If you liked Elizabeth Olsen in “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” then check out “Silent House.” She hit it out of the park, and the movie is a cool horror-thriller that I think was unfairly panned.
This was my review.
Tag Archives: Elizabeth Olsen
Avengers Assemble … Again!!! (SPOILERS!)
[WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR “THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.”] Fun, fun, fun! Earth’s Mightiest Heroes roar back onto the screen with nearly all of the action, humor and spectacle of the wonderful original — I would give “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015) a 9 out of 10.
It’s got everything that you could ask for in a superhero movie, including another great villain in the form of James Spader’s “Ultron,” beautifully animated by CGI. A surprise standout was Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch. She’s a great young actress whose work I really liked in 2011’s terribly under-appreciated horror-thriller, “Silent House.” She’s got perfect line delivery. I’d love to see future Avengers films include her in the lineup, so that she can trade quips with Tony Stark.
There’s some great writing — the backstory for the twins was suitably dark, and was a perfect motive for a hatred of Stark. The banter might not be as funny as the first film, but was still quite good. And there’s some nice thematic continuity with Marvel’s planned “Civil War” storyline.
The movie falls short of perfection with the occasional misstep. For example, the flashbacks/hallucinations that various characters suffer were clumsy, overdone, and sometimes befuddling. Compare them with similar scenes in movies like “12 Monkeys” (1995) or “Donnie Darko” (2001), or well made television shows like “LOST.” Captain America’s worst fear is some lame “The war is over” existential bullshit? No. Cap is supposed to be the personification of freedom and democracy — his worst nightmare would be a totalitarian state. Or an undead Bucky. Or better yet, being a man out of time, it would be the loss of his friends, his family and his true love.
A key conversation between two key characters at the end about mankind’s future is just a little too depressing for an Avengers movie. Also a little sad? The suggestion that the team’s lineup would change. Our existing roster is terrific — the fan’s love ’em and I believe all the actors are under contract. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Postscript: this movie is interesting because it shows the same superhero starring in competing film franchises. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s “Quicksilver” is the very same Marvel Comics’ speedster we saw played (and scripted with much more fun) last year by Evan Peters in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” (There, he’s simply referred to as “a guy” or “Maximoff,” for copyright considerations, I guess.)
Whatever. I really liked “Silent House” (2011).
Elizabeth Olsen is goddam amazing. Her performance in “Silent House” (2011) alone is worth the price of a rental. She honestly makes me think of a young Jodie Foster.
I’m surprised this film was so widely panned. I thought it was generally good, and I’d give it an 8 out of 10. It was damn scary, and it had some nifty devices going for it. One was its real-time action, another was its exclusive use of very long tracking shots, that were carefully edited to make the entire film look like one, long continuous take. Another was filming a lot of scenes in almost complete darkness – capturing Olsen’s character’s point of view as she flees through a house from a mostly unseen assailant.
Was this supposed to be a twist movie? If so, it failed in that sense. The plot development toward the end was spelled out early on, and when certain items keep popping up, it’s a clincher. If you can’t see what’s going on by the last 15 minutes, you stayed up too late last night. And although this is supposed to be a remake of a Uruguayan film, its “twist” makes it remarkably similar to a well made French horror film from a few years back, which I won’t name to avoid spoilers. (Please follow suit in any comments.)
I’d recommend this …with the caveat that nearly everyone else seems to have hated it.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 