[This Week In TV] Penny Dreadful; Big Bang Theory; New Girl
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week sees Penny Dreadful return for a second season of Eva Green-starring gothic lunacy, Sheldon and Leonard's mothers paying the boys a visit in Big Bang Theory, and two departures in New Girl.
[Review] Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The Avengers was not just the movie which brought Marvel's cinematic universe heroes together on-screen for the first time, but also the one which found a consistent tone and philosophy for the series going forward. Looking back at the earliest movies in the canon, it's no surprise that despite their financial success, they tend to be all over the place in terms of tone and direction, heavy on formula but uncertain where to pitch their flag between the campy humour of comic book movies past and the heavy drama of Christopher Nolan's hugely successful Batman movies for DC.
It was at the hands of experienced comics writer Joss Whedon that Marvel found a sense of fun and self-awareness to bridge the disconnect between building a straight-faced fictional reality and the wisecracking, elaborately costumed protagonists populating it. As DC struggles to make fans care about its efforts to build a universe of its own defined by tortured heroes and depressingly over-filtered visuals, Marvel has gone from strength to strength on the back of Whedon's simple but appealing philosophy of keeping the characters relatable and the tone light. It's unfortunate, then, that Age Of Ultron does not mark Whedon once again taking the Marvel cinematic universe movies to new heights, but instead proves that even the most successful philosophy will struggle when weighed down by repetitive storytelling.
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The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: May 1st, 2015
The Avengers' success may have solidified the Marvel universe, but also allowed some core problems to go overlooked. It was and remains a blockbuster done right, hitting a near-perfect balance between large-scale action, pinpoint character writing (compare, for instance, Whedon's Black Widow to her nondescript 'strong woman' portrayal in Iron Man 2) and humour. After taking $1.5bn at the box office worldwide, it's no surprise Marvel sought to replicate its success as closely as possible going forward. While this meant movies more ambitious in their scope and tonally unified throughout the series, it also too often reduced their narratives to a single, over-used formula. It boggles the mind to try and tally how many Macguffin-oriented plots, fake deaths, identikit character arcs and city-levelling finales have occurred in the four movies since the first Avengers, let alone those which were toying with the same ideas beforehand.
Age Of Ultron never looked likely to break that formula, but starts at a lively enough pace with a big set-piece as our eponymous heroes storm a HYDRA outpost in Eastern Europe. It gets us quickly into the swing of things, and Whedon is gifted enough with the off-handed zingers that the personalities of each individual hero are asserted without needing to pause for breath. What the team discovers also neatly lays down a potential dividing line between them based on how they perceive their ongoing role in defending the planet. Ultron presents a rare villain whose world-ending ambitions are rooted in a distinct way of thinking, one that can be clearly traced back to some of the decisions which led to his creation. It also allows him to recruit the Maximoff twins, whose supernatural powers bring another new kind of threat to the Marvel universe. So far, so good. Nothing groundbreaking, but tight, fun and brisk.
That promising start begins to falter once the heroes are given their first glimpse of the psychological manipulations of Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, in a set of sequences geared exclusively towards setting up future movies. This recalls the worst of Iron Man 2's indulgences in using its time to promote future movies rather than creating a worthwhile experience in the present. It also leads into a mid-point lull where Whedon, having so effortlessly integrated character and plot up to that point, grinds the movie to a halt for the sake of Capital Letter Character Development that not only retreads the same steps as previous movies, but almost entirely through static conversations taking place in the most blandly clichéd location imaginable. With the movie coming in at a laboured 140mins, it's hard to imagine how no-one thought to discard, at the very least, two vapid romantic subplots which clog up the pacing and never feel like anything other than writer-enforced indulgences.
In addition to the contrived writing, Whedon's biggest obstacle in making his characters relatable is the same as that which makes his action sequences feel so insubstantial. Iron Man 3 got a lot wrong, but one thing it understood, and The Avengers didn't, is that there needs to be a palpable sense of risk for its action to be any more meaningful than empty spectacle. As in the first Avengers, Whedon's heroes never take so much as a scratch, so their musings on death and loss come across as entirely hollow. The absence of danger means the action relies entirely on a sense of awe to remain entertaining, yet the CGI-heavy nature of each encounter renders each increasingly interchangeable and wearying, culminating in a climax lifted almost verbatim from the first Avengers, only replacing aliens with robots and Loki's wormhole generator for a Big Deadly Button.
Of the new ingredients, James Spader's voice work keeps Ultron interesting for longer than the character has any right to be, given how quickly the script abandons his initial existential angst in favour of generic supervillainhood and a subplot which ignores a key facet of his interconnected nature to facilitate the creation of The Vision. Vision himself feels entirely superfluous, showing no particularly noteworthy abilities beyond those already on offer from Iron Man and Thor, despite being at least visually striking and sharing an enjoyable exchange with Thor about the merits of a well-balanced hammer. Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch fares better than Aaron Taylor-Johnson's bland Quicksilver, if only for presenting a different kind of threat than punching or zapping. Once they are actually put to work, however, it is again difficult to discern what they bring to the table which one of the existing heroes could not have provided with minor adjustment.
Strip away the bombast and superfluous additions and it is the core cast which just about keeps the movie going even while the messy direction and clunky pacing are compounding around them. Downey Jr gives one of his stronger recent performances as Tony Stark, while Scarlett Johansson continues to layer pain into Black Widow's snark. Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo are underserved with worthwhile material, but make the most of what they have. Jeremy Renner has the opposite problem, enjoying plenty of screentime, but most of it among the movie's most insufferable. That he manages to make the character likeable regardless is testament to the small notes of empathy and stoicism he finds in his character's interactions with others. A handful of cameos from the supporting cast of the individual hero movies, such as Don Cheadle's Rhodey, also make very welcome reminders of each hero's existence beyond the confines of the Avengers team.
If you are, unlike me, an avid comic book reader, the appeal of another two hours of watching these characters bounce off each other, verbally and physically, may be enough to make Age Of Ultron another worthwhile entry in Marvel's cinematic universe canon. No matter where you are coming from, though, it is difficult to imagine anyone seeing this as anything more than a case of returns diminished by repetition and playing safe, at worst an unnecessary stepping stone en route to the real showdown in Infinity War. Whedon remains quick of wit and matched by a terrific cast, but where the first Avengers gave Marvel a newfound confidence going forward on screen, Ultron is less a shot in the arm than a warning of how complacency can dull even the most vibrant pleasures into formulaic endurance tests.
[This Week In TV] The Americans; Other Space; Inside Amy Schumer
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week sees Cold War drama The Americans reach the end of its third season, Other Space mark the debut of a new sci-fi comedy from Yahoo, and the third season premiere of feminist sketch show Inside Amy Schumer.
[This Week In TV] Orphan Black; Louie; Gotham
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week sees the return of the Clone Club with Orphan Black's third season premiere, Louie C.K. discovering the unexpected benefits of bad choices in Louie, and Gotham return after a six-week hiatus.
[This Week In TV] Game Of Thrones; Marvel's Daredevil; Mad Men; Better Call Saul
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week tackles the fifth season premiere of Game Of Thrones, Marvel adding a third series to their TV bow with Daredevil on Netflix (review covers first three episodes only), Mad Men's return for the concluding part of its final season, and the finale of Better Call Saul's first season.
[This Week In TV] Archer; Community; New Girl
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week sees Archer conclude its season with a drastic voyage, while Chang becomes an actor on Community and New Girl returns from its hiatus with Schmidt's mother in tow.
Furious 7
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." - Polonius, Hamlet, Scene 2 Act 2
The seventh entry in the meat 'n' metal saga that is Fast & Furious ups the silliness, downs the dialogue, and produces what is sure to be one of the most ridiculously entertaining movies of the year. Mad Max is going to have a hell of a time crossing the line as 2015's best car movie after this.
This time around, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew are threatened by the vengeful brother of the villain from the previous movie and need to find a Macguffiny piece of tracking technology allowing them to get the drop on him before he kills again. That's it. The entire plot. The Fast & Furious movies have always been exceptional on the road, but tend to stall once the dialogue kicks in. Furious 7 keeps the pontificating to a minimum, piling on gargantuan set-pieces and escalating the Tom & Jerry lunacy, saving speeches about family for brief intermissions where the audience can catch their breath before starting all over again. It's madness, but there's method in it, and by golly, does it ever result in a thrilling ride.
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Furious 7
Director: James Wan
Rating: R
Release Date: April 3, 2015
Furious 7 sets out its tone from the very first scene, in which Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) visits his comatose brother in hospital and leaves the place in a somewhat messier state than he found it. It's joyfully silly and shows a total disregard for logic, captured in a bravura tracking shot by new director, James Wan, who proves a highly capable replacement for the outgoing Justin Lin. Give a moment's thought to the movie and it falls apart in front of your eyes, yet there isn't a single second in which everyone involved isn't fully aware and steering into the idea, pounding viewers' scepticism until they've no choice but to chill out and enjoy the ride. Even a piece of product placement brazen enough to make James Bond would baulk becomes funny by merit of how completely and knowingly shameless it is.
Once you accept its terms, it's hard not to fall in love with its entertainment-before-logic approach. Cars fly between Abu Dhabi skyscrapers, take parachute jumps out of aeroplanes, go on off-road jaunts through forests down the side of an Azeri mountain, and much more besides. Statham shows up at virtually every encounter with no explanation of how or why, other than it being a lot more fun to have him there. Those lunkspolitation match-up battles the Expendables movies promised and failed to deliver? Here, you get Statham vs The Rock, Michelle Rodriguez vs Ronda Rousey, Paul Walker vs Tony Jaa (twice), Statham vs Vin Diesel, and The Rock vs, umm, a predator drone. Wan's shakycam and rapidfire editing can be frustrating, but maintains enough coherence not to lose the geography or physical impact of the fights.
By this point, the main cast have been together long enough to share a chemistry which feels like a genuine friendship, adding sincerity to Toretto's proclamations of his crew as family. He's the same gravel-voiced, straight-faced man-sausage as always, but allows just enough self-effacing irony and warmth to peek through the facade to ably function as the centre of the Furious universe. Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris make some wonderfully silly comic relief double-act, while the disgracefully gorgeous Nathalie Emmanuel - given an Ursula Andress moment in a tiny bikini, because why not - adds snarky Brit girl charm to what is otherwise an stew boiling over with macho posturing - even, or perhaps especially, from Michelle Rodriguez.
The downside is that with such an expansive cast, several of them have to be sidelined, which means Jordana Brewster is left fretting at home, while Sung Kang's Han is offed with barely a thought. Most tragic is the restriction of The Rock/Dwayne Johnson's Detective Hobbs to little more than cameos at the very beginning and very end of the movie, especially since, as you'd expect, his barnstorming charisma and comic timing steal every one of the scenes in which he appears. Hobb's heavily implied infatuation with Diesel's Toretto continues apace, and were it not for the presence of his young daughter in an early hospital scene, you get the feeling the two would be getting down to some earth-shattering, jello-abusing, sweaty bro-love right then and there.
Of course, it's impossible not to discuss the impact of Paul Walker's tragic real-life death on the movie. I've never been especially complimentary towards Walker's abilities as an actor in the past, having previously referred to his on-screen presence as an unusually attractive piece of cardboard, but he's settled into the role comfortably enough to deliver an easy-going and likeable performance even in the few moments he's not in a punch-up or looking stern from behind a steering wheel. His character remains the least lively of the main cast, but the subplot about needing to get Brian home to his real family is made more affecting by Walker's passing, even if his scenes with Brewster are undercut by some dreadful, sub-telenovela standard scoring. Fortunately, it all comes together in the movie's final scene, which functions as a heartful and moving farewell to the character and tribute to the actor, symbolised with surprising grace and delicacy in the closing shot. You wouldn't expect a Fast & Furious movie to reduce people to tears, yet no fewer than three women around me were visibly weeping when the lights came up.
That poignancy adds just a little depth to a movie whose otherwise sole focus is loud, smashy entertainment, and I'm sure the eternally blockbuster-friendly Walker wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Furious 7 is not without its flaws, coming in about ten minutes too long and with even the most astonishing action sequences a little too prolonged not to feel a little wearying by the end. Yet those sequences truly are astonishing, each sufficiently distinct in look and theme to avoid repetition and packed with ribald humour and jaw-droppingly insane stuntwork.
Those with a predisposition towards political correctness should turn their noses away now: Rodriguez's Lettie is given as much depth as any other character, but the male gaze is at full strength here, albeit never quite sure whether the cars or the booty are more worthy of worship. You can almost hear Vin Diesel and Paul Walker's trousers rending in a scene where they happen upon a rare supercar, and when Diesel lifts it up for Walker to take a more intimate look at its engine, you get the feeling this is the threesome the two of them have really been waiting for. Diesel's two hands probably weren't all that was holding the car up, if you know what I'm saying. It's hard to get righteous when the movie's so completely aware of its own absurdity, however, and while perhaps slightly more explicit, the T&A never feels quite as predatory or trashy as Michael Bay at his leering worst. Fast & Furious 7's sole aim is delivering a hyper-concentrated dose of blockbuster entertainment, at which it succeeds magnificently.
[This Week In TV] The Flash; Arrow; Agents Of SHIELD
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week takes on a comic book theme, with The Flash heading back in time, Oliver Queen suffering an identity crisis in Arrow, and, um, SHIELD suffering an identity crisis in Agents Of SHIELD.