The Avengers: Age of Ultron
&
Mad Max: Fury Road
Yesterday we embraced the crowd and excitement of “Super Tuesday,” arguably the best day of the week here in Richmond to attempt our first ever double feature. Honestly, before D and I met, I would ALWAYS arrive to the theater early, but since we started dating that is something that has only happened ONCE (and it was the last time we went to the theaters and only because I had mixed up the time the movie started). Unfortunately, this tendency for untimeliness bit us in the ass last night and the Avengers was sold out by the time we got there. Us, being the Super Tuesday pro’s that we are, had purchased our tickets earlier in the day and me, being the absent-minded sister that I am, did not tell my sister, so she went home with a promise that I would not spoil it for her (something I am notoriously bad about).
So, I will admit that I was a bit distracted throughout the whole movie because I know my sister was upset, but as there was truly nothing that could have been done about it at that time, I tried to enjoy the movie. And it was pretty good. As D said when I asked him about his thoughts on the movie, “good not amazing, good movie, good story.. it is hard to get super excited about [a super hero movie].” I can’t help but to agree with him, I didn’t go to see the Avengers because I thought it would have a deeply moving story line, I went for the action and explosions, with which it did not disappoint.
I feel like if I saw it again I would pick apart the dialogue too much. I say this because there is one point where Scarlet Witch and her brother, Quicksilver are being described by Cobie Smulders character. I can’t remember it all, but basically Scarlet Witch is described as having mind manipulation powers, and her brother is described as being idk, super fast? and in the next breath, Scarlet Witch is summed up as “weird.” I was irked by this description. The power that she had just described was an amazing, frightening amount of power, definitely not something I would have dismissed as “weird.” If I were to sum it up into one word I would say “powerful” or “scary.” Not Weird. I mean, come’on!
So besides the occasional sexist comment, the female characters were still given scenes to show their power and abilities which I appreciated, considering the fact that Black Widow’s motorcycle is stolen from her in the toys made for the movie and instead features Captain America on her bike.
What?
I would give it a 7/10.
And now, on to Mad Max.
I loved it! This is a film that is more action than dialogue, but that doesn’t take away from its ability to tell a story. Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, is a powerful badass with one arm who is shown to be a caring and passionate and strong woman. She has saved the “wives” (or favorite breeders) of the shitty leader who keeps all the water to himself and has strangely translucent armor and is trying to escape with them to The Green Place. Mad Max is also a quiet, yet GOOD person; he is a powerful man who is haunted by his perceived failings and although he initially needed some persuasion, he ultimately helped save not only the wives and Furiosa, but the entire people that the asshole ruler was oppressing. Tom Hardy was a great choice to play Mad Max, especially as a character that has few talking scenes that consist of more than 8 words. I feel like grunting and nods are his forte, and definitely suited the character of Mad Max.
Not only was the story line interesting, there was non-stop action, and many of the zoomed out scenes showed the beauty of the desolate desert. I wish that I had taken notes on the use of color throughout the film because some of the changes were very dramatic. It would go from a scene with a blueish filter of Max, to a vivid landscape scene with bright, warm colors.
I would give it an 8/10 and really hope that the next one is equally as good, or even better!
rva ramble 