Film Review: The Guardians, The Soldier and The Ultimate Evil A.I.
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Marvel’s upcoming titles are promising to blow fans away as the Avengers multiverse starts to expand and the nine realms are explored even more. Everyone’s favourite stars-and-stripes clad, shield toting Captain is returning in his much anticipated self-titled sequel “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (which is set to release in the UK on the 26th of March of this year), The “Guardians of the Galaxy” are to make their dazzling debut in the USA by August and Avengers face their toughest foe yet in May of 2015 in “Age of Ultron”.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Steve Rogers is now operating as an enforcer for S.H.I.E.L.D. but is shocked to discover the grisly truth behind the organization sworn to protect humanity. The plot is thick with twists and turns, and the cast is full of terrific actors, including the likes of Chris Evans (as Captain America), Samuel L. Jackson (as Nick Fury) and Scarlett Johansson (as Black Widow). This epic instalment of the Marvel franchise shows the desolation of S.H.I.E.L.D., the discovery of Falcon (Anthony Mackie from such pictures as “The Hurt locker”, “Real steel” and “Gangster squad”) and even revisits the tale of the love between Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Steve after his revival.
Personally I must say this sequel was a huge step up from when we first met the paragon of patriotism, but this seems to be a recurring theme with each successive member of the movies seeming to improve in my opinion. I’m sure we could all agree that Thor: The Dark World was pure brilliance and easily superior to Thor, or how either of the later Iron Man films in the trilogy are a cut above the first. This may simply be because the characters are fully developed in the sequels; we know their origins as the crime fighting characters we have come to love and the movie can get straight into the story line and dramatic action scenes without scene after scene of set up. Either way there is no denying this will be a hit with any fan who wishes to see it, from the compelling plot to the heart-racing fight sequences this is a definite “must see”.
The film has received high critical acclaim, attaining a grandeur rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, a whopping 8.4 on IMDB (surpassing “Thor: The Dark World” by 1.1) but a somewhat humbling score of 71% on Metacritic; although this is the second highest Metascore of all the Avengers instalments, bested only by the the first Iron Man movie.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Marvel’s next release will follow Peter “Star-Lord” Quill and his dysfunctional team of oddball aliens who form their rag-tag alliance in the far reaches of a space prison (as you do) after their nefarious activities catch up to them. Quill is guilty of stealing a mysterious orb, among many other offences, which has been revealed to be another one of the Infinity Stones (like the Aether in Thor 2 and the Tesseract in The Avengers). The tale tells of how he and the rest of the Guardians fight their way to freedom and escape the clutches of Ronan the Accuser, the left hand man of Thanos (the scary purple guy in the post-credit sequence of The Avengers).
The cast includes the charismatic Chris Pratt, from such works as “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Wanted” as Star-Lord, the enchanting Zoe Saldana as Gamora, best known for her role in productions such as Colombiana, Avatar and Star Trek, and the talented Lee Pace as Ronan (most notable for his parts in pictures such as The Hobbit and Lincoln). Bradley Cooper will also lend his voice to Rocket the gun-toting racoon and Vin Diesel as Groot, a seven-foot humanoid tree.
The film is set to release in the United States by August of this year and will be released in both 3D and IMAX 3D. So far this seems like the one to watch; the tale is set to introduce us to the Infinity plotline as the true dastardly nature of Thanos’ ultimate evil goal may well be revealed.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
The excitement continues to build evermore as we approach the day when the second Avengers movie will make its grand appearance which we have now been told is May 1st of 2015 for the USA and shortly after for the rest of us.
I am especially relieved to say that it seems the cast of the original Avengers has remained unchanged (despite Robert Downey Jr.’s tentative relations with Marvel over outrage at how little other stars were paid for their contributions) and the new additions are sure to receive a dazzling reaction from fans: Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 will play the role of Quicksilver and his twin sister, Scarlet Witch, will be portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen (who played Marie Sebastian in last year’s Oldboy remake and Sally Owen in Red lights). The part of Ultron is played by James Spader, made famous by his long list of magnificent performances in productions like Pretty in Pink and the current television series, The Blacklist.
As of right now much of the plot is speculation as some of the original story from the comic books has been adapted in each and every movie to date, and especially the allusion to Ultron being an artificial intelligence gone rogue has thrown a curveball as to just how much the movie will be unique. In the original story Ultron, the self-proclaimed “Living automaton”, was created by Henry Pym (Antman or Goliath) but rebelled after developing a deep hatred for his designer and ended up posing a major threat to the world numerous times, mainly a recurring character due to his ability to upgrade. One specific instance of this was actually where Ultron was able to rebuild himself with an Adamantium frame. Adamantium you ask? Yep. The stuff Wolverines skeleton is made of. It’s easy to see why a villain like this is so interesting but I will concede that it seems a shame for the whole backstory of Ultron to be disregarded. This is chiefly because Hank Pym will not be present in this movie, and will only appear in a stand alone Antman title in 2016, and will be replaced by the half-baked idea of a Tony Stark suit turned evil is a bit too trivial for Marvel to go with in my opinion but one can hope they manage to pull it off.
Overall though it seems that the film will live up to our expectations with Paul Bettany (the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.) now enlisted as the Vision, who true fans will recognise as an integral part in the comics. In conclusion I feel it is safe to say we have a good supply of fantastic Marvel masterpieces stockpiled for the near future, and I cannot wait to be able to see each and every one.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Steve Rogers is now operating as an enforcer for S.H.I.E.L.D. but is shocked to discover the grisly truth behind the organization sworn to protect humanity. The plot is thick with twists and turns, and the cast is full of terrific actors, including the likes of Chris Evans (as Captain America), Samuel L. Jackson (as Nick Fury) and Scarlett Johansson (as Black Widow). This epic instalment of the Marvel franchise shows the desolation of S.H.I.E.L.D., the discovery of Falcon (Anthony Mackie from such pictures as “The Hurt locker”, “Real steel” and “Gangster squad”) and even revisits the tale of the love between Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Steve after his revival.
Personally I must say this sequel was a huge step up from when we first met the paragon of patriotism, but this seems to be a recurring theme with each successive member of the movies seeming to improve in my opinion. I’m sure we could all agree that Thor: The Dark World was pure brilliance and easily superior to Thor, or how either of the later Iron Man films in the trilogy are a cut above the first. This may simply be because the characters are fully developed in the sequels; we know their origins as the crime fighting characters we have come to love and the movie can get straight into the story line and dramatic action scenes without scene after scene of set up. Either way there is no denying this will be a hit with any fan who wishes to see it, from the compelling plot to the heart-racing fight sequences this is a definite “must see”.
The film has received high critical acclaim, attaining a grandeur rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, a whopping 8.4 on IMDB (surpassing “Thor: The Dark World” by 1.1) but a somewhat humbling score of 71% on Metacritic; although this is the second highest Metascore of all the Avengers instalments, bested only by the the first Iron Man movie.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Marvel’s next release will follow Peter “Star-Lord” Quill and his dysfunctional team of oddball aliens who form their rag-tag alliance in the far reaches of a space prison (as you do) after their nefarious activities catch up to them. Quill is guilty of stealing a mysterious orb, among many other offences, which has been revealed to be another one of the Infinity Stones (like the Aether in Thor 2 and the Tesseract in The Avengers). The tale tells of how he and the rest of the Guardians fight their way to freedom and escape the clutches of Ronan the Accuser, the left hand man of Thanos (the scary purple guy in the post-credit sequence of The Avengers).
The cast includes the charismatic Chris Pratt, from such works as “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Wanted” as Star-Lord, the enchanting Zoe Saldana as Gamora, best known for her role in productions such as Colombiana, Avatar and Star Trek, and the talented Lee Pace as Ronan (most notable for his parts in pictures such as The Hobbit and Lincoln). Bradley Cooper will also lend his voice to Rocket the gun-toting racoon and Vin Diesel as Groot, a seven-foot humanoid tree.
The film is set to release in the United States by August of this year and will be released in both 3D and IMAX 3D. So far this seems like the one to watch; the tale is set to introduce us to the Infinity plotline as the true dastardly nature of Thanos’ ultimate evil goal may well be revealed.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
The excitement continues to build evermore as we approach the day when the second Avengers movie will make its grand appearance which we have now been told is May 1st of 2015 for the USA and shortly after for the rest of us.
I am especially relieved to say that it seems the cast of the original Avengers has remained unchanged (despite Robert Downey Jr.’s tentative relations with Marvel over outrage at how little other stars were paid for their contributions) and the new additions are sure to receive a dazzling reaction from fans: Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 will play the role of Quicksilver and his twin sister, Scarlet Witch, will be portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen (who played Marie Sebastian in last year’s Oldboy remake and Sally Owen in Red lights). The part of Ultron is played by James Spader, made famous by his long list of magnificent performances in productions like Pretty in Pink and the current television series, The Blacklist.
As of right now much of the plot is speculation as some of the original story from the comic books has been adapted in each and every movie to date, and especially the allusion to Ultron being an artificial intelligence gone rogue has thrown a curveball as to just how much the movie will be unique. In the original story Ultron, the self-proclaimed “Living automaton”, was created by Henry Pym (Antman or Goliath) but rebelled after developing a deep hatred for his designer and ended up posing a major threat to the world numerous times, mainly a recurring character due to his ability to upgrade. One specific instance of this was actually where Ultron was able to rebuild himself with an Adamantium frame. Adamantium you ask? Yep. The stuff Wolverines skeleton is made of. It’s easy to see why a villain like this is so interesting but I will concede that it seems a shame for the whole backstory of Ultron to be disregarded. This is chiefly because Hank Pym will not be present in this movie, and will only appear in a stand alone Antman title in 2016, and will be replaced by the half-baked idea of a Tony Stark suit turned evil is a bit too trivial for Marvel to go with in my opinion but one can hope they manage to pull it off.
Overall though it seems that the film will live up to our expectations with Paul Bettany (the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.) now enlisted as the Vision, who true fans will recognise as an integral part in the comics. In conclusion I feel it is safe to say we have a good supply of fantastic Marvel masterpieces stockpiled for the near future, and I cannot wait to be able to see each and every one.
