FILM REVIEW: Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers have united to continue the hunt for Loki's sceptre following the fall of SHIELD and the re-emergence of HYDRA, but a villain of Tony Stark's own making soon changes the mission for everybody. Stark is still reeling from the Battle of New York and his desire to prevent it happening again leads to him and Banner developing their Ultron programme, an artificial intelligence designed to protect the world. However, it all goes wrong, as these things so often do, and the Avengers must fight to save the human race.

The first Avengers film was nothing short of spectacle cinema, the chance to see a superhero team-up from a comic book universe for the first time on the big screen. The anticipation was huge and, in the hands of Joss Whedon, delivered on all fronts. Phase 2 of Marvel's Cinematic Universe has continued to prove the films to be a bit of a divisive affair, but has largely maintained the entertaining atmosphere of the earlier installments whilst steadily expanding the world. After that, the excitement for Avengers: Age of Ultron could have hardly been higher and thankfully, the film delivers in spades.

Given its placement towards the end of Phase 2, Age of Ultron feels very much like a mid-point for the ongoing plotlines within this universe. This isn't a flaw though as the film deftly combines wrapping up some narratives, whilst also using the central narrative to begin or continue laying foundations for future films in the series. It makes for a dizzyingly dense film, but one that never threatens to overwhelm or alienate, instead inviting more rewatches those who wish to delve further. 

In amidst the action, the character work is excellent, using their interactions in battle to fuel their relationships, throwing them into conflict or uniting them. Even the choreography of the action itself demonstrates the ongoing synergy between certain characters; Thor and Captain America team up regularly throughout, whilst the impending Iron Man/Captain America conflict is deftly forecast. That doesn't mean those characters without their own solo films have been shortchanged either.

Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner all seize on the opportunity to expand their characters, bringing a warmth into the proceedings that cements the film's emotional core. Newcomers Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, or Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, are fleshed out enough to resonate, their tragic background laid out simply and effectively. It also helps that the performances of Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson make the Maximoffs feel as if they have always been a part of this universe. Whilst Paul Bettany's Jarvis always has, it's in the Vision that the actor excels, quite possibly stealing the moment of the movie away from his more established co-stars.

The film's frenetic pace is well-maintained and doesn't allow the audience to breathe much in between the next plot development. Whilst this doesn't necessarily work against the film, it's often in the quieter scenes between battles that the film truly soars. Characters discuss their fears, argue over whose girlfriend is better and telling anecdotes designed to awe and they're all so well-drawn that you long for more of just Steve and Thor hanging out, Maria Hill mocking the uber-masculinity that surrounds her or Stark and Banner in full Science Bros mode. It's a small gripe, but also a testament to how well these characters and their worlds have been realised.

With the second biggest opening ever, the Marvel Cinematic Universe juggernaut continues to roll on. Age of Ultron may not carry the one-of-a-kind thrill that made The Avengers so adored, but it still provides a fantastic spectacle for those of us who have been waiting to see the band back together.

- Becky

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FILM REVIEW: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Phase Two of Marvel's Cinematic Universe has been progressing well since The Avengers/Avengers Assemble (delete according to country) took the box office and the audience by storm. With Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World now safely successful and out the way, it is the turn of the first avenger himself, Captain America, to take the spotlight.

The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) still struggling to adjust to life in the 21st century when morals are murky and bad guys even more so. When an attack is launched on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and SHIELD from within, Steve goes on the run with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in tow to track down who is behind it. They face a considerable foe, however, pursued at all times by a mysterious masked assassin known only as the Winter Soldier (to reveal who is playing him constitutes a spoiler, but I will say that they are very good).

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo take over from Joe Johnston on this solo outing, having cut their teeth on the action-packed episodes of Community and with them comes a new shift in direction. It has been long mooted that after the rollicking adventure tone of The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier would be much more in the political thriller vein and though the politics is lacking, the thrills are plenty and frequent. The action sequences are inventively staged, featuring some of the most impressive scenes of the Marvel universe so far. A hostage rescue mission set piece to open the film throws you into the action immediately and the stakes steadily build throughout the film. The hand-to-hand combat in particular is brutal, bringing with it shades of Jason Bourne (there is even an explicit nod to that franchise in one shot), and any scene in which Captain America faces off with the titular Winter Soldier is suitably intense.

As with the Bourne references, there are plenty of other influences to spot throughout the film. The vehicle chases call Ronin to mind whilst a daylight exchange of bullets has Michael Mann's Heat stamped all over it. This is both to the film's success and its detriment. On the positive side, it offers plenty of homages to spot for the discerning film/TV geek and comes across as a genuine love of the genre on the part of the Russos. Whilst reproducing the tense, shifty atmosphere of films such as The Fugitive and Three Days of the Condor ensures that the audience is swept up into the conspiracy aspect, it also ensures that any film fan versed in the language of the thriller can see the plot coming a mile off. Twists aren't so much hinted at as signposted and, though there were a couple of surprises along the way, it was largely predictable.

However, the real strength of the film is in the performances and character work, ensuring that those twists are still keenly felt when they occur. Chris Evans delivers a wonderfully measured performance, capturing Rogers' charm but also his turmoil of dealing with a world that bears no resemblance to the one he saved back in the 1940s. He is aided well by Scarlett Johansson, given much more of a character arc this time around and managing it brilliantly; Natascha Romanoff has long been one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters in the MCU and Johansson starts to peel back the layers well whilst still maintaining an opaqueness to the character. Kevin Feige may argue that after this, a Black Widow film isn't needed, but I can't think of a better reason than Johansson's performance here. She needs her own adventure.

In the more minor roles, Anthony Mackie brings some welcome comic relief and enough of a back story to ensure that once the bullets start flying, you care as much about what is happening to him as you do the main characters. Robert Redford brings a certain amount of class, along with Jenny Agutter who gets a fantastic moment all to herself. Although I won't mention the actor explicitly in case you've managed to avoid the identity of the Winter Soldier, they do a wonderful job of conveying the character with little more than facial expressions, often half-obscured by a mask. Indeed, even if you are aware of who the Winter Soldier is, it adds another layer of tension to the proceedings as you wait to see when the discovery will be made by the other characters.

This emphasis on character work ensures that The Winter Soldier is perhaps the most emotional film of the Marvel universe to date. Each character feels vulnerable and exposed, the stakes feel high and there are moments when you genuinely aren't sure whether a character is going to make it out alive (even with foreknowledge of actors' multi-picture contracts). Outside of the action sequences, there are plenty of quieter moments that carry an emotional heft, particularly those in which Rogers is dealing with the loss of the life he should have had or Romanoff dealing with the consequences of hers. The relationship between them is built well and the obvious chemistry between Evans and Johansson helps, exchanging quips with ease and hitting the more emotional beats of their scenes.

Personally speaking, this is easily the best of Marvel's solo outings, managing the balance between character development and action brilliantly, much like Iron Man 3 before it. It certainly whets the appetite going ahead for the rest of Phase Two with the insane-looking Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. There are also interesting ramifications for the wider Marvel universe and it bodes well for the future.

****

- Becky

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TV REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - 0-8-4

Marvel's agents return with a much stronger second episode, hinting at better group dynamics and snappier writing in the show's future.

With the team assembled and sort of ready to go in the pilot episode, it is left to second instalment 0-8-4 to see if these mismatched individuals can actually work together as a cohesive whole. When the titular 0-8-4, SHIELD lingo for an 'object of unknown origin', is discovered in Peru, our heroes are dispatched to the site in order to work out what it is. Coulson brings Skye along as a consultant, much to the disappointment of May and Ward, both of whom think that the last thing they need is more inexperienced agents in the field. And it turns out, they may have point when the team are put to the test by a face from Coulson's past.

Now this is more like it. A much stronger episode all round, 0-8-4 benefitted from all of the admittedly clunky leg-work done in the pilot to hit the ground running with a good storyline in which we got to see how the dynamics of the cast regulars would work. First of all, it was a great move to address the fact that, without computers to hack, Skye doesn't seem to have much to offer the SHIELD team, something which is repeatedly referred to throughout the episode. However, she does naturally find out where she fits over the course of the narrative which develops in a suitably organic way as the other characters also slot into their various roles with ease.

The conference between Ward, May and Coulson was a nice way of pointing out where a lot of the dramatic conflict will arise throughout the season, particularly in relation to the inexperienced characters. Ward and May are quite right to question Coulson's thinking and let's face it, I bet there were a few audience members thinking the same. However, not only does he clearly see some potential, so do we as the audience; it's going to be much more interesting watching a group of people learning to overcome obstacles together whilst dealing with their own anxieties than it would if these characters arrived fully formed and heroic. After all, that's part of what made the Avengers so compelling.

The 0-8-4 of the title turns out to be a weapon powered by Tesseract technology, granting us both a decent MacGuffin and a chance to shoehorn in some clunky Marvel Cinematic Universe references: "HYDRA! Captain America!". Thanks Fitz, we got it. Whilst I'm loving some of the easter eggs dropped in (the hammer one was great and a good example of how it should be done), they still feel like they are pandering to people rather than putting these references in for the good of the story. I'm fairly confident in saying that the audience watching the series will already be fans of the MCU and will know what you mean when you say the Tesseract by now. What also needs to happen is less of the technological babble. We know Fitz and Simmons are smart, but we shouldn't be alienated in the process.

Speaking of MCU references, the cameo was not so long-awaited as I thought it would be and proved to be a welcome reminder of SHIELD's movie origins in both character and tone. For Coulson, it was especially good as we had been seeing Action Man Coulson a lot, a side we were not used to from the movies (other than his Marvel One-Shot). Having Fury back in reminded us of Admin Coulson, a man who still seems to have an inferiority complex around certain characters. Clark Gregg plays both aspects of the character well and the novelty of seeing good old Phil back again has not worn off just yet.

As for the action of the episode itself, less reliance on special effects and a couple of neat set pieces made this quite the thriller. Though I don't think the physics of a rubber dinghy re-pressuring an aircraft necessarily checks out, the scene of the team pulling together to solve the problem, culminating in said inflatable was a quick and confident way of developing these characters as an ensemble. Individually, Skye and Ward shared some nice scenes and it's always good to see Ming-Na Wen's May kicking all kinds of arse. We're still lacking depth for Fitz and Simmons but I'm enjoying the pair's chemistry and they will no doubt get an episode devoted to their third dimensions very soon.

A much stronger episode all round for SHIELD then. There are still kinks to be ironed out and a couple of awkward phrasings still stick out. However, the potential is still very much apparent. It's likely to be a while before we see any more cameos, but hands up, who else wants to see Tony Stark get to grips with Fitz and Simmons?

You gotta love it when a team comes together.

- Becky

You can see Becky's review of the Pilot episode here.

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FILM REVIEW: Django Unchained

After altering the history of World War II in Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino has turned his unique attentions to nineteenth century America and the slave trade. Django Unchained follows the story of titular slave Django (Jamie Foxx), freed by Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a bounty hunter seeking Django's help in catching a quarry. The pair then team up and work towards rescuing Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from extravagant plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) at his home, Candieland.

The structure of the film is set up early in an exchange between Django and Schultz in which the German bounty hunter reveals the story of Broomhilda's namesake, a princess in German legend who is  imprisoned atop a mountain and guarded by both hellfire and a dragon before being rescued by the hero Siegfried. From this point on, we're treated to a Spaghetti Western (or Southern as Tarantino prefers) rewriting of this fairytale and as such, gives us probably the most structurally conventional Tarantino we've ever had. There are the odd illustrative flashbacks, but for the most part, the narrative plays out in a linear fashion. Tarantino's love of the spaghetti genre is present in every single frame, from the fast zooms into characters' faces or the brief appearances of stock characters like the Sheriff or the U.S. Marshall, though they are re-worked into the wider fairytale narrative rather than simply hitting the usual beats of the genre. 

One of the film's best aspects is its excellent cast; from the brief cameos to the starring roles, each actor performs their roles with relish. DiCaprio in particular looks like he's having a whale of time as Candie, a man who is both a gentleman and a brutal killer. Likewise Waltz has a flair for performing Tarantino's dialogue and was given some wonderful speeches while Foxx gives a strong, mostly silent performance that imbues Django with a dangerous physicality. It is Samuel L. Jackson though whose performance as Stephen, Calvin's right-hand man, that lingers long in the memory afterwards. He's given the most complex character, a slave who believes in slavery and who cannot comprehend Django's freedom or attitude. 

The film has also been subject to plenty of controversy for its depiction of a highly sensitive issue, but whilst it wasn't necessarily sensitively handled (this is Tarantino after all), at no point did it feel as if the violence against the slaves was glorified or glossed over. Violence in the film was often cartoon-like, explosions of blood bursting all over the place after someone is shot, but this is predominantly utilised for the white characters' deaths, not the slaves. In fact, any violence against the slave characters made for extremely uncomfortable viewing, particularly the 'mandingo' fight that takes place in Candie's first scene. Tarantino naturally doesn't shy away from depicting the brutality of the fight, but he is clearly focussing in on it, not to glorify or gloss over, but to make you uneasy.

There are some truly brilliant moments in here, particularly in the first third of the film which was uniformly excellent. In particular, the Ku Klux Klan raid against Django and Schultz was a masterpiece of comic structuring with the drama of the raid itself providing a starkly dramatic contrast to the hilarity of the gang beforehand, debating the practicality of their masks. It's a Blazing Saddles-level of humour, taking a group as horrific and evil as the KKK and reducing them to a laughing stock in just a few lines. It was by far my favourite moment of the film, but unfortunately, the rest didn't quite match up.

Part of the problem was that the film was just too long, and many of the scenes within it needed trimming down (which makes you realise just how good Tarantino's partnership with Sally Menke was). Once the characters set off for Candlieland, the film slowed to a snail's pace and only recovered in brief moments towards the end. The dinner scene in Candieland was a classic example, building up to a tension akin to that of the tavern scene in Inglourious Basterds. The plot also took an illogical turn, with an over elaborate scheme for getting Broomhilda back and an extra half an hour of narrative that simply didn't need to be there. As a result, the film is uneven, flashes of brilliance tempered with scenes that are simply too long and too overwrought.

However, there is one element of the film that is consistently excellent throughout and that is the soundtrack. Tarantino has always been famous for selecting brilliant musical accompaniments for his films and here is no different. Once again, the anachronistic songs work well, giving Django in particular a timeless quality, fitting in well with the timeless quality that the fairytale structure provides, despite the specific mid-nineteenth century setting. Ennio Morricone's contributions also ensures that it is set firmly within the spaghetti western tradition by providing an aural link that everyone associates with this particular genre. It's a brilliant soundtrack and is likely to be considered one of the director's best.

It's just a shame that Django Unchained in its entirety is a wildly uneven film, hampered by a final half that operates on a slow pace, yet featuring some fantastic moments and brilliant performances. It had the potential to be great, but unfortunately, never quite hits a consistent high and also features probably the worst Quentin Tarantino cameo yet.

***

- Becky

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FILM REVIEW: Avengers Assemble

When the Asgardian god of mischief, Loki, returns to Earth with his very own brand of villainy, SHIELD works to unite several superheroes into one team, the Avengers, in order to put a stop to him bringing the world to its knees.

The Avengers (I'll call it this throughout the review as it sounds less like a vendetta against furniture instructions) has been a long time coming, building across five films to form a Marvel Universe the likes of which many comic book fans had only ever dreamed of seeing on screen. Though I'm relatively new to the full extent of the Marvel mythology, I've always grown up with the cartoons, the stories and the iconic characters. The Avengers was a bit of a fantasy; something that was a good idea and would be amazing to see on the big screen but that would probably never happen. It would just be too big. Then Iron Man happened. Ever since Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) showed up in the Iron Man post-credits sting talking about the Avengers Initiative, Marvel have been building towards this moment, a film that saw several superheroes, stars in their own right, come together to form Earth's Mightiest Heroes. After an expert marketing campaign that meant the (already considerable) hype had been ramped up to the maximum, The Avengers finally hit the big screen last week. And it's fantastic.


The plot centres around your friendly neighbourhood macguffin, the Tesseract, a Cosmic Cube of pure, self-generating energy that holds the key to a lot of things for a lot of people, last seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. SHIELD (i.e. Nick Fury and Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson) are currently in possession of the Cube but with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) on the move, this isn't the case for very long. Soon, Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are brought together to try and stop Loki from destroying Earth as we know it.

First things first, director and co-writer, Joss Whedon really did have a hell of a job on his hands. Being able to juggle seven main characters, four of whom with super-powers and all with their own baggage, a villain with more angst than the average episode of Dawson's Creek and a decent plot with good action sequences then making sure that all of this makes a good film is no easy task. Thankfully, the screenplay Whedon and fellow writer Zak Penn have put together manages all of these things and more. Despite having to contend with a huge cast of major characters, every single one gets a moment in the spotlight and the cast seize each chance with both hands. Although many people are claiming that the Hulk steals the show (he is brilliant), for me, it's Tom Hiddleston's Loki who really shines in this film. As with his appearance in Thor, Hiddleston manages to create a villain that is thoroughly evil, compelling and yet still a little sympathetic. His desire to rule essentially comes from a place of low self-esteem thanks to some serious daddy issues and Thor's explanation for this is one of my highlights of the film. 


That's not to say the other actors do badly, in fact, I'd go so far as to say there wasn't really a dud performance in the film. Thanks to some classic Whedonesque one liners, the interplay between the superheroes offers each one a chance in the spotlight. Whether you want to see Thor going ten rounds with Captain America, Tony Stark verbally sparring with Bruce Banner or the Black Widow taking on the Hulk, every scene between the heroes is great to watch. Naturally with a film of this magnitude, a couple of characters are going to get a little less attention and in this case, it was Cobie Smulders' Agent Maria Hill and Renner's Hawkeye. The script does give both of them a chance to shine in their respective roles but I didn't feel like they got the same amount of development devoted to the other characters. That being said, it never felt that they were included simply to be filler, both playing an integral part in the story as the eyes and ears of the operation. Whedon is used to handling big casts of big characters with his experience on ensemble shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly and the same skill is transferred here.


As always with a superhero film of this magnitude, the action scenes were going to have to be big and bold. Thankfully the action scenes are both necessary for the story and extremely well put-together. Not once did I lose track of what was happening or who was fighting who, a welcome feeling in an action film. Every scene was entirely organic to the developing narrative, never once feeling as if it was inserted just to kickstart the plot as the pacing was also well-handled. As with the interplay between all the characters, the fight scenes between the various heroes were every bit as thrilling as they should have been. The Chitauri, the alien race employed by Loki to take over the Earth, didn't exactly live up to the fearsome reputation that had been talked up earlier in the film. As they practically had 'canon fodder' stamped on their grisly foreheads, it makes enough sense that they could be dispatched without great difficulty but they could have a little more threatening. That's a very minor criticism though as these action sequences were really all about seeing the Avengers throw down. Even with the slightly dodgy foe, the final action sequence barely let you stop for breath with all the heroes pulling their weight in one of the most epic battles in recent history. It's a testament to both the writers and the cast that these action scenes actually further both plot and character development rather than merely being mindless violence for a few minutes at a time.


The Avengers always had the potential to be something revolutionary, a film that finally realised the full grandeur that the Marvel Universe had to offer but then it could also have been a complete flop. Thankfully in the hands of Joss Whedon and a truly committed cast, it's the former, a rollercoaster ride of action, comedy and spectacle from start to finish. It took all my strength to not clap and cheer loudly at several moments during the film and, for me, that's a sign of a truly great superhero film.




*****


- Becky