The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep was originally going to feature a scene where Maggie Thatcher borrowed the suit from Tony Stark and fought the Falklands War single handed.

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - Stan 'The Man' Lee is mistaken for Hugh Heffner by Tony at a gala event thrown by Stark Industries.

Overall rating - 4/5

The Incredible Hulk

Bringing the character of the Hulk back under the full control of Marvel Studios, producers decided to largely ignore the events in Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk movie and instead start up events 5 months after the origin of the Hulk.
The film had a troubled production with director Letterier and Edward Norton delivering a 3 hour version that was a Jekyll & Hyde style meditation on trying to understand the tortured, conflicted nature of the Hulk but Marvel edited it down to a more popcorn friendly summer blockbuster featuring an epic Harlem smack down between Hulk and the Abomination.
The end result is a bit of a mess and the actual Hulk itself is still too CGI, not having the weight or personality that hopefully Ruffalo's performance capture will add in The Avengers, but personally I prefer it to Lee's version. At least there are no mutant poodles or Nick Nolte turning into a radioactive jellyfish cloud!

Marvel Canon Fodder - Going against standard Marvel canon in which Banner turns into the Hulk after exposure to Gamma radiation, in this incarnation Banner was also working on the Super Soldier serum and it was this, combined with the radiation that caused his transformation. The character of Emil Blonksy is Russian in the comics but here he is born in Russia and grew up in England so Tim Roth didn't have to put on a funny accent. It also introduces the character of Dr. Samuel Stern who would go on to become the villain known as The Leader.

Fanboy Geekout Moment - It's a toss up between composer Craig Armstrong's use of the "sad walking away music" from the Bill Bixby TV series and the moment inspired by a scene in The Ultimates comic where they induce a hulk out by dropping Banner out of a plane.

Avenger Assembling - During the opening credits, it establishes General Ross getting assistance from S.H.I.E.L.D. In his hunt for Banner along with the use of Stark weaponry. General Ross talks about the 'Super Soldier' program used in WWII i.e. the program used to create Captain America. In the post credit sting, Tony Stark approaches a drunk General Ross telling him that they are putting a team together that might be able to solve his "little problem", at this point hinting that The Avengers could be assembled to take down and subdue the Hulk.

Coulson Factor - Sadly no appearance from everyone's favourite S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent :-(

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - Stan plays the man who gets an extra kick from an energy drink contaminated with Banner's Gamma blood.

Loki's Fact of Fiction - The Hulk's fighting style was based on wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and in a deleted scene he delivers the immortal leg drop to Abomination.

Overall rating - 2/5

Iron Man 2

This is the film in the Marvel series that suffers the most from the issue of setting events in motion for The Avengers. So much so that it feels like the film is more concerned with this than providing the audience with an Iron Man sequel.
The main plot line that features rival weapon manufacturers trying to get their hands on Stark's tech and a climatic battle between CGI robot figures is just recycled from the first film. Having said that, Sam Rockwell's weasely Justin Hammer is a nice contrast to Stark and Johannson and Gregg get their moments to shine.

Marvel Canon Fodder - Continues the progress of War Machine and starts Tony down the path laid out in the 'Devil In A Bottle' storyline. Mickey Rourke's Ivan Vanko becomes a combination of villains Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash.

Fanboy Geekout Moment - Possibly the Iron Man suit in the briefcase or Black Widow's athletic takedown of half a dozen guards.

Avenger Assembling - There is a hell of a lot going on here. Nick Fury reveals that he knew Howard Stark and he was one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and gives Tony some of Howard's research including a case that contains a Captain America comic and an unfinished prototype of his shield.
Black Widow is sent in undercover to keep an eye on Stark and assess his viability for the program, ultimately recommending that he only be used as a consultant rather than a full team member due to his behaviour.
Post credit sting involves Agent Coulson locating Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, in the desert of New Mexico.

Coulson Factor - Agent Coulson returns to babysit Stark before heading to New Mexico on a special assignment. The two of them share a couple of great exchanges including Coulson laying the verbal smack down on Tony with "If you try to escape, or play any sort of games with me, I will taze you and watch "Supernanny" while you drool into the carpet."

Loki's Fact or Fiction - The end credit sting originally had Nick Fury approaching John Steed and Emma Peel to join the Avenger Initiative.

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - Tony Stark really needs to get his eyes tested as this time round he mistakes Stan for Larry King.

Overall Rating - 3/5 (from an Avengers setup standpoint) 2/5 (otherwise)

Marvel One Shot: The Consultant

Coulson and fellow agent Hernandez devise a scheme to sabotage plans to have The Abomination added to the Avenger Initiative. They decide send someone to annoy General Ross to the point where he will refuse to release Blonsky. This leads to the footage seen at the end of The Incredible Hulk with Ross and Stark.

Marvel Canon Fodder - Not canon at all. Instead it is a short film created to help fill in the gaps between the films and tie in all the ongoing story lines.

Fanboy Geekout Moment - Coulson wipes his mouth with a napkin after eating pancakes... OK, I admit, it's not great but it is a short film of mostly dialogue!

Avenger Assembling - No more than what we have already seen but puts a new spin on the existing footage to allow a new interpretation in keeping where the overall storyline is heading.

Coulson Factor - The short helps to establish where Coulson ranks in the grand scheme of things at S.H.I.E.L.D., he has a Level 7 clearance which probably places just under Fury in terms of authority.

Loki's Fact or Fiction - This short was filmed by David Fincher who did 111 takes of the final scene which meant Clark Gregg had to eat 111 pancakes.

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - No cameo

Overall Rating - 3/5

Thor

More than any other film in the arsenal of Marvel studios, this is the one that could have gone horribly wrong. Thor is not your typical superhero, he is a Norse God and between this hero and the direction of Luvvie Branagh, the movie could easily have become a camptastic romp like Flash Gordon (possibly one of the reasons sadly why Brian Blessed was not cast as Odin because it would have immediately drawn comparisons).
Happily the result is the best Marvel since Iron Man. As well as ticking all the boxes in terms of comic book blockbuster, Branagh puts a lot of focus on the central relationship between Odin, Thor and Loki, with the scene where Loki confronts Odin over his true heritage being the finest in the film.
Performances are terrific all round but the real star turn is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He brings real pain and conflict to the role which makes his villain the best in the Marvel canon so far and I can't wait to see what he will bring to The Avengers.

Marvel Canon Fodder - While many of the other films have taken elements from the Ultimate universe, this incarnation of Thor is more the classic Norse God rather than a possible psychotic with delusions of grandeur and super powers.
Thor's earthbound alias Donald Blake is referred to as Jane Foster's ex boyfriend.

Fanboy Geekout Moment - It's not really a "Geekout moment" per say but I love the scene where Thor goes into the pet shop demanding a horse... or dog, cat or bird large enough to ride. That or Odin's full-on boombastic Shakespearian "you're a vain, greedy cruel boy" speech.

Avenger Assembling - We get our first glimpse at Clint Barton aka Hawkeye who is providing weapons cover for S.H.I.E.L.D. at the Mjolnir crash site. Dr Selvig (Skarsgard) mentions he knew a scientist who worked in gamma radiation who disappeared after involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. (we can safely assume he means Bruce Banner). The post credit sting sees Fury show Selvig a glowing cosmic cube and Loki appears to influence Selvig's mind and says that it is worth a look.

Coulson Factor - Coulson is running the show down in New Mexico, LIKE A BOSS, as evidenced by Hawkeye taking orders from him. He even gives Thor a dressing down during an interrogation. This also marks the origin of Clark Gregg's nickname 'Son of Coul' which is what Thor calls him when offering his assistance in protecting Earth's realm.

Loki's Fact or Fiction - Branagh actually filmed a scene where Hemsworth rode a chihuahua!

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - A New Mexico driver who attempts to pull Mjolnir out of the ground with his truck, and fails miserably.

Overall rating - 4/5

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer

Marvel Canon Fodder - not set within the existing Marvel canon.

Fanboy Geekout Moment - Coulson smacking a criminal in the face with a shotgun.

Avenger Assembling - No additional assembling takes place.

Coulson Factor - Another chance for Gregg to show a different side to Coulson, this time being a total badass and beating up two criminals who try to rob the gas station he has stopped at. Also has another chance to deliver some killer lines with that deadpan delivery we have come to love.

Loki's Fact or Fiction - Clark Gregg really can't decide between powdered and frosted donuts.

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - No cameo

Overall Rating - 4/5

Captain America: The First Avenger

The "First Avenger" and final movie in the run up to the Avengers as the final pieces of the puzzle start to slot into place. Director Joe Johnston recovers from The Wolfman disaster to rediscover the magic he worked on The Rocketeer to deliver a great old-fashioned romp but also keeping it Marvel too. Even throwing in a few nods to Raiders Of The Lost Ark along the way. The only real issue with the film is by setting it within a flashback structure, there is a lack of real tension in the film as we all know how it is going to end, even if it does have a scene that rips off Armageddon.

Marvel Canon Fodder - Initially it does appear odd to have the Human Torch playing Steve Rogers but once you get over this the film sticks fairly closely to the traditional Marvel canon and origin story (although one major character is killed off to create a more emotional edge to the story). There is also a fun spin on the original comic cover that featured Cap punching out Hitler.

Fanboy Geekout Moment - The original Captain America outfit and 'Star Spangled Man' (which should have been nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars).

Avenger Assembling - The blue cosmic cube glimpsed at the end of Thor appears here and is called The Tesseract, one of the relics from Odin's treasure room, found by the Red Skull but ultimately ending up in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession. This film seems to contradict information about the Super Soldier program mentioned in The Incredible Hulk. In Hulk, Ross says he's still working on the program and takes a vial of the serum from a tank that claims the creator was Dr. Renstein. However in this film, the creator of the formula is Dr. Erkskine and it appears the last of the formula is destroyed.
Howard Stark plays a major role in the creation of Captain America and the Stark Expo, which features in Iron Man 2, also makes an appearance.
The film ends with Rogers waking up in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Facility to be informed by Nick Fury (in the middle of Times Square) that he's been asleep for 70 years. It is assumed due to the wee teaser trailer at the end of the credits that Rogers remain in their custody until the events of The Avengers.

Coulson Factor - Sadly this film rates a zero on the Coulson scale. Not even an appearance at the end when Steve Rogers wakes up in modern day New York.

Loki's Fact or Fiction - Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds have a running bet about who can appear as more comic book characters.

Stan Lee's Hitchcock Cameo - Lee appears as a General at a medal presentation for Steve Rogers.

Overall Rating - 4/5