AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - Growing Pains

Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Andy Serkis
Runtime: 141 mins.
2015

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is immediately different than its predecessor: it opens with a bang and a crackle. Scene 1 has the Avengers careening through a snowy wood, laying the ever-loving beatdown on a host of HYDRA thugs. Far more engaging than the dank exploding bunker opening of The Avengers, Age of Ultron shows the group at the height of camaraderie and teamwork. We see definitively that the Avengers are back. For now.

So begins the first of many comparisons between this game-changing series' first and second installments. The comparisons are unavoidable, occasionally unflattering, and often enlightening. Age of Ultron is a movie about growing pains. It's droopier, gloopier, stuffier, and a great deal more complex than the original. So if you're looking for more of the same thrills of discovery and wonder, you might be disappointed. Rightly so. Not everything can be a beginning, and the honeymoon phase has to end sometime. Joss Whedon seems to know this better than anyone, and gives us an Age of Ultron that has a handful of flaws, numerous successes, and never stops challenging the viewer.

Which is better? Everyone will benefit if we put that question to bed right now. Age of Ultron is a step forward in development, which means change has to happen, and change can be hard. But that doesn't mean fresh newborns are inherently better than awkward adolescents.

STARGATE: A Galaxy Near Near Away

In which Kurt Russell teaches an alien human how to smoke.

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Cast: James Spader, Kurt Russell, Jaye Davidson
Runtime: 121 mins.
1994

Only after I started watching Stargate did I realize how complementary it was to Christopher Nolan's new blockbuster film event, Interstellar. Both feature humans traveling through wormholes to the far reaches of the universe. Both are directed by men known for their summer popcorn bombast (though Roland Emmerich wouldn't enter the cultural consciousness in a big way until his next movie, Independence Day). They're both... did I mention the outer space stuff?

I've run out of similarities so soon because, for all its flaws, Interstellar is a movie with heart, soul, and an artistic vision. Stargate is a movie with three independent fight scenes all taking place in the same poorly designed, Egyptian-themed, paintball-esque corridor.

Going into this movie, I didn't realize that it was the source material for the decently popular decades-spanning television franchise that included the shows Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate: Universe. It makes sense. A world in which we humans have discovered a centuries-old wormhole device that allows us to dial in to different destinations in the universe--the premise of the Stargate movie and the subsequent shows--would provide much fodder for syndicated entertainment. Indeed, the only part of the movie worth anything at all is the initial anticipation of what will be found on the other side of that portal. Emmerich is in a hurry to do away with that wonder. The characters enter the portal and nobody seems all that impressed by the alien world they have discovered, nor is it all that impressive. However, I'm guessing wonder plays more of a factor in the television show. It's always nice when folks can rip a good idea from the clutches of fools.