Customer Reviews

Ultimate Avengers 2 (Rise of the Panther)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This is the second "Ultimate Avengers" film, adapted from the comic of the same name. Unlike the "standard" Avengers comic, the Ultimates offers more realistic and gritty stories.

Sadly, alot of that hard-edged story telling is missing from the animated films (and where the heck is Hawkeye??! My personal pet peeve..), no wife-beating, no wife-beater beating, no blood, no sex - no Shield Heli-Carriers (why? I have no idea, they would look great in a movie). The movie does have some of the elements present in the comic and I liked the addition of the Vibranium/Wakanda plotline. I always thought that the Black Panther was pretty cool.

Who is the audience for this movie? Fans of the comic won't be too thrilled by the milquetoast adaptation of the comic, but this movie is too violent for kids.

Ultimate Avengers 2 is worth seeing, but I hope the next one is alot better and more faithful to the comic.

If you enjoyed the first movie, then you will like this movie just as equally. The animation and dialogue between characters is just as fresh and interesting as the first movie. But, I do recommend that you watch the first movie before this since this is a continuation of the story. The special features on this DVD are great, "The Ultimates" finally talks about the Ultimates comic series and goes all the way through to this movie and tells the history from then to now and starts where the first left off. The gag reel is just a bunch of clips with silly dialogue added, some of it is funny, although childish. But, I couldn't help but laugh anyway. Overall, this is a have to have if you like the first movie. I'm so impressed, I think that they should turn this into a TV series

I agree with all the reviews here. This is a VERY good animated movie from MARVEL Studios distributed thru Lions Gate.

I recently rewatched the first one to refresh my memory on its story in preparation for this second one. I'm glad I did, because these two movies are indeed sequels. Well, the second is a sequel to the first...you know what I mean. Anyway...

First of all, I really did this kind of animation. A bit more realistic than Bruce Timm's Justice League style, but also more comic booky-looking. By that I mean the animation looks like something you'd see in a average comic book THESE days. You could freeze-frame any scene in these Ultimate flms and it'd look like a comic book frame. Which is good.

Secondly, I love the Ultimates take on the characters. As I'm not a comic book reader, I could care less about continuity at this point, so for this series to "throw out" any established continuity is a good thing for new viewers. My favorite character by far is Iron Man. Love his voice and his animation. The aid of CG is a good thing for his character. Especially when he dawns the War Machine suit, after Iron Man v6.2 is destroyed.

Thirdly, I love the level of violence. This is a very mature animated film. There's blood and people die. The battle scenes in this movie are quite good. Very dramatic and breath taking, if you will. And as you might have gathered from other reviews, this series takes a page from Tom Cruise's "War of the Worlds", and the 3-part pilot of Justice League, "Secret Origins".

Also, as you may have guessed, there's a hilarious gag reel included with this disc which basically features clips from the original movie, but with different voice overs (with newly animated mouth movements). But of course with Iron Man not having a visible mouth, they use a long running gag through-out the gag reel that Tony Stark runs and promotes his BBQ Rib joint. You gotta see it to believe it! Very funny stuff.

To conclude, if you're at all interested in seeing the first couple of Ultimate Avenger comic books brought to life through these two animated features, I highly suggest you pick these up. If this was made into a long running weekly series, it'd surely give the excellent Justice League a run for its money.

Lots of folks stated they hated the first film [mostly because they could not separate themselves from the comics] and those same people are back saying they hate this one. Well as I said before, give it a chance.

The story picks up where the other film lets off [so see Ultimate Avengers The Movie as well]. Although this is a stand alone film some elements require you do watch the first film to 'get' everything.

The alien attack plot thickens, we lose an Avenger and we get to know our heroes better.

Special features are worth a viewing as well with first looks at Iron Man and Dr. Strange as well as interviews and a 'blooper' reel. "Hulk no want ribs!" Keep it up Marvel we want more!

If you loved, still love, Marvel comics, this is for you. The excellent animation brings the still images of the page to life. Although I don't think that it was quite as good as the first, Ultimate Avengers, it is still well worth purchasing.

For the past few years, DC's animated division has had it all over Marvel, their Justice League, JLU, Batman, and Superman animated series dominated much weaker Marvel efforts.

Ultimate Avengers and its sequel change that. The first movie was a good take on these character, but the second movie improves upon that, introducing the Black Panther.

The animation, while weak at some points, gets the job done and the voice acting ranges from below average to excellent. The voice actor for Tony Stark (Iron Man) does a great job portraying him as the cool playboy, and the actor for Giant Man does a pretty good as portraying the arrogant and cocky Hank Pym.

For parents out there, Ultimate Avengers is actually a pastiche of the comic book characters "The Ultimates" and "The Avengers". The characters are much like the Ultimates, but the storylines are much more like those found in the Avengers.

I would not recommend parents allowing their children to read "The Ultimates" thinking it is like the animation, because quite frankly, if they translated the comic directly, it would have been rated R. Giant Man is an abusive husband, Thor is a delusional drunk, Iron Man is an alcoholic...you get the picture.

As an animation, this does a favorable job of portraying these comic book heroes and does it in an old school way, its a simple good guys vs. bad guys story that isn't patronizing in a "superfriends" sort of way.

I definately recommend this for comic book and superhero fans alike, and its good to see Marvel putting together some respectable animation efforts.

To tell you the truth I only bought this because i loved the first movie - i did not have that high hopes for the sequel. I did however eat my words when i saw how much though had gone in to the story - It was cool!
Some good extras make this a buy worthy of Thor's mighty hammer! and it does have a good wrap up from the first movie. my only concern is when are they bringing out a new one?

Top Dogs

I enjoyed the first entry on Marvel's "Ultimate Avengers" animated movie series. They reached a nice balance between the classic version of the 1960's "Avengers", and their recent reboot, the "Ultimates", which is sharper and more violent. I must say they behave more like the original 1960's series, with most of the Ultimates stories toned down, a lot. That [...] version of the HULK in the comic, well, while it's funny to read, it would be quite ambarassing to see onscreen, specially if you're watching it with your wife.

At least, they kept some key moments, like Steve Roger's letter to his girlfriend, being narrated while he's sinking on the freezing ocean is heart breaking. Moments like that, and those very human scenes with him adapting to the modern world, collecting old vinyl records would be perfect for a Captain America movie.

Albeit nothing can top DC's "Justice League" animated series, it is great to see Marvel's standing up with their own version of the "JL", the Avengers, even if it's not a regular series. I believe it should be, and i would love to see adapted not only the "Ultimate" comic book series", but also classic Avengers stories, with villains like Kang, Loki and others.

I'd love to see the big three's friendship developed even more, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.

My only complaint is the shape of the Mjolnir hammer, well, it's a hammer, not an axe. But i can live with that.

Nah, keep them coming, i want a collection of 10 Avengers movies at mininum, with plenty of special guest, like the Silver Surfer, Dr.Strange and Spiderman..well, the entire Marvel universe, the Watcher included! =)

Ultimate Avengers 2 improves on every aspect of the first animated feature from Marvel, picking up right after the events of the first film. The hidden African nation of Wakanda has a secret, one so big that the shape shifting alien race from the first film will do anything to bring them down, prompting newly crowned Black Panther T'Challa to reluctantly call upon Nick Fury and the Avengers for help. Bruce Banner remains imprisoned after his betrayal and Hulk fueled massacre, Captain America is haunted by his past, Thor has dark visions of the future, the marriage between Giant Man and the Wasp is on the verge of coming to an explosive end, and we are given a brief glimpse into Tony "Iron Man" Stark's physical debilitation (which will be more touched upon in the Iron Man animated feature due out before the end of the year). The action is quick (and surprisingly violent) and nicely captures the tone of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Ultimates comic series, and it still manages to throw in a few surprises as well. The extras are nice, including interviews with Millar and Hitch, and sneak peeks at the upcoming Iron Man and Doctor Strange animated features, as well as a very juvenile and very funny gag reel (Tony Stark loves ribs) that all help make this DVD worth the price of admission. Let's hope that there's more Ultimate Avengers to come.

Lame ... lame in so many ways.

Whereas over the past ten years African American writers have turned the comic book Panther into a bold, proud, A-list force to be reckoned with whose strongest power lies in his ability to out think, out strategize, and out politically maneuver his foes, those paths have been abandoned for this film. Here, the panther is a confused and unsure boy, too soon abandoned by his father, whose first instinct is to reach out to the predominantly white American heroes to save him and his country. The story presents any self-dependance on Wakanda's part as foolish, fearful, and ultimately fatal. No. Maturity, of course, argues for the integrationist solution. "You must open your borders!"

On top of that, the dialog feels leaden, and the emotional arcs of Cap and the Panther suffer from a lack of subtlety in both conception and execution. How did we get from a joyfully victorious Captain America at the end of the previous film to this grimly troubled man harboring a death wish? Who knows? The writers needed conflict and just created it, trusting to the dullness of their audience to allow it to slide. And do we really need one more hero devastated and haunted by the loss of his father? I know it's classic and that Joseph Campbell likes you, but is that really the only story we have in our story boxes? Yes, T'Chakka's death is part of the comic lore, but it's merely one aspect of T'Challa's origin, not the center of it. To be fair, though, most of the other heroes are handled rather well.

But story and writing aside ... while the animation is a step forward from Captain Planet, it's still so far behind what the Japanese regularly do in terms of detail, color subtlety, fluidity of motion, and character design as to be virtually unwatchable.