Terminator Genisys Review

Terminator Genisys Review

I’m a giant fan of the Terminator franchise. The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are among the greatest films in the science fiction , action, and horror genres, and I even find the inferior sequels, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation, watchable and not without merit.

Now here we are with the latest installment, which messes with the timeline, gives us an elderly T-800, a new T-1000, and lots more. If you’ve seen any of the trailers, then several major scenes and big plot twists have already been spoiled for you. I will avoid any spoilers not detailed in the trailers or give a spoiler warning prior.

If you’re a big fan of the Terminator films, then chances are you’ve already seen the new one. If you were on the fence about seeing Terminator Genisys or curious about it, I’m here to tell you, as a fan of movies in general, to not see it.

The movie starts with voiceover explaining everything we already know about Skynet becoming self aware, Judgment Day, the war against the machines, etc. We see the future as glimpsed in Terminator and Terminator 2—not the different looking future from Salvation. I actually loved this opening. There was some cool action, visual effects were decent (but not perfect), and we finally get to actually see the time travel equipment that sends the T-800 and Kyle Reese back in time. We don’t get an explanation of how it works, but hey, at least we get to see it working. The lore of the first Terminator remains consistent as we know it in the opening—Kyle sent back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor—but as soon as Kyle arrives in L.A. ’84, the movie starts to suck. Badly.

Scenes from the first film are literally re-created shot-for-shot, before old Arnold fights cgi young Arnold, in a fight that lasts about two minutes. It quickly becomes apparent the timeline is screwed up, because the T-1000, which doesn’t show up until T2 in 1991, is suddenly present in 1984 and trying to kill Kyle. There’s no explanation for this. Then Sarah Connor shows up, and instead of being a vulnerable waitress, she’s a badass like she was in T2, and with her is an elderly Terminator that was sent back in time to protect her back in the 70’s. Who sent him? Don’t know, never explained. Now Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor must try to stop Skynet in this new timeline, and in order to do (spoiler alert) they must time travel to the future in 2017, where Skynet is an operating system called Genisys that’s been created by Miles Dyson’s son (the guy who worked at Cyberdyne in T2 and created Skynet) with the help of...John Connor? (spoiler over)

As the trailers indicate, John Connor has become a nano-bot Terminator that’s gone back in time to stop Sarah and Kyle and the Terminator Sarah calls “Pop”. I won’t try to explain the rest of the plot from here because it gets way too confusing and convoluted to try and rearticulate. If you’re really curious, just go see it, or better yet, read the synopsis on Wikipedia.

Terminator Genisys looked bad from the first trailer, and going into it, I could not have had lower expectations. To be fair, it was not as bad as it could have been, nor was it as bad as I thought it would be. Does that mean its good? No. It’s as if the writers went, “What ideas do we have for a new Terminator movie?” and they dumped all the ideas they had into this one script and went with it. This movie is all over the place, both in regards to plot and the timeline. There are alternate timelines, which are sure to confuse those not well versed in heavy sci-fi time travel plots (fans of Fringe might have an easier time, but even then, it still doesn’t make a lot of sense) but it becomes so convoluted by the end there are severe plot holes that cannot be repaired.

As much as I did not like this movie, there were some things I actually did like. By far the best part of this movie is Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s a shame he couldn’t have made a return to the franchise in a better film. The explanation for why he’s old works, and most of his humor works—better than it did in T3, for the most part. He’s as good as he’s ever been, but his co-stars don’t fare as well. Emilia Clarke looks good as Sarah Connor, but she has poor dialogue and material to work with, and as a result, does not make for a good Sarah Connor. But it’s not her fault. She does become more likable by the end, but ultimately is inferior to Linda Hamilton. Jai Courtney, who was in another poor action sequel in a once proud franchise (A Good Day to Die Hard) is once again, emotionless and boring. He’s not as bad as I’ve seen him in other movies, and he’s not as bad as I thought he would be, but he is still just not Kyle Reese. Perhaps even worse is Jason Clarke as John Connor. Not only does he not look like John Connors of the past, he is bad in nearly every other aspect. The whole idea of a nano-Terminator feels desperate, and once again, is still inferior to a liquid metal T-1000. This nano-Terminator is sensitive to magnets, and even though it’s far superior to Arnold’s T-800, it still struggles to fight him, even though it should, in theory, be able to destroy him without a hassle. But I can’t really fault the movie for that.    

The action in this movie is unremarkable. By the end, there is so much cgi flying at the screen, it becomes too much to process (I can’t imagine what it would have looked like in 3D). The cgi ranges from good to poor, but the young Arnold looks much better than in Terminator Salvation. Somehow, the liquid metal Terminator still doesn’t look quite as good as it did back in 1991, which blows my mind. Like Jurassic World which came out last month, the visual effects are not consistent throughout the movie. One scene looks incredible, the next looks like a cartoon (for the record, Jurassic World had much better effects overall than Terminator Genisys)

The best analogy I can think of to describe this movie is it’s like a bad rollercoaster. You get on, dreading it, then as you start out, it’s kind of fun, shows the promise of greatness, then once you go down the first big hill, you realize how not fun it is, then it’s a series of ups and downs—fun moments, glimmers of hope, followed by dumb moments, glaring failures—and long before the ride’s over, you’re wondering how much longer is left, and you feel like the ride’s been going on too long. Then you get off, and forget about it ten minutes later. No one wanted this movie to be good more than I did, but it simply was not a good Terminator movie. I would hate for people who have never seen any of the original films to see this one first. Do yourself a favour if you are new to the franchise: watch the first two films at home and avoid going out to see this new one.

Is this the end of the franchise? I sincerely hope not, and highly doubt it. If they continue with the planned sequel to this film, they could, theoretically, fix a lot of the issues that came up in Genisys and make a much superior sequel. I still believe we could get a good Terminator sequel that isn’t Judgment Day. If they can get a better script, that isn’t such a mess with too many ideas and a lack of focus, bring back old Arnold, give Jai Courtney some acting lessons (or just re-cast him), and patch up as many plot holes using time travel paradoxes and alternate time lines as possible, then maybe, just maybe, I can face the future of this franchise with a sense of hope.

Top Ten Terminator Movie Moments: C.C.C. Issue #39

Top Ten Terminator Movie Moments

With the new sequel/reboot Terminator: Genisys hitting theatres this week, I thought it would be a good excuse to revisit the original four films in the franchise and pick out the top ten standout moments from them. I’ll start off by giving my thoughts in brief on each film—The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), and Terminator: Salvation (2009)—before getting into the top ten. Spoilers throughout, obviously.

The Terminator series is similar to the Alien series in terms of quality and fan reception. The first film is a classic in every sense. It has some fantastic action sequences, but it’s as much a horror film as it is an action film. The cast is great, with Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the unsuspecting victim and mother of the future resistance leader who will lead the war against the machines, and Kyle Reese, the chosen warrior sent back in time to protect her. But of course, the star is Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, the ruthless cyborg sent to kill Sarah before her son can ever be born. Schwarzenegger is the ultimate villain, and despite being in a number of other action franchises—some good, some bad—I always will think of him as the original Terminator, he’s just that memorable and iconic.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is to the Terminator franchise what Aliens is to the Alien franchise (fun fact,Aliens was also written and directed by James Cameron, writer and director of T1 and T2). The sequel ups the ante with more terminators, more action, and more character depth, in the way only James Cameron knows how to do. Like Aliens, T2 is often considered a better film than the original, and I would contest that T2 is better than the original Terminator. Although the plot is quite similar on the surface, the stakes feel higher, the special effects are slick and hold up well today, and having Schwarzenegger as the protector defending a young John Connor (Edward Furlong) and his mother from the even more frightening T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a liquid metal Terminator more advanced than Arnie’s model, makes this my favourite Terminator film. I love the original, but this one holds up better, thanks to a bigger budget, wider scope, and more epic action scenes.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is my least favourite film in the franchise, and unlike the first two, which got better the more times I watched them, and are still awesome to re-watch, T3 gets worse with each subsequent re-watch. First off, it completely negates the ending of T2, which says the future is not set, and maybe Judgment Day can be stopped. Nope. Apparently it was only postponed. Arnold returns as the hero again to fight Kristanna Loken’s T-X, a Terminator that is apparently more powerful than even the T-1000, despite going back to having a solid mechanical body with liquid metal skin overtop. The biggest problem I have is, you can’t beat the T-1000 in terms of concept. The T-X, despite having some advantages over both the previous Terminator models (including being female), is just not as cool, nor is it believable that it’s more powerful. There are some good action scenes throughout the film, but the writing and plot overall are weak, the character’s are flawed, and there are too many silly moments. Most Terminator fans will agree this is the worst film in the franchise.

Terminator: Salvation was the long-awaited continuation of the series that finally showed fans John Connor fighting against Skynet in the future, post-Judgment Day, with the resistance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what fans were hoping for. Christian Bale plays John Connor, who discovers Skynet has created the T-800 Terminator many years earlier than originally prophesized, and he finds Marcus Wright, a prisoner who was on death row (Sam Worthington) who’s now a half-human, half-Terminator, but he doesn’t know it. Marcus teams up with a young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), and tries to survive Skynet’s array of Terminators, but once Kyle Reese is captured, Marcus and John must work together to save him. Again, like T3, there’s some decent action scenes, but there are a lot of problems. It definitely tries to do something different, to varying success, but ultimately, it’s more of a story about the Marcus Wright character than it is about John Connor, and the post-apocalyptic world doesn’t have the same feel or look as depicted in James Cameron’s first two films. The ending is weak and the plot jumps around, but despite being a messy film, I still find it more enjoyable than T3, and it makes better references to the first two.

That’s the breakdown of the series. Unfortunately, Terminator: Salvation was not the hit with fans or audiences that everyone was hoping for, so plans for a follow-up fell through, and now we have the new reboot Terminator: Genisys, which, in all honesty, looks terrible. But, we will see how it turns out, I will have a review up for it as soon as possible, and in the meantime, it’s time to count down the best Terminator moments!

Honourable Mention: Precinct Assault, The Terminator

While not quite a cut above the other ten I have on my list, I have to bring up the sequence in which the Terminator attacks the police precinct in pursuit of Sarah Connor, beginning with the most quotable line, “I’ll be back,”. The T-800 tears through the cops like nobody’s business, tallying up a high kill count, but still failing to terminate Sarah, thanks to Kyle’s heroic rescue. It’s a terrifying scene—you would think being in a building full of cops, who know how to use all the guns that are also in the building, would make you safe, but there’s no safety when the Terminator’s around. It’s a memorable massacre, but doesn’t stand out to me the same way these ten other scenes, moments, or sequences do. 

10. Crane Chase, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Even though I don’t really like the movie, I had to throw this one on the list. Undoubtedly the best parts of T3 are the action scenes—and most, including this one, were actually shot in-camera, without an over-reliance on cgi. The action scene that stands out to me is this one, where the T-800 is pursuing the T-X on a cop bike, while the T-X is in a crane truck, chasing John Connor and Kate Brewster. The T-800 ends up hanging from the ball/hook on the end of the crane, and the T-X smashes him through a building—the actual destruction of said building all done practically. It’s the kind of action scene that feels like a true Terminator action scene, unlike subsequent scenes with cgi explosions and cgi body doubles and poor use of green screen. The effects aren’t all that consistent in T3, but this scene is great nonetheless.

9. Future Glimpse, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

I’m focusing on the flash-forward in T2, but I have to give credit to the flash-forward at the beginning of T3, which is the only other moment that stands out to me from that film. There’s an incredible shot of an H-K (hunter-killer) flying over a river, the bottom of which is lined with human skulls, and then it goes to an army of Terminators walking by, carrying plasma rifles. The visual effects in this flash-forward are quite well done, and the moment when one of the Terminators looks directly at the screen is genuinely unsettling. As great as it is, though, no glimpse of the future has been as cool, or probably will ever be as cool, as the one at the very beginning of T2. We see a bombed-out L.A—burnt cars, charred skeletons, a destroyed playground—and then a mechanical Terminator foot comes down and crushes a human skull. An armada of Terminators walks out with guns blazing, fighting the resistance; H-K’s flying overhead, explosions, madness! Though the first Terminator opens with a very similar sequence, it’s not nearly as refined or wide in scope as in T2. It’s an incredible bit of action, filmed mainly with miniatures and Stan Winston’s animatronics, which gives it a more realistic feel than the scene in T3.

8. Opening Credits, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Following the brief look at the horrific future for humanity ahead, the opening credits of the film begin, played over shots of a burning L.A. This footage is, presumably, depicting the moment after Skynet becomes self aware and fires nuclear weapons all over the planet, nearly wiping out the human race. Swing sets are on fire, buildings crumble, the horizon is a bright orange, and it’s all set to Brad Fiedel’s epic musical score, with the instantly recognizable themes. The soundtrack is more orchestral than Terminator’s techno-80’s themes, but I like it considerably more than the Terminator soundtrack. I think the Terminator soundtrack suited that film very well, but I’m a bigger fan of the orchestral rendition. The credits end with a slow zoom-in on the chrome skull of a T-800 among flames, staring straight at the screen. It’s a striking image, and the music overlaid with it gives me chills to this day. T2 has one of the best openings of any film, in my opinion, and these opening credits—the footage combined with the score—contributes hugely to why I think that.

7. “You’re foster parents are dead,” Terminator 2: Judgment Day

At this point in the film, John Connor is aware a T-800 has been sent back to protect him, and a T-1000 is out to kill him, so he decides to warm his foster parents Todd and Janelle, since the T-1000 might try to find him at their house. He phones them and Janelle answers, asking where he is. John suspects something is up, so the Terminator uses John’s voice to talk to her. The dog is barking in the background. The Terminator asks John what the dog’s name is, but uses an incorrect name to test Janelle. She doesn’t acknowledge the name is wrong, and then the Terminator hangs up and announces the quote above. It cuts back to Janelle on the other end of the phone, and reveals her arm is a giant sword, which has impaled Todd in the head, the blade having gone right through the carton of milk he was drinking from! This reveal scared the shit out of me the first time I saw this movie, and even today, the effect of the T-1000 morphing from one form to another is totally convincing. It’s a shocking and well-executed bit of horror.

6. T-1000 vs. T-800, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The entire final battle in the steel mill makes for a terrific finale, but one thing fans specifically wanted to see was Arnold’s T-800 fight the new T-1000 in a one-on-one fight, and James Cameron knew fans would want that. Poor Arnold gets beaten like a rag doll, as the T-1000 easily outmaneuvers him and slams him all around. The sound effects as the T-1000 smashes a steel girder against the T-800’s head are perfect. You can feel the weight of it and the crunching of the metal bits as the T-800’s face gets ripped off, and the famous red eye becomes exposed once again. Though the fight ends with the T-800 losing, he gets to redeem himself by re-routing power, pulling the steel bar out of his torso, and firing a grenade launcher at the T-1000, knocking him back into molten metal, and finally terminating him. I mean, it, not him, it.

5. “Trust Me,” Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Here’s yet another one from T2 (can you tell it’s my favourite?) The cops show up at Cyberdyne to stop Sarah Connor and company from destroying the computer factory. How many cops? All of them, according to John. It seems they’re trapped, but the T-800 has a plan. Earlier, John explains that, although he’s a Terminator by nature, he can’t just kill people. Programmed to listen to John’s commands, the Terminator can’t kill any of the cops, but he can still stop them. He smashes a desk through a giant window, fires his mini-gun, grenade launcher, machine guns, and takes dozens of bullets, but manages to destroy all the cop cars, immobilize all the cops, and do so without killing anybody. The Terminator’s vision reveals NUMBER OF CASUALTIES: 0.0. How there could be .0 deaths I’m not sure—it was probably James Cameron being cheeky.

4. Factory Pursuit, The Terminator

Just like T2, the whole final chase/battle at the end of The Terminator is full of tension, excitement, and even genuine horror. Specifically, after Sarah and Kyle have broken into a factory, with the T-800 in pursuit, and Kyle sticks a bomb in the Terminator’s torso, thus blowing it to bits and killing himself, Sarah is left laying on the floor with a piece of metal embedded in her leg, leaving her unable to walk. Just when it seems the Terminator is finally terminated, nope! His legless body comes crawling after her, in an agonizingly slow moving but nail-biting pursuit. It sounds boring put into words, but James Cameron’s directing, combined with the robotic effects from Stan Winston, makes it one of the scariest moments not just in a Terminator movie, but any movie. Sarah crawls under a hydraulic press, the Terminator—despite being almost unable to function except for its grasping arm—tries and tries to get at her, and just before making the hydraulic press go down, she says, “You’re terminated, fucker”. The press crushes the T-800, but the arm and hand are still extended toward Sarah. You wonder, as the camera lingers on her, if it’s going to come back to life and grab her.

3. “Goodbye”, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

As great as the ending for The Terminator is, the ending of T2 is even better in my eyes. After defeating the T-1000 and destroying the arm and broken chip from the original T-800, John and Sarah think they have stopped Judgment Day. But the Terminator points out one chip remains, referring to his CPU. He offers the controls to Sarah, for the Terminator cannot self terminate. John pleads for him not to do it, but they all know it’s what must be done to prevent Skynet from becoming self aware and destroying humanity. The T-800 is slowly lowered into the molten metal, sinking down as John cries on his mother’s shoulder. Just as the hand goes under, it gives the thumbs up, just like John had taught it earlier in the film. Its CPU crackles, buzzes, then shuts down, and it is terminated. The ending is emotional on a level that seems impossible, given the character isn’t even human, but it’s thanks to the brilliant script and character development that this ending works so well. It’s such a perfect way to end the movie, with the final line in voiceover by Sarah, “The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it, for the first time, with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.”; it’s one of the reasons T3 did not win me over. The existence of that movie negates this ending completely.

2. L.A. River Chase, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The best action scene from any Terminator movie has to be the first major chase in T2. John is trying to escape the T-1000 from the mall. He’s on his dirt bike, going down the L.A. River, thinking he has escaped it. Then, out of nowhere, the T-1000 crashes through a bridge in a Semi, landing right behind him. He takes off, with the T-1000 in hot pursuit. Following behind both of them is Arnold’s T-800 on a motorcycle. It’s a high-speed chase, meticulously planned out, with all in-camera stunts and effects that surely would have been done with cgi had it been made today. The Terminator saves John, blows out the Semi’s front tire, causing the T-1000 to crash into a barrier, and the truck explodes in a huge fireball. John and the T-800 take off, but then, emerging from the flames, is the T-1000, in its liquid metal form. This was the first reveal of the liquid metal effect, and it looks as good today as it did back in 1991. Despite having seen this movie more times than I can count on both hands, the chase through the L.A. River still gets my adrenaline pumping.

1. Rise from the Ashes, The Terminator

Even though T2 is my favourite Terminator movie, my actual favourite moment comes from the original. It’s not an action sequence—it actually comes after one, after what appears to be the defeat of the Terminator, when Kyle Reese throws one of his bombs in the tailpipe of the Semi the T-800 is driving, blowing it up. The T-800 crawls out of the wreckage on fire, then stops moving. Yup, he’s got to be dead, everyone thought. Sarah and Kyle reunite and hug it out, but then, in the background, the Terminator crawls up from the ashes, with a new form. James Cameron, the creator of the Terminator character and lore, came up with the idea when he had a fever, and dreamed of a robot rising out of the ashes of a fire. Not only is this iconic image my favourite moment of any Terminator movie; it’s the one that inspired the entire concept. I remember seeing this movie for the first time at a young age, and realizing, as the Terminator sustained more and more damage over the course of the movie, that he really was mechanical underneath, but I didn’t fully realize just how different he looked underneath his skin until the moment the chrome endoskeleton appeared in full. It’s one of the most intense reveals ever in a film, one I will never forget, and the number one thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word...Terminator.

Jurassic World: Initial Reaction

First Thoughts on Jurassic World (No Spoilers)

If you know me personally at all or have followed my blog in the past, you probably know that I am a gigantic fan of the Jurassic Park series. I've been somewhat obsessed with dinosaurs ever since first being welcomed to Jurassic Park by John Hammond at age five, and if someone were to put a gun to my head and ask me what my favourite movie of all-time would be, my default answer would be Jurassic Park (although I have many favourite films besides). Even though the sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park is, as a whole, not as good as the original, and the three-quel, Jurassic Park III, even less so, I enjoy all three movies, and can watch all three and have a good time with them.  However, nothing will ever beat the original.

Back when the first trailer for Jurassic World was released, I did a lengthy prediction piece on what I thought this movie was going to turn out like and why I was genuinely not excited. Even up to the moment of walking into the movie, my excitement was tempered (compared to my excitement for Avengers: Age of Ultron, I was practically comatose). But I still had hope it might be good. "Please be good," I thought, as the Universal logo came on screen and the haunting music began to fill the theater.

I can safely say, Jurassic World turned out...good.

In fact, I would say it's great.

In fact, I might even go as far as to say it's awesome.

Jurassic World is absolutely worthy of the Jurassic title. It paid tribute to the first film in subtle, well-executed ways, but took the story in some new directions. It felt consistent with what had come before, and even though there were many familiar elements and scenes, it wasn't a re-hash like Jurassic Park III was. I would say it is better than Jurassic Park III, and an argument could be made that it's better than The Lost World, and it's the true Jurassic Park sequel. At this point, I think I still liked The Lost World more, but I had a blast with Jurassic World just the same.

The biggest positives I have, is this movie took some chances, and delivered what audiences have been craving for 22 years. Finally, we have a dinosaur theme park with lots of people in it, and finally, those people are getting chased and eaten by dinosaurs! And the mayhem comes full force! There are plenty of dinos, both new and old, but the one at the forefront of the action is the Indominous Rex, a genetic hybrid that causes plenty of chaos, and turned out much better and cooler than I was anticipating. I-Rex was intimidating and thrilling and a better villain than Spinosaurus was in Jurassic Park III, because this thing is a true monster. It's not a traditional dinosaur; this is a Frankenstein of a beast, but it still functions within the realm of believability.

The Velociraptors and their trainer, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt's character) were another huge highlight of the film. The reason the "trained" Velociraptors worked was because they weren't really trained, as the later previews showcased. Somehow, I went from fearing the raptors, to liking the raptors, to rooting for the raptors, to being scared of them again, to feeling bad for the raptors, and back to rooting for them again, all throughout the course of this one film. Somehow, some way, they made it work.

Chris Pratt was excellent, but this is where I'm going to get into some of the negatives--because as much as I had fun with Jurassic World, it does have some flaws. As great as Chris Pratt was, he was still just Chris Pratt to me. Bryce Dallas Howard's character was not nearly as annoying as I thought she would be, and the child actors (especially Ty Simpkins) were also good. Unfortunately, all of the characters in this film are character archetypes we've seen before, either in previous Jurassic Park films or other similar-genre films. Chris Pratt is sort of like Muldoon from the first Jurassic Park, only funnier and more badass, and Bryce Dallas Howard is a cliche uptight businesswoman, though she does sort of make a transformation by the end. The kids are what you would expect--one is obsessed with dinos and really smart, the other doesn't care about being at the park very much and is into girls--and Vincent D'Onofrio's character is a militaristic antagonist with a motif pulled straight out of Aliens.

The other major problem I had was not entirely the film's fault, but partly due to the advertising. As much of a fun experience as Jurassic World is, I predicted nearly every major event before the film even began. This isn't just because I'm a super-fan--many people have been expressing the same complaints--it was clear what was coming, and it would have been nicer to have seen it go in a different direction and have it go places less obvious. That said, I'm not upset with where it went, and without spoiling it, the climax of the film is awesome. In fact, the opening and closing shots were almost exactly what I thought they would be, and I was glad to see they were.

Jurassic World's director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow doesn't try to capture the magic and wonder of the first  film, and it was a smart decision on his behalf. He goes for maximum excitement and crowd-pleasing scenes. If you stop to think about it too much, Jurassic World is pretty over-the-top, but it's a lot of fun, and has heart, which is what I wanted most from this movie. It's made by a big fan, for big fans, but does not feel like a fan-film. It's a solid popcorn monster movie, with exciting dinosaurs and plenty of well-directed action, and that's all it needs to be.

I'm probably going to see this movie several more times at the theater in the near future, and will post a full review with spoilers and a rating, in the coming days. It will be more of an analysis than a straight-up review--I'm going to get into the nitty-gritty of this movie and break it down, as a true fan, and determine how I really feel about it after seeing it again and letting it sit with me to think it over more fully. Stay tuned!

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Review

Spoiler Free Review, Spoiler Thoughts at the End  

After waiting a painfully slow three years, the world’s mightiest heroes finally re-assemble for Avengers: Age of Ultron, a sequel not only to 2012’s The Avengers, but the one to cap off Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My expectations couldn’t have been higher, and while I can’t say it lives up to all the hype, Age of Ultron was a fun, epic, jam-packed summer blockbuster with huge ambition and the signature Marvel elements fans have come to expect.

The plot in a nutshell is Tony Stark has designed an artificial intelligence (A.I.) called Ultron to protect the earth so the Avengers don’t have to, but when Ultron gains sentience and decides the planet must be destroyed, the Avengers assemble to stop him. Along the way, new kids on the block Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver enter the fray. Ultron puts his master plan into action, and the Avengers must throw everything and everyone they have at him to try and save the world.  

Writer-Director Joss Whedon did a fantastic job wrangling all these superheroes together for one movie, and he successfully does so once again, but this time, thrusts even more characters into the mix. The addition of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch wasn’t particularly thrilling, but they weren’t bad. Their accents took me out of the movie at times (especially when Elizabeth Olsen [Scarlet Witch] slips into an American accent) but they did contribute to the story and were built up well by the end. All the main heroes make a welcome return—I’ll break down each one and explain how I felt about them.

The Good:

Iron Man was in Age of Ultron more than he was in Iron Man 3, which is a big plus. Tony Stark has a number of excellent quips and jokes—maybe not as many as previous films—but he’s still my favourite Avenger. Hulk is back, though not present throughout the whole film as much as I had anticipated. He still hulks out more than in the first Avengers, destroys tons of stuff, and is fun to watch. It felt like Bruce Banner had a more limited role than before, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Black Widow and he have an interesting relationship, and she gets more character development. Captain America had plenty of great scenes and there was a bit of back and forth between Tony Stark that I’m sure is only a taste of what we’ll see in Captain America: Civil War. But perhaps the biggest and most pleasant surprise of all was Hawkeye’s role. He’s given a lot more to do than just be brainwashed, and becomes a much more rounded character and kicks a lot more ass.

The Bad:

Sort of like the first Avengers, Thor just shows up and is hanging out with the Avengers and fighting with them, and there’s no explanation about how or why he’s there. It’s not that he doesn’t do anything cool—he is mighty in all the fight scenes—it’s just that the bulk of Thor’s role in Age of Ultron feels like its setup for an upcoming film (looking at you, Thor: Ragnarok) and there’s a scene teased in the trailer with him going into a pool in a cave that felt like a weird detour from the main plot and lacked much explanation.

As for the main villain, the evil A.I. known as Ultron, my response to his role is mixed-to-positive. Unlike last time where the villain (Loki) had already been set up in Thor, this as much an Ultron origin story as it is an Avengers film. Unfortunately, a lot of Ultron’s story is glossed over in the first act of this film, and it’s one of the main downfalls.

In fact, the entire first act feels rushed—there’s so much going on and so much is stuffed into this first act that I found it jarring and almost confusing. There’s no substantial follow-up on The Winter Soldier and how Captain America’s pursuit of him is going, there’s no follow-up on Tony Stark not really being Iron Man anymore at the end of Iron Man 3, and the whereabouts of the other Avengers—what’s Bruce Banner been doing all this time, does everyone know Nick Fury almost died not that long ago—is ignored. The film drops the audience in the middle of a huge action sequence and goes from there.

But once the first act is finished and Ultron has been established, the film starts sorting itself out and improving. Ultron has plenty of great dialogue and exudes menace, but he also has fun moments and tries to make jokes. It might sound dumb, but it actually works very well. In my opinion, Ultron is the best villain from Marvel’s Phase Two, but I wanted more scenes with him in it and a little more one-on-one interaction with his creator, Tony Stark. Ultron is almost like Tony Stark from the first Iron Man, in a way, because he’s cocky and still learning, only he’s doing what he’s doing for the wrong reasons.

There’s one other character I won’t go into too much detail here but will mention because he’s been teased in the trailers and has his own poster and is no longer a secret, and that character is The Vision. In short, he is my new favourite hero in the M.C.U. and was extremely awesome. I wanted more from the character—what his range of abilities are, for example—but what we do get of him is great, and I don’t regret having bought a shirt with him on it just so I could wear it to the movie.

Age of Ultron has tons of great action scenes, an entertaining villain, and more of the one-liners and humour present in the first Avengers. While this is all positive, it’s also negative in a way. There is an element of “we’ve seen this before”, but there’s just no replicating the sheer awesomeness of seeing the Avengers team up for the first time. Age of Ultron is like a thanksgiving feast. There’s so much good stuff all in one meal, that by the time you’re done eating, you might forget about how great some parts were because you’re so full. It’s easy to forget the basic concept of all these heroes in one movie is really quite spectacular. But looking at it objectively, Age of Ultron is not as well-refined as the first Avengers, and has some notable flaws. This doesn’t make the fun parts any less fun, but it gets excessive in some regards, while feeling stingy on other fronts.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a solid summer blockbuster superhero film—certainly the biggest Marvel film since the last Avengers—and if you’re a fan of the first one, chances are you’ll enjoy this one. If you aren’t a Marvel die-hard, you might want to wait until the blu ray.

SPOILERS BELOW

With my spoiler-free review out of the way, now I’ll get into some specific things I liked and disliked. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

To elaborate on The Vision, I just wished he was in it more. His creation was well handled—even more intriguing than Ultron’s own birth, I found—and the way he embodies elements of all the heroes was really cool. Thanks to Thor’s lightning and the body Ultron built, he’s super-powered, but also a really good guy like Captain America. I can’t wait to see more from The Vision in future Marvel films—hopefully sooner than later.

Ultron’s ultimate plan came off as a little farfetched, even for a film where, as Hawkeye says, they’re on a floating city fighting an army of robots and he has a bow and arrow. The idea to destroy earth with a chunk of land acting as a meteor is fine, but the concern the Avengers have is that the higher the chunk of land goes, the more likely it is to wipe out the whole planet when it falls back down. The meteor that killed the dinosaurs (which Ultron referenced) was the size of Mount Everest. That little piece of land was nowhere near that size, but I suppose the Vibranium he used would make it more destructive, and once I realized that, I sort of found it easier to believe. I’m sure Ultron thought of that.

This brings me to my next big problem. If Ultron is so smart, and can delete all the files on Tony Stark’s computer, and can build an army of robots and fly a chunk of earth into the sky to turn into a meteor, why doesn’t he just set off a whole bunch of nukes and blow up earth that way? It’s even mentioned that he has access to nuke codes and could do that. Wouldn’t that have been simpler? I guess it could be argued that Ultron is trying to have some fun, given that is like a kid, in a sense, but his plan seemed, even for a Marvel film, a little implausible.  

But Ultron was awesome nonetheless, and I’m sure we will see more of him. There’s a reason they didn’t show Vision kill that last Ultron drone. I would say chances are good he will return.

And speaking of returning characters, what kind of spoiler talk would this be if I didn’t discuss the mid-credits scene? My cousin and I speculated over what it might be, and we were confident it would have something to do with Ant-Man or maybe even the new Spider-Man. After all, Ant-Man needs a boost. A mid-credits scene at the end of the biggest movie of the summer would do that.

Nope. Get a load of this, Joss Whedon says.

My jaw literally dropped and I let out an audible gasp when I realized I was looking at the INFINITY GAUNTLET. And then THANOS puts his hand in it and says he’ll do it himself. Of course this means he’s going to go get the infinity stones (explained some more in this film), put them in his infinity gauntlet, and rule the universe.

At first, I was really, really angry they teased Thanos AGAIN! Mark Ellis on AMC Movie Talk made a comment about hoping they didn’t tease him once more in an end-credits scene, and I agreed. But having thought about it some more, I think teasing Thanos again was a bold but good choice. It came completely out of nowhere, and at the same time, made perfect sense. Of course Thanos showed up, the whole movie has essentially been about the mind gem, and Marvel has been setting up the Infinity War for several movies now. We saw Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy last year, and here he is again, still lurking around, but now we know his endgame has been put into action, which sets the tone for Phase Three. This might be the best mid-credits scene in any Marvel film yet.

...Only have to wait three more years for Avengers: Infinity War......Part 1.......