The teaser trailer for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” exploded onto the Internet this week, albeit earlier than Marvel had anticipated—inciting this tweet. As all good teasers do, the trailer opened the plot of “Age of Ultron” up to more ambiguities than before (like, where do dancing ballerinas belong in this movie?), but did satiate fans’ desires with a first look at James Spader’s portrayal of Ultron. Even with little in the way of dialogue, fans have much material to sift through in this teaser (as this 12–minute YouTube dissection and image–by–image breakdown can attest to). “Avengers: Age of Ultron” looks ready to crush the box office and earn top marks among critics when it hits theaters on May 1, 2015.
What We Love:
The Hulk vs. Iron Man fight is sure to be a doozy, but what really sticks out in the trailer is James Spader’s devilishly good voice–over work as Ultron. By warping a fun song from “Pinocchio” into his creepy rallying cry, Spader shows that Ultron is far from the “puny god” Loki of the last “Avengers” film. When he says, “There are no strings on me,” he means every syllable of such a rebellious, righteous phrase. Ultron is unchained and fired up with hatred for humanity. Avengers—and viewers—beware..
What We Don’t:
Some criticism has been tossed around for this film supposedly taking a bleaker tone from the first film, though it is doubtful that Joss Whedon will helm a purely serious sequel (a la the DC films). The more troublesome worry is that “Age of Ultron” will fall into the recent “disaster porn” tradition of action heroes blowing up buildings and causing general disarray to an outrageous extent (i.e. “Man of Steel”). With a proven track record of “Avengers” success, Whedon certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt. And, evidenced by the trailer’s nearly 50 million YouTube views, Joss will not have to worry about fans coming out to see this film.
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