Avengers : L'ère d'Ultron

The sequel to the first film, stripped of the element of surprise and enriched with a more capable villain. The action is less bloated, fits into the plot better, and expands the universe with new characters. Anyway, the predictability is even more tiring than the rest of the Marvel movies. Unless there's a major shift in Civil War, there's no point in looking at it any other way than in standby mode. (21/08/2015)

So after watching this movie, I wondered if I were crazy, thinking that all these comic book adaptations are all very much the same in the last few years, so I decided to give The Guardians of the Galaxy another try after the second Avengers. And it really had it. It had what I really missed in this instalment of the Avengers. And this essential thing is nothing but the humor that the first instalment still somehow kept going. And that’s too bad, because Age of Ultron would have had the characters for it. Iron Man and Thor are clearly a pair of top catchphrase makers and here it’s as if someone deflated their ego. I have a feeling that it is humor and catchphrases that make comic books into movies that will create an extraordinary experience for the viewer, to which they will be happily returning. And now I know that I will definitely not return to this film. It is not just about humor, but also about the villain, who not only does not have the charisma (which is difficult to have by default in robots) but mainly one is not afraid of him, let alone respect him. Technically, it’s handled well, including action scenes that are exquisite. But everything else just doesn’t work here. In fact, this film accurately describes the type of comic book adaptations that I would prefer not to be repeated, but of which there are more than enough in recent years. As far as content repetition goes, I hope that the next episode will be called Avengers vs. X-Men to experience a complete Marvel recycling. (19/10/2015)

I am an old and conservative man who is no longer fast enough for the pace of Michael Bay's hypnagogue sessions, and I am increasingly enjoying wooden characters who constantly need to feed their egos. I can laugh at all that and forget about the absolutely tragic love cooing of a rookie and Russian, which I would without hesitation call one of the biggest directing failures in the history of Marvel. Again, the Avengers are not getting anywhere and are working with the same (and not completely fresh) model of action, and I do not see any exorbitant escalation in them. I enjoyed it, for example, because for the first time in the history of Marvel films, I was afraid for the life of one of the characters, and also because it is the first solo for Hawkeye, who knocked me on my ass from the back lines. I got what I came for. A slow, lightly leather and conservative costume event, which is starting to be particularly intimate in its grandeur, because it is basically a party of friends who long for rest. (30/04/2015)

"Marvel is playing games with the audience "Find ten differences". Leaving aside the obligatory "bigger, longer, more expensive, more computer effects", it is indistinguishable from the first movie. What you would miss terribly is a charismatic villain (again), it is noticeably lacking the human element (again), what is completely absent is any fear of the characters (again), everyone is just playing with each other in a harmless way (again) and the final hour turns into one big not escalating, confusing and an interchangeable CGI action mess (again), in which just a bunch of bad guys from space replace countless robots. It is almost impossible to tell the first and the second movie apart, because each of them has the same pros and cons, so you know exactly in advance what and in what form you will get. Which, of course, applies to some extent to all (cinema) Marvel movies. The question is whether to take this established "corporate unified approach" as a good thing or bad. (30/04/2015)

Grandiose, with clear resonance, characters filled to the brim – and yet I want more. Especially since this director's oversight was likely the last. Those who followed Joss Whedon's most complex work, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, under circumstances other than coming home from school at the age of thirteen, know that some of the narrative archetypes were already being tossed out by the king of geeks almost two decades ago. And even though this time the story about how Beauty had to save the Beast (Black Widow and Hulk) and the one about the man who has no supernatural or technologically driven abilities and yet must be enough for the local gods (Hawkeye) is limited in this way, it does not yield any worse storytelling. Just tell it faster. That's also the only downside to the peak of the entire Phase Two. It has to hint at events from all the solo films and lay the groundwork for Avengers: Infinity War, so it's no wonder that there's not enough time for everyone involved. It doesn't matter for Iron Man, Thor, or Cap, because even though we adore them, we'll soon see them in separate adventures and their roles, cut down to a flawed genius, a courageous warrior, and an honorable leader, which will be more than enough. The bigger problem is with the twins, who have a lot of potential, which Ultron – functioning as their origin – has no chance of fulfilling. So there's no point in kidding ourselves, those two and a half hours are desperately short for a bunch of plotlines and two bunches of characters. If it's true that the original Whedon's cut was over three hours, I'm not surprised at all, and secondly, I request a private screening because the world would not have seen a better comic book shop. (04/05/2015)

Successful continuation develops on some loose ends and also manages to warn against AI. Unfortunately it suffers from being a sequel and the movie would benefit from half an hour of character background building, because there simply isn’t enough time for that, what with all the action. Even Ultron’s motivation to attempt to annihilate the Avengers seems to me unconvincingly explained, but he certainly doesn’t lack charisma. Spader enjoys himself. Sidetracking to the infinity stones take your attention the wrong way, even though Whedon tried to squeeze Age of Ultron into the story legitimately, this way it just acts as a bridgehead for the two-part Infinity War which won’t come along for another three years. The powerhouse of the movie it Jerry Renner’s quite (pleasantly) surprising Hawkeye in together with the anti-heroes Stark and Banner who spoil everything they touch. The digital orgies are occasionally a little exhausting, because the action tries to focus on all characters at once. The chemistry in the chit-chat scenes works splendidly, however. I’m quite curious how the changed team lineup affects the next Marvel movies. I’m pleased that they decided to go ahead with something like this. The vision deserves more space. (01/05/2015)

Given the number of characters and the nature of the plot, there's two hours of action, ten minutes of plot, and ten minutes of credits... plus the final scenes. There wasn't room for a film, although Widow and Hulk aren’t a bad pairing, and with Hawkeye staying at home, it was very promising. The only positives for me are Wanda, Vision, and Peggy's cameo. (16/07/2015)

The same thing over and over again. Unfortunately, there is a lack of coherence and it lacks the dynamism of the first film. Among all the comic-book clichés, the only things that remain are the well-developed characters and the sharp emphasis on the supporting, not so powerful, yet very interesting figures (Hawkeye, Black Widow). The could have spared the nonsense with the Hulk, as well as the cheap action just for the sake of it, but those smooth digital sequences are cool, right? (even though they look lilke Zack Snyder’s stuff.) Joss Whedon doesn’t deliver anything revolutionary, he just pockets a lot of money because he does what works the most: a little bit of everything, so no one gets offended and everyone gets their fill. I wonder how many dozens of comics with the same plot narrative and framework Hollywood will have to make before audiences realise that it's all the same? Then a creator like Nolan will have to come in and rewrite history again. (01/05/2015)

As with the first episode, I give it an awkward three stars and save any more for the DVD version. It's not that I didn't like the second Avengers, there were just so many things to fault in it that the film doesn’t deserve a higher rating from me right now. I was disappointed by the underutilization of Baron Strucker (and he was played by Thomas Kretschmann!), Joss Whedon's annoying need for someone to say or do something at least a little funny every now and then, a bland Ultron who was not scary (and who of course also had to say things that were supposed to be funny), and the near absence of suspense. But I liked the scenes like the hammer raising (really funny) and the conversation between Black Widow and Dr. Banner (dramatic, touching, it had everything), I was thrilled by the Hulk and Hulkbuster duel, ILM's special effects were a joy to behold (except for the first Hulk and Black Widow tranquilization scene, which is actually topped by any King Kong - even the oldest one) and, so I don’t forget, Vision was the best of all. (08/05/2015)

Do you think we're completely stupid? Of course, in many cases we really are, and it takes very little to satisfy us cinematically (in my case, for example, a green Jim Carrey, something I'm a little ashamed of), but to serve a mass audience with a budget of over a hundred million dollars and a group of perhaps the most popular actors of our time a film that works purely on the basis of stimulus (i.e. a whirlwind of visual effects, annoying themes about a threat to the whole world, and some situational humour here and there) – receptor (jerk, usually with his girlfriend, who is innocent of this, as she is just constantly drooling over the looks and musculature of Mr. Thor and Mr. Iron Man) – effector (the process of emptying the jerk's wallet at the expense of the film) – reaction (the huge profits and the making of a sequel), it's simply unforgivable. Plus, with the dumbest villain and the most boring final act in Marvel history. The thing the second Avengers deserves praise for is the likeable cast, many of whom don't get much screen time due to their numbers, a still-good level of humour, and a certainly unique incorporation of the entire story into that running Marvel train. Once it reaches the final station, perhaps this work as bit in the mill will be fully appreciated, but until then, this will be a very forgettable film. (03/06/2015)

Le spectacle popcorn idéal offrant le meilleur que vous puissiez attendre d'un méga-blockbuster hollywoodien de 250 millions de dollars. L'action est claire et magnifiquement filmée, l'humour est intelligent et parfois agréablement sophistiqué, le méchant est charismatique et il y a une chimie brillamment fonctionnelle entre les personnages. Ce n'est pas totalement parfait, mais c'est un divertissement de premier ordre. J'ai ri plus fort et plus souvent que devant n'importe quelle comédie et j'ai apprécié l'action explosive et les centaines de détails incroyables. En bref, c'est génial et explosif. (27/04/2015)

Up until about halfway through, pretty much the absolute (not counting the absolutely idiotic shot of the whole gang during the opening ass-kicking of the HYDRA henchmen) mainly due to their grasp of the whole blockbuster concept, meaning long shots flipping between characters, all the action taking place in broad daylight, moronic main characters connecting with the viewer with terrible jokes, and of course loads of flames, debris, projectiles, collateral damage, and celebrity actors. If the film has anything going for it, it's a cleverly constructed villain, operating on the amusing theme of "after half a minute on the internet, I decided I had to exterminate humanity" and a subtle, almost inaudible to some, plucking of the strings of the virtual consciousness issue. The tension, on the other hand, is aroused by the ivory tower from which the protagonists shepherd the world, a kind of parody of Moldova, China, and Liberia from our point of view, without having even an elementary insight into how governments, people, the world, and everything in general somehow contend with awareness of lightning-fast technological development and therefore the values of an American company or the conscious existence of an alien civilization intent on destroying them. When you consider how the plots of the individual films graduate and compare that to how the overall MARVEL franchise is set up (from the cute shots of Iron Man in a stock car dealing with the crumbling of his gingerbread house to THIS), I'm really curious to see how the whole climax of the franchise is going to be, which is going to cost a hundred and forty billion, will be shot in 180 places around the world, blow up a few galaxies, and create a few more universes, it's going to star just about everybody, the bad guy is going to be Putin, the first cut is going to be only a few days old, and wild animals and dead people are going to come to the movies to see the result. (28/09/2015)

Après avoir été agréablement surpris par la première partie, je n’ai pas patienté bien longtemps avant de visionner le deuxième volet et je dois dire que celui-ci n’est pas redescendu en qualité. Ce que j’apprécie avant tout dans Avengers, c’est le fait que le spectateur n’a pas vraiment le temps de s’ennuyer, de regarder sa montre ou de se dire que l’intrigue tire en longueur. Et même si l’une ou l’autre scène suggère un tel sentiment, l’action revient vite à la charge pour nous le faire oublier. J’aime quand un film traite de l’amitié et de l’esprit d’équipe, donc Avengers a de quoi m’emballer. Et quel est mon héros préféré du gang ? C'est Hulk, sans hésitation ! Je regrette juste qu’il ne soit pas joué par Ed Norton. (12/08/2016)

So, it's finally here. My fatigue from comic book superheroes has already manifested itself while watching this blockbuster. It's a repetition of what was created in the first one, with the addition of the excellently dubbed character Ultron, who is overall quite unnecessary. Except for the fact that they had to create a big hole in the ground and kill off one character, who seemed interesting to me as one of the few. Relations-wise, it's boring because it doesn't lead anywhere, the brightest moment being Elizabeth Olsen, who confidently outshines Scarlett with her seductiveness and beauty. I hope that the creators will put in more effort in future movies, because this is just a meaningless pixel frenzy. (01/05/2015)