When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron, things go horribly wrong and it's up to Earth's mightiest heroes to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plan.
Director:
Joss Whedon
Stars:
Robert Downey Jr.,
Chris Evans,
Mark Ruffalo
As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world, he teams up with a fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Black Widow, to battle a new threat from history: an assassin known as the Winter Soldier.
Directors:
Anthony Russo,
Joe Russo
Stars:
Chris Evans,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Scarlett Johansson
Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.
Director:
Joss Whedon
Stars:
Robert Downey Jr.,
Chris Evans,
Scarlett Johansson
Steve Rogers, a rejected military soldier transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a "Super-Soldier serum". But being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down a war monger and a terrorist organization.
Director:
Joe Johnston
Stars:
Chris Evans,
Hugo Weaving,
Samuel L. Jackson
The Guardians struggle to keep together as a team while dealing with their personal family issues, notably Star-Lord's encounter with his father the ambitious celestial being Ego.
Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego Spider-Man, and finds himself on the trail of a new menace prowling the skies of New York City.
Director:
Jon Watts
Stars:
Tom Holland,
Michael Keaton,
Robert Downey Jr.
The powerful, but arrogant god Thor, is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.
Director:
Kenneth Branagh
Stars:
Chris Hemsworth,
Anthony Hopkins,
Natalie Portman
Thor is imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, and must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.
Director:
Taika Waititi
Stars:
Chris Hemsworth,
Tom Hiddleston,
Cate Blanchett
With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a hero's actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spider-Man) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) while a new villain emerges.Written by
RespectTheHyphen
(At around one hour and nine minutes) Chris Evans injured his arm muscles while filming the iconic shot of Captain America holding back a helicopter with his hands. Evans said, "That shot is a little bit of bicep porn. 'Zoom in on the biceps', that's what the script said. Kevin Feige didn't airbrush my biceps, that's me. It's not a utilitarian shot, it's a shot where you're trying to look heroic. That position (of holding the helicopter with one hand and the ledge with another) is actually a very unnatural position to use to stop something, but we used it because I have to flex my bicep, you are trying to make the scene look great, and I genuinely messed my arm up doing that shot because of the strain." Robert Downey Jr. joked that the filmmakers didn't mind that Evans hurt himself because of how great the shot turned out, and they have been using it to promote the film ever since. Anthony Russo revealed that the iconic shot almost did not happen because on the day of the filming, there was a miscommunication with the Costume Department and Evans came in wearing a thick jacket. They immediately sent him back to change, because then they wouldn't have been able to film the shot of his muscles bulging as intended in the script. See more »
Goofs
(at around 1h 30 mins) During the fight at the airport when War Machine hits Captain America with the first electric baton while he is on the ground, the top of Cap's shield bends but in the next scene the bend is gone. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Karpov:
[in Russian; reading from a book]
Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight Car.
[shuts book]
Karpov:
[in Russian]
Good morning, Soldier.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The main closing credits have the cast and crew cast shadows, each shadow representing an element about that credit's role. See more »
Pie Jesu
Composed by Gabriel Fauré
Arranged by Robert Henry
Performed by The Atlanta Boy Choir
Maestro Fletcher Wolfe, Director Hendricks Coates, Soloist See more »
Since it is increasingly important in these reviews to appeal to all readers, and not offend anyone, I am offering two reviews. Simply pick the one you like.
1. Great Production Values, Two and a Half Hours of Action, Whats Not to Like?
This, the shorter review, simply states the obvious. Marvel is getting progressively better at delivering action and most people today go to these films for the action, so this is win-win. Yeah. Everyone smile and wait for the next Marvel release. Have your wallets ready.
2. As Marvel increasingly monopolizes the Superhero space, the themes get darker and darker.
The early 1920s believe it or not were a lot like today. Everyone sensed a growing unease in the collective gestalt, so they compensated by more partying, less critical thinking, and going to more movies. Interestingly, movies both before and after the Great Depression offered pure escapist entertainment. You went to the movies to get anything BUT reality.
A century later, that paradigm has shifted. Ever since the "graphic novels" started to tackle serious adult themes, there seems to be a race among superhero writers to see who can put his (her) hero through the most angst, and drag the audience along for the ride.
I am not sure this is a good thing but I seem to be in the minority. I have seen a Spiderman movie where Spidey's main squeeze was killed because Spidey was a few seconds late. I have seen Superman movies where the main goal seems to be to discover how many buildings you can smash with Superman's head. And now, picking up on the same thread, I am seeing Avenger movies where governments -- these would be the same governments spying on your emails and trying to ban cash -- are trying to tell the "enhanced" humans what to do and not do.
Now, the suits at the studio would argue this must be what the audience wants because they are making money. This reviewer would argue that when you have a monopoly on a product line that people want, they will see it regardless. Only one of us is right.
In my view, the best superhero films are the ones that are the most humanistic. Superman comes out of a coma to be with the child he did not know he had. Iron Man rewards a boy who helped him when no one else would. Hulk drops out of an airplane not knowing if he will change or not, but he has to stop the bad guy and protect Betty.
My attitude is, if I want adult themes that badly I don't need to go the theatre, I can simply try to renew my license or wait in a hospital emergency room. I "get" this is how they are making superhero films these days. I suggest that in a year or two someone will rediscover the older, more sentimental, story lines, the audience will love it, and people of the future will look back at the films of today and wonder, what were they smoking?
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Since it is increasingly important in these reviews to appeal to all readers, and not offend anyone, I am offering two reviews. Simply pick the one you like.
1. Great Production Values, Two and a Half Hours of Action, Whats Not to Like?
This, the shorter review, simply states the obvious. Marvel is getting progressively better at delivering action and most people today go to these films for the action, so this is win-win. Yeah. Everyone smile and wait for the next Marvel release. Have your wallets ready.
2. As Marvel increasingly monopolizes the Superhero space, the themes get darker and darker.
The early 1920s believe it or not were a lot like today. Everyone sensed a growing unease in the collective gestalt, so they compensated by more partying, less critical thinking, and going to more movies. Interestingly, movies both before and after the Great Depression offered pure escapist entertainment. You went to the movies to get anything BUT reality.
A century later, that paradigm has shifted. Ever since the "graphic novels" started to tackle serious adult themes, there seems to be a race among superhero writers to see who can put his (her) hero through the most angst, and drag the audience along for the ride.
I am not sure this is a good thing but I seem to be in the minority. I have seen a Spiderman movie where Spidey's main squeeze was killed because Spidey was a few seconds late. I have seen Superman movies where the main goal seems to be to discover how many buildings you can smash with Superman's head. And now, picking up on the same thread, I am seeing Avenger movies where governments -- these would be the same governments spying on your emails and trying to ban cash -- are trying to tell the "enhanced" humans what to do and not do.
Now, the suits at the studio would argue this must be what the audience wants because they are making money. This reviewer would argue that when you have a monopoly on a product line that people want, they will see it regardless. Only one of us is right.
In my view, the best superhero films are the ones that are the most humanistic. Superman comes out of a coma to be with the child he did not know he had. Iron Man rewards a boy who helped him when no one else would. Hulk drops out of an airplane not knowing if he will change or not, but he has to stop the bad guy and protect Betty.
My attitude is, if I want adult themes that badly I don't need to go the theatre, I can simply try to renew my license or wait in a hospital emergency room. I "get" this is how they are making superhero films these days. I suggest that in a year or two someone will rediscover the older, more sentimental, story lines, the audience will love it, and people of the future will look back at the films of today and wonder, what were they smoking?