Essentially adapting 'The Ultimates' comic-book story-line but making it ever-so-slightly more kid-friendly (Ant-Man doesn't domestically abuse The Wasp and The Hulk doesn't eat anybody), 'Ultimate Avengers (2006)' does a good job of bringing Marvel's most famous superhero team to life. It introduces its core players pretty well, doing so all within (roughly) half the time of a usual superhero film - six years before the team hit the big-screen. The flick actually provides some fantastic characterisations, including a fleshed-out Bruce Banner who's relationship with Betty Ross is filled with the past traumas and false promises of one previously built on anger-induced abuse. It also puts a strong focus on the dysfunctional nature of the here unwanted team, with their struggles to follow orders and work together being a major plot-point that actually pays off in quite a satisfying, if expected, way. Perhaps because of its source-material, it manages to make each character stand-out in some way so that they all feel incredibly realistic, flawed in ways perhaps counter-intuitive to what you'd expect but ones that are interesting and logical nevertheless. The middle portion of the movie drags quite significantly, though, and the music isn't all that good, being cheesy and overbearing when it ought to be triumphant and being downright absent when it ought to be subtle and nuanced. Still, the first and third acts are pretty great and animated with a lively, if bloom-heavy and slightly washed-out, verve that makes both the frenetic fight sequences and quieter character moments feel, essentially, as real as one another. 7/10
Ultimate Avengers: The Movie
(2006 Video)
A great adaptation that renders its characters surprisingly realistically.
25 June 2018