“If you step out that door, you’re an Avenger.” Avengers: Age of Ultron review.

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes re-assemble to save the world in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Joss Whedon’s Marvel-ous superhero sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, swoops in at a lengthy 2 hours and 21 minutes.  But you know what they say, time flies when you’re having fun, and Age of Ultron is exactly that.

The Avengers are back and well and truly assembled this time around, finding themselves up against a tyrannical artificial intelligence called Ultron (James Spader). Spawned from a programme designed by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) in order to protect the world form all things villain-y, Ultron sets out to destroy The Avengers and re-shape the world as he sees fit.

But hold on a minute! Let’s backtrack slightly. After taking care of Loki and bonding over Schawarma back in Avengers Assemble; Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), all went their separate ways.

Yet, they’ve clearly had time to attend the odd team-building weekend. The film’s grand opening introduces us to the fictional country Sokovia, where Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have come to recapture Loki’s sceptre from HYDRA baddie Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann).

(Strike a pose! Earth’s Mightiest plunge into battle)

After disposing of his henchmen with ease, and even posing for a team photo (not literally), the team hit a snag in the form of twins – Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Piotr Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) – a.k.a Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver. (This Quicksilver is not to be confused with X-Men: Days of Future Past’s Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters, which is a completely different incarnation. You’re welcome).

The “he’s fast, she’s weird” combo prove a handful, especially when the latter messes with Iron Man’s mind revealing his fear of seeing his friends killed, which in turn, results in Mr Stark creating Ultron.

Despite reports before the film’s release that Age of Ultron was darker than its predecessor, Whedon’s baby still packs a punch in the laughter department. Though its lighter moments mainly arrive in the first half, there’s plenty of them, and the scene where each Avenger attempts to lift Thor’s hammer in order to ‘prove themselves worthy’ will be a favourite of many.

But what about Age of Ultron’s title character? Will he go down as one of comic book movie’s greatest villains? Probably not, no. James Spader’s (Stargate, The Blacklist) mo-capped mechanical monster looks great and even sounds great but, Ultron, like most of Marvel’s villains (apart from Loki), suffers from a rather one dimensional outlook.

(“I’m the Hulkbuster, bitch!” Iron Man limbers up to tackle the Hulk)

However, Ultron does serve as a worthy foe and certainly allows the Marvel cinematic universe to further develop some of its flagship characters like Iron Man and Cap, ahead of next year’s colossal showdown in Captain America: Civil War.

As well the main characters jostling for screen time, some of Avenger’s lesser figures come to the fore here. In the first film it was Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk that stole the show. In Age of Ultron, it’s a rather surprising turn from everybody’s least favourite Avenger, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. This turns out to be a masterstroke from departing director Joss Whedon who isn’t returning for Avengers: Infinity War, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier maestro’s, the Russo brothers, taking over.

Of course, there’s plenty of action to geek out to with story development often playing second fiddle to long, expansive action sequences. ‘But this is The Avengers! We want action!’ And boy, do we get it, especially in the form of Hulk and Iron Man’s ‘Hulkbuster’ going toe-to-toe, levelling an entire building or two.

All in all, Age of Ultron is one of Marvel’s strongest films to date. Although it probably falls short against the likes of last summer’s smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this action-packed sequel is a thrill-ride from start to finish, and offers just a glimpse of what’s still to come from Marvel Studios. We’ll be watching.

‘Nuff said!

8/10

The first Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation trailer flies in.

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the first full trailer for Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.

And after scaling the world’s tallest building last time out in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, the IMF super agent looks to go one better this time – by hanging off the side of a friggin’ plane!

The fifth and potentially last film in the Mission: Impossible series, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team are after the mysterious, and rather dangerous, organisation known as The Syndicate.

But with the IMF now disbanded, Hunt must use any means necessary to uncover the truth about this shady outfit which of course involves gadgets, car chases, explosions and, wait is that a flute-gun?! Impossible!

Directed by Jack Reacher‘s Christopher McQuarrie, the film also stars the returning Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, as well as Alec Baldwin and Rebecca Ferguson.

This message will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3… ah you know the drill.

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is out July 31 (UK).

“She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive Karate.” American Hustle: A review.

Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner star in American Hustle; David O. Russell’s black comedy come crime drama.

It’s 1978 and American Hustle’s preface informs us that “some of this actually happened.” Cut to a man standing before a mirror in a burgundy velvet smoking jacket. We know him as Christian Bale, last seen on the big screen in 2012’s epic Batman finale, The Dark Knight Rises.

No longer donning the cape and cowl, Bale’s character is sporting a rather hefty gut and glorious comb over, which has been painstakingly styled (for want of a better word) with a tonne of hairspray and a vile of glue. This man is Irving Rosenfeld (Bale); laundry store owner turned fake art dealer.

Like his precisely placed pieces of wig, Irving is a fake, a con man, a hustler. And like any successful businessman (ahem!), Irving has a certain woman, or two, in his life. There’s his lover, Miss Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams); whom, like Irving, is just as conniving and outrageously content on swindling credulous businessman out of their money.

Then there’s Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Lawrence), Irving’s ditzy but infectiously hilarious stay-at-home wife, portrayed by the brilliant Jennifer Lawrence. Irving describes her as “the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate.” However, there’s nothing passive-aggressive about blowing up a microwave, or a “science oven”, as she so frivolously calls it.

And when she’s not bursting in to the chorus of Wings’ ‘Live and Let Die’ whilst polishing various mahogany surfaces (it could easily be made into a music video), Rosalyn makes it perfectly clear to Irving that their inevitable split would mean that she would have custody over their son.

Business is good for budding hustlers Irving and Sydney until hotshot FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) gets wind of their scams and forces them to work for him in an elaborate scheme to bribe and entrap crooked politicians. Carmine Pollito (Renner), mayor of New Jersey, and all round ‘nice guy’ is one of said unlucky few who finds himself tangled between a bunch of lose canons and shifty con artists.

American Hustle defies genre throughout. It doesn’t really fit into one particular genre rather, it borrows from others efficiently; embracing the intense elements of a crime drama, the complexities of a love story, and the quirkiness of black comedy. This is the film’s main draw – its diversity.

In truth, American Hustle won’t be remembered for its average at best storyline, but for its enigmatic characters, its glitz and glamour, and plethora of wide-collared shirts and sequined halter dresses. A nod must also be made in the direction of the soundtrack which [pelvic] thrusts you in to the height of the 1970s (as if the giant collars weren’t enough) and will have you frantically searching YouTube for some Donna Summers and Sir Elton John classics.

Sadly, American Hustle isn’t quite a classic, but rather a playful collage of excellent individual performances and laugh out loud lampooning.

7/10