2. The Gradual Shift Towards Michael Bay Territory
Following suit from the comics that inspired it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been about explosions. Generally speaking, blockbusters are emphasised by how many explosions they can squeeze into their two-hour runtimes, and the MCU flicks are no exception - especially when you consider that most of the villain plans amount to little more than "I'm going to blow everything up." With each instalment, though, the push for scenes of mass destruction seems to be edging closer to the sort of devastation witnessed in the critically-derided Michael Bay movies; the only difference between large sections of Age Of Ultron and Transformers: Age Of Extinction seems to be the fact that Marvel's characters occasionally make self-aware meta references regarding their situations - is that enough? Explosions and scenes of city-wide chaos are enjoyable, sure, but the balance felt somewhat tipped in the wrong direction over the course of the the latest MCU outing; Age Of Ultron was essentially 2 hours of explosions and buildings being knocked down. Oddly, it felt like a step back from the first movie.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
