Review: The Ultimate Avengers Movie
You saw the promotional screenshots and you despised them.
You downloaded the trailer and you feared the worst for the
movie.
You re-read the TPB and speculated about Millar and Hitch and
how they may have become frustrated with the evolution (or
should that read as "devolution") of their comic book
masterpiece.
Now, the DVD has arrived, and guess what? Your fears have come
true... which is a good thing. Read on, true believer, as this
review would discuss the dichotomy that is the Ultimate Avengers
movie.
Ultimate Expectations
Let's face it. Even if you are a devout DC fan, you have to
admit that Mark Millar and Brian Hitch's run on the Ultimates is
nothing short of a masterpiece. They have the widescreen in mind
in their storytelling and the layouts of their pages. Even the
characters were re-imagined to correspond to the Hollywood
celebrities they desire for the roles.
People can't help but expect the best from the announced movie.
But when it was announced that the movie would be a cartoon, the
a priori disappointments started. The Ultimates wasn't meant to
be a cartoon. It was meant to be a summer blockbuster flick!
Then the name. "Ultimate Avengers" is not really logically
sound. The storyline is about the formation of the Avengers.
They are the first group. The word "ultimate" is comparative. We
can't compare this team with any other incarnation. So why
Ultimate Avengers? Yes, the decision was made to attract the
fans of both the 616 and the Ultimate universes, but hey... they
could have called it as "The Ultimates" or "The Avengers" and
their target market would have been able to recognize them,
either way.
Then the screenshots. By Odin's beard, were they ugly! They
looked like amateurish cartoons outsourced from a sweatshop
somewhere.
The trailer didn't do much for the movie as well. Inappropriate
voice acting, jerky motions and dull animations were just some
of the concerns people aired a few days after it was offered for
download.
Nonetheless, a lot of people eagerly awaited the DVD's release.
Despite the seeming flaws of the movie, countless comic book and
cartoon fans waited impatiently for the first complete look at
the Ultimate Avengers.
Ultimate Review
This review is about the movie only. DVD extras are not included
(sorry folks).
That being said, guess what?
I wasn't disappointed!
The movie clocked in at 71 minutes. It was a fast 71 minutes at
that, as action never seemed to stop. The screenshots, the
trailers... they never did this movie any justice.
Surely, you've watched better animated films before. But
Ultimate Avengers is not bad, by any means. The integration of
some computer generated effects was seamless. The art was
consistent all throughout.
Marvel Films hyped the opening scene, taken from Ultimates Vol.
1, No. 1, as a powerful opening worthy of comparison to Saving
Private Ryan and Lost. Well, that's an exaggeration, but the
said opening scene did serve its purpose, and in my opinion, was
the best animated moments in the movie.
Voice acting was spot on. Hank Pym sounded like a self-absorbed
jackass. Thor sounded like a radical hippie. Tony Stark sounded
like the playboy-billionaire that he is, while Iron Man's voice
was technologically altered by his armor. Black Widow (yes,
she's in the film!) sounded Russian enough. Bruce Banner sounded
like a fan boy geek.
The only problems with the voices are Captain America's and Nick
Fury's. Cap's was a little too much on the innocent side. You
won't hear him shout things like "What are you waiting for?
Christmas?" or "What do you think the A on my forehead stands
for? France?" in this movie. He sounded rather timid majority of
the film. Nick Fury, well, I just expected him to sound, and
act, like Samuel L. Jackson. He did not. And neither was he as
manipulative and heartless as his comic book version, either in
the 616 or the Ultimate Universe.
The story was adapted well. It should've been based on the first
6 issues of Ultimates, Vol. 1, but some story points in the
second half of that volume made their way to the movie. Black
Widow being one of them, the aliens another.
Other than these two points, everything else is relatively
consistent to the story arc from which it was based. There are
some creative deviations, of course, but nothing too serious.
Ultimate Differences
Here are the differences between the Ultimates comic book and
Ultimate Avenger:
* Tony Stark did not fund the Avengers. In fact, no one knows
that he and Iron Man are one and the same, at least, not
initially.
* Thor doesn't have a beard. But he did have some
unintentionally funny lines.
* There were clues about Hank and Janet's marital problems, but
they weren't explored further.
* Cap and Fury went out on a recruiting expedition, instead of
having the Avengers, well, assembled when Cap was revived from
his cryogenic state.
* The Avengers had a prior mission before the Hulk fiasco. It
didn't fare well.
* The Iron Man armor is a combination of the 616 and the
Ultimate versions.
* Understandably, the movie is less violent than the comic book.
But the film also had its share of kid-unfriendly moments.
Great lines:
* When Cap awoke from his slumber and went on a rampage, only to
realize that he is at the outskirts of New York City, he asked
Fury, "did we win?" Fury said, "yes, we did."
* When Iron Man and Giant Man met for the first time, Tony
remarked, "nice costume."
The movie is a relatively faithful adaptation of the source
material. It's no LOTR. More like Pet Cemetery, where the movie
was scary but the book was a whole lot scarier.
Ultimate Choice
At its core, this movie is about a man out of time and the guy
who worshipped him. Captain America is the real deal. Bruce
Banner wanted to become the real deal, and had to pay the price
for his choices.
But is Ultimate Avengers worth the purchase?
>From a guy who shared your sentiments prior to the movie's
release, I would say yes. The technological aspects of the film
may be underwhelming, but in the end, you'll feel that it was
made with a lot of heart.
I can't even believe that I'm actually excited about the sequel
right now.