Grease, Guts and Guns are the three best words I can think
of to describe the latest installment in the Mad Max Franchise, ok so it’s closer
to Cars, Explosions and Female protagonists but I like the alliteration so it
stays. Fury Road delivers everything you
would come to expect from a major apocalyptic sci-fi story about road worriers
and desert tanks, and it is a beautiful sight to behold. The film feels like it was lifted straight
from the 80’s as if the film industry had never missed a beat in creating fun
memorable action/adventure films.
What’s really impressive is how incredibly well Mad Max
lends its self to modern cinema. The blending of plot and modern effects is practically
seamless as if Mad Max had been waiting all these years for technology to catch
up with it so it could show all the crazy things it was always meant to show
and now where demonstrates this better then the setting. Despite taking place in a desert backdrop the
settings are breathtaking making you feel apart of some far away and exotic
world that you can’t wait to see more of.
On the smaller scale the props used in the movie were also
wonderfully
larger than life fitting the fun over the top acting provided by the many of
the main cast.
There is one black cloud hovering over the film however,
where Mad Max: Fury Road excels in visuals it lacks in actual story. The film essentially boils down to a very long
and involved car chase in which our titular character is given second billing
in his own movie. Max really doesn’t do much and one of his most hardcore
moments happens off screen much to my disappointment. There’s also nothing especially meaningful or
deep about this movie so don’t expect to be pondering the mysteries of life or
contemplating the injustices of social class segregation, I mean you could but
that’s really giving the movie more credit than it deserves. But in the end that’s ok, because that’s not
why you go see a Mad Max movie. You go
see a Mad Max movie to watch crazy people blow each other up to obtain water
and gasoline and blow themselves up they do.
The best part of Mad Max: Fury Road is the overall feel of
the movie. At no point does it take itself too seriously or try to tone down
all the wild stunts and characters that are being thrown at you. Once the movie starts it never stops and for
the first time in forever I felt like that 10 year old kid again, sitting in
the front row as the movies become awesome again. Fury Road makes no apologize for the kind of
film it is and it’s never for a moment dull. this high octane thrill ride will
keep you on the edge of your seat till the very last frame.
The Spoiler Corner:
. That has to be the one of the best action movie opening
title sequence I've seen in a long time.
. Of course I feel like I would have a better idea of who we
were looking at in the opening sequence if
I had actually watched the third mad
max movie, or not tried to watch with an 8 year gap between me and the first
and second movies.
. Immortan Joe is rocking that skull mask so much
. I love of the creative designs for all these characters it
makes my ADD addled brain very happy.
. Well she didn’t last long.
I though being his “favorite” would at least get her to the end of the
movie.
. Ok none of these
ladies, minus Furiosa of course, are really anything more than a plot device
and eye candy. Eh, I can live with that.
.Yes! Albino guy has joined the party! *cue FF Music*
. What the? Wait go back! What were those things! In the
swamp with the stilts, were those people? Do they live like that? Is this a
weird way of foraging? Come on movie why
you leaving me hanging?
.Hit him with his own guitar! Hit him with his own guitar! YAY!
. So I can’t help but wonder, because I can’t just my brain
off, if water is such a scarcity was Immortan Joe really that wrong to withhold
it? I mean yeah he was an evil skull
faced douchbag who was doing a lot nasty things outside of water rationing but seriously
two months down the road isn’t Furiosa going to have to ration it as well. I mean what’s stopping her from just becoming
the new Immortan Joe? Just one of those
things you think about after the credits end.
So everyone and their dog has been going on and on about Avengers: Age of Ultron and with the 1st
weekend finished the public as spoken and the general consensus is, “ehh, was
s’alright, but it’s not as good as the
first one” and you know what? They’re right.
That’s about all the review you really need to make any kind of
assessment about the latest Avengers film.
However that’s for face
book posters we here at a Day Late and a Dollar Short aim for much loftier
goals of pointless diatribe. So let’s
dissect Avengers 2 and try to figure out exactly why the film failed to surpass
its predecessor. We will be going into spoiler territory here, you’ve been warned
so don’t blame me if something jumps out and bites you.
There is a lot that can be commented on about Avengers 2 but
for the sake of this article I want to focus on three specific problem areas in Age of Ultron that I believe were
responsible for it inferiority to Avengers. The first and most immediate
problem is the Honeymoon stage is over. We had are summer romance, we were teased,
wooed and won over, and it was euphoric, but now the bills have come due, the
roof leaks and we have started noticing the flaws in are partner. We still love them of course, nothing will
change that, but they just don’t shine like they used to and we can’t help but
wish they would put in a little more effort into their appearance and attitude
like they did back in that nostalgic summer of 2012.
As soon as Avengers
hit the theater screen it began an ever slow march towards becoming obsolete. We had
all seen it at least eight times in the theater, preordered the super
collector’s edition blu-ray then destroyed our players watching it over and
over again until finally the film no longer felt fresh and original. Thus is the inevitable problem with all sequels, lightning rarely strikes twice so unless you have an exceptionally clever and unique script there nothing left to
do but rehash your same idea just wrapped in a different package. This is what happened to AOU Whedon as
clever as he can be just couldn't find a way to make the second Avengers as relevant as the first so he
didn't even try. He simply took most of
the ideas from his first movie made a few changes then basically retold Avengers and replaced Chitauri with
Ultron Robots. Not to say that other
movies don’t copy from themselves but Age
of Ultron wore a very noticeable sign that read “hey guys were just going
to do the exact same thing again. You don’t mind right?”
But Marvel/Disney won’t see this as a problem because of the
second problem with Avengers: Age of
Ultron which is Marvel already has all your money. Let’s see a show of hands, how many of you
were not planning on seeing Age of Ultron
when it came out? Alright, alright you
in the back put your hand down, nobody likes a wise guy. My point is that the majority of the movie
going public had their calendars marked for the midnight premier of Age of Ultron, and no matter what
reservations we had going in the truth is that none of the marvel crowd were
going to simply skip AOU which means that Marvel/Disney no longer has to try as
hard to impress the general public.
Everyone who went to see Avengers
is basically fish hooked until Infinity war part V: The Box Office Strikes Back,
so if the studios can get away with less work for the same amounts of money why
not do so. This is never been more evident
then in Age of Ultron which as we
discussed uses a lot of pieces from the first movie.
The truth is Marvel has really only produced
a series of mediocre movies with the occasional standouts their biggest
strength to date has been their casting and even that has been questionable from
time to time. The casting in age of
Ultron however was the movies biggest strength. All our newcomers did a solid
job at trying to convey as much as they could with such bit parts. Aaron Taylor-Johnson as quicksilver and Paul
Bettany as Vision both did a fine job, I didn't find myself hurling my popcorn
bucket at the cinema screen, which is always a good thing, even Ultron played
by James Spader was better than I was expecting, though I still prefer the superior
voice talent of Tom Kane for my murderous robot Spader was acceptable and
better then some interpretations of the homicidal android. The stand out though was Elizabeth Olsen as
Scarlet Witch the only other film I’ve seen her in was Godzilla and in both films she manages to pull a lot of believability
for a character with so little screen time which makes me interested to see
what she can do with a bigger role.
Even though all our newcomers did a decent job there very
presence is exactly the third problem that I believe Led to Age of Ultron’s
inferiority because Whedon threw in everything but the kitchen sink and his movie
still only turned out average. If you
thought the first Avengers was a hodgepodge of clumsy storytelling, poor
character motivation and cliche plots then AoU is three times worse. The plot is all over the place with character
motivations ebbing and flowing like the tide all because Whedon couldn’t seem
to make up his mind about what plot he actually wanted to follow. Did he want to tell a story about broken
Avengers, Killer robots, Hydra or the magneto twins? Heck the guy even tried to
start a plot about the Avenger’s unpopularity in foreign countries only to drop
it right where it started. What the film
really needed was to place Ultron in center focus, really explore what made him
tick and why he was such a threat to the avengers. Instead we wind up with a
film that breaks into what seems like four different movies because Whedon
really, really wanted to play with his favorite hero’s even if he had to force
them.
The worst part of this whole back padding spectacle is that the only
person who really does anything that doesn’t feel contrived or pointless is
Stark and that’s only because he built Ultron.
I would go as far as to say the film could have easily been told without
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, heck probably even the Vision, and nothing would
have really changed. The newcomers,
while fun, contributed almost nothing to story nor did they really develop as characters
except for “sorry about trying to kill everyone but were good guys now lolz”. Avengers Age of Ultron is a bit of a letdown
to be sure but there were fun elements to the movie but it’s really only a good
movie in the same way that cotton candy is good, it tastes great but it’s
actually really terrible stuff for you to be eating plus if you eat too much
you get sick . Avengers is a bad movie
but it tastes great and when dealing with marvel movies of late that will simply
have to do because like everyone else I will keep coming back for more.
The Spoiler Corner:
. Hulk and black
widow, well.. That was completely random, and kind of dumb not mention Banner
just hangs Betty out to dry despite the fact she basically cut all her
family ties and left her previous boyfriend
to help him out when he was in trouble, real classy there banner.
. Wait, you’re telling me that a busted up stark bot managed
to “get away” from Thor? The god of
thunder ought to have his membership card revoked for that one.
. It’s not my Ultron.
Ok, ok Spader did a fine job and the look wasn't that bad , side from the
weird metal lips, But I think Ultron is
a much better character when he’s cold, calculating and borderline psychotic, completely
and irrevocably obsessed with the destruction of all organic life versus being a
wise cracking mustache twirler who simply wants to destroy the world because of
vague arbitrary reasons.
.Not to mention Ultron was kind of just a re-skinned Loki.
. Lol at Hawkeye with a family, guess this means no
mockingbird.
. So with the introduction of a family and his big hero
speech to Wanda this movie was basically wheadon trying to say “guys come on! Stop
making fun of Hawkeye all the time! He’s really actually pretty cool! See!”
.wow, were really just going to kill Baron Strucker off
screen before he even gets to do anything? That’s lame.
. WAKANDA! Why is
Black Panther so far away? And why do we
not mention him? And how the heck did anyone smuggle anything out of Wakanda
and leave with their head still attached to their body?
. OH My Gosh black widow why are you still talking Just Shut…
whoa! That conversation got weirdly uncomfortable all of a sudden this is
Avengers Age of Ultron right? The movie
where we watch people in bright pajamas punch wisecracking demigods and robots?
Let’s just go back to the goofy robot.
. On that same topic, in what reality do you figure that
being sterile is the equivalent of being a monster like the Hulk? Just go freaking adopt lady what is wrong
with you?
. I still don’t understand how people act like the finale
was supposed be a big slap in the face to Man of Steel, what, because they got
people to life rafts? Ok, I’m the first
one to point out the massive amounts of wanton destruction In Man of Steel but
there was only one superman, there were like nine avengers in this movie plus
some help from SHIELD underground at the last minute, so they had way more
bodies to help and they still caused massive amounts of destruction. Not to
mention all the property destruction in AOU is pretty much all the Avengers
fault in the first place for not keeping a closer eye on what actually happens
in Avengers headquarters. But it’s all mute
since none of its real and we all like watching buildings fall down so what’s
the big deal anyway?
. Your right I didn't see that coming, know why? Because it’s
stupid. Why were you even in this movie
again?
. I would be remiss if I didn't point out the obvious fact
that this supposed connected universe pretty much ignored all of the phase two
films as far a canon is concerned. Which isn’t that big a deal but they’re the
ones who basically said that “look how clever we are tying in all the movies”
and now look at them, they barely connect.
Of course don’t get me wrong I think I prefer the films to be more of
their own independent things but they let the genie out of the bottle and they can’t
put it back so easily.
