Movie Impressions: Avengers Age of Ultron

When the Avengers first appeared in 2012, they broke new ground in terms of what superhero movies could achieve, melding multiple superheroes and playing a balancing act between them within a single cohesive plot. Now three years later, we finally have the sequel, and the novelty has worn off, so it needs a lot to live up to and armed with a grittier tone, better action and a much serious villain, writer-director Joss Whedon does seem to manage it for the most part.

In the sequel, The Avengers now have to battle what is apparently Tony Stark's biggest blunder yet when he and his partner in-crime, Bruce Banner(a.k.a. the giant green rage monster) try to restart a dormant peacekeeping program in the form of an A.I. known as Ultron, when he decides that the real problem are the humans themselves.


In the very beginning, the movie thrusts you into the action in what is a very fun establishing castle battle. From here you realise that this will be bigger, faster and louder than what we had seen before. To make things different, the film now sports a much darker tone however it never goes too far and retains the humour that we have come to know from Marvel. And also is filled with a large number of locations that does make things less visually monotonous.

The plot does feel much more faster in its pace and whizzing past the sheer quantity of story content that it presents that it often feels too fast, but nothing you wont get used to. Most of this fast pace 'no-time-waste' story  filled with action set-pieces fill the first half, at which point I did feel quite scared that this movie would be another cobbled-up story that would not present much substance. Then the second half kicked in and it does pick up its threads though they are some points where it does seem a bit Deus-ex Machina and parts of the movie do not feel fleshed out enough.

The cast comprising the likes of Robert Downey jr. , Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson and Chris Hemsworth all turn out awesome performances which shows their grown comfort level with their characters. This is further backed-up with their natural chemistry as actors and character development in the story in some rather clever ways that shine some light on the personal motivations of each avenger. Special mention to Hawkeye who finally got some much earned character development. Also the new additions to the team, the Maximoff twins, Quicksilver (Aaron-taylor Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are good additions to the team. However the cast grows much larger than that with many characters carrying over from previous movies and appearing in little cameos, etc. Whedon has fully utilised this large cast with great sincerity and care.

The action does come as leaps and bounds ahead of what we had seen previously where each sequence from the start either rivals or just exceeds that much to the final New York battle in the prequel, especially in its set-ups. And when the audience is finally engrossed in the story, it really elevates the involvement in some of the sequences at the end.

However, the highlight of the movie has to be Ultron voiced by James Spader, who brings a whiff of gravitas and a sense of humour and purpose to the character that I felt was lacking in Loki. Ultron would have never been the same without Spader's voice talents. And they also play him rather well, going the extra mile to show that this isn't some generic A.I. Frankenstein and a serious, evolving threat to the Avengers and the world in general. There is also a very interesting relationship shown between Ultron and Stark that is explored here. And there is also the banter and dynamics between Ultron and Vision. I will not go into Vision much because I would highly recommend for you to experience it yourself, but one thing is to be said that he does adds a lot to the movie and is a very intriguing character.

Scope and Spectacle seems to be the name of the game here, with fast fluid camerwork and action and an equally fast yet seemingly uneven paced story. Avengers: Age of Ultron does appear at first to be too many little things trying to become a larger whole but it kicks in and does get focused and in the end leaves you satisfied for spending your 2 hours 21 minutes with it. There are also little tie-ins to future movies as well, more so than I noticed in earlier movies of "Phase-2". Overall it is jammed pack with action set-pieces, enough amount of character exploration and doing another good job of expanding and furthering this Universe. Though I will caution to keep your expectations in check.

ps. If you didn't know, there is a middle credit-scene but not an after credits scene, I checked.

But that is just my Impression....

Movie Impressions: Haider (Welcome To Impressions !!!)

" One thing is for sure it is quite dark and intense"

So here we have is another adaptation of Hamlet, and the third film in director/writer/composer Vishal Bharadwaj's trilogy of adapted Shakespearean tragedies (Maqbool and Omkara), So we know the guy has experience handling Shakespearean works and turning them into an entirely unique experience, so how does this one fare?

But where are my manners, welcome to Impressions, a movie blog made for and by a movie buff (or at least a person who really enjoys movies). Over here we do not rate movies but voice our immediate 'impressions' on them as total cinematic experiences, cause in the end your impression will matter for you.

So back to the Impression. For a person who rarely watches Bollywood movies (even though I am a citizen in the land of Bollywood), you can be pretty sure that person clearly wants more out of his movie these days and among the usual line-up of commercial movies, Haider clearly stands out as its own. 

The plot follows our protagonist Haider Meer, who has returned to his home, The land of conflict, Kashmir, in the middle of the insurgencies in 1995 ,to find out about the disappearance of his father, a doctor, who was captured by the army since he was caught harbouring Pakistani militants. And thus begins a big, extravagant, dark and intense downward spiral of the character into mental chaos keeping true to the Shakespearean tragedy. 

Since I have not read Hamlet, this allowed me to see the movie as it is, so I wouldn't compare. The first thing you will notice in this film is its cinematography especially its striking colour palette which accentuates the different parts /moods in story as much as it is used to portray the chilling landscapes. It provides an atmosphere that is very unique yet enhancing the story, something rarely seen from Bollywood movies. In short the direction fares well....times ten.

Now as for its story, in an oversimplification you can call it 'Hamlet in Kashmir', but the effect of its setting changes up so much thing, including the characters, their motivations and actions etc. it totally becomes its own thing. Though the setting is of much debate on how its handled in the film and how new angles are emerging everyday is a testament to the layered characteristic of its setting and story.
Since I am not thoroughly acquainted with the situation I can't really judge the accuracy of the representation of the time period. However, even so, this movie works on so many different levels with its whole plethora of different emotional and psychological undertones of which many of them are further intensified due to the disturbed backdrop of the film. Its intense, very intense, to the point that it may get rather gory for some viewers, but since I was desensitised to it due to Tarantino movies so it was fine for me, but the movie always tries to make you understand why people are doing whatever they are doing which in my opinion adds a good level of immersion to the story, except for the uncle's, which I thought could have been fleshed more, but its rather relative. And not surprisingly all this fleshing out of characters, story and setting does eat up the time resulting to a rather lengthy run time. However, even with its rather slow pace the plot always manages to rescue itself and catches your interest back with an awesome performance, set piece or a significant event etc. Though there is this one song that does break the pace and emotions a bit.....

The Characters and performances are absolutely superb here with really every actor, that includes the lead by Shahid Kapoor as Haider, in probably one of his most intense and rather most chaotic performance as the tortured poet turned murderer; Shraddha Kapoor as Arshia and also by Kay Kay Menon as Khurram, the Uncle. Though by far the best performance was by Tabu as Ghazala, Haider's mother, weaving a great mixture between strength and vulnerability and the movie also shows light into her challenges as a widow.

So all in all it is a well-rounded film with superb direction and characterisation, a lavish setting, a very layered story that adds to it source material and with also some very good songs (special emphasis to bismil), which add to the theatricality of the story . It is definitely not the Bollywood staple. However, this film may not be for everyone as it may not be to your taste, but nonetheless you should try. You will not be dissapointed


so that was my impression.....what's yours?