The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon (Based on The Avengers created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
141 Mins. - PG-13
There’s a really nice scene early on in The Avengers: Age of Ultron where, celebrating a job well done at a party, the movie pauses before the inciting incident to watch these characters hang out. There’s something about it that feels natural, like they just turned the cameras on and let them loose. It’s an important sign of how entertaining these movies are that these characters are as fun to watch shooting the breeze as they are shooting arrows, bullets and energy beams. In a way it could be Marvel doing a meta celebration of all of the success these films have had for almost a decade now. While we’re waiting for and dreading the inevitable clunker, it hasn’t happened yet. Age of Ultron continues that hot streak, even if it is a little clunkier than the 2012 megahit.
The convoluted plot this time around involves The Avengers reclaiming Loki’s scepter from HYDRA, who has used it to give totally non-mutated superpowers to twins Pietro and Wanda (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen respectively). Once it’s found Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) use its power to complete Stark’s ambitious Ultron program, which seeks to create lasting peace. However, what they consider a peace keeping operation Ultron (played perfectly by James Spader) interprets as eliminating the human race. Ultron goes rogue, enlisting the twins (who blame Tony Stark for killing their parents, one of whom is totally not Magneto) to help tear the team apart. On top of that, there’s a love story between Banner and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) actually gets some stuff to do!
The problem with this film, as it is a pivotal part of the Marvel mega franchise, is that it is overstuffed from having to serve so many other Marvel movies past and upcoming. Almost every major player from the first one is back, plus they have four new characters to add and several characters from the subfranchises make appearances. Joss Whedon had to cram a season of TV’s worth of plot into a 141 minute film. It’s no wonder they’re splitting the next one into two parts. As a result of the overstuffing, some of the plot progression is a little murky (nitpickers are going to have a feeding frenzy with this one). While comic fans will certainly get a kick of seeing this many characters on the big screen at the same time, it’s nearly impossible to service them all and have certain emotional moments resonate. This is the first Marvel film that shouldn’t be a potential starting point for new viewers.
That’s not say it sinks the film, though it serves as a warning for anyone attempting to replicate something like this (we’re looking at you, DC). Whedon’s script is brimming with clever dialogue and sharp characterization. Even if the road from point A to point B got a little fuzzy, point B was a blast. Spader’s Ultron is easily the best Marvel villain since Loki, portraying the AI as a supervillain who is still a little clueless how to operate. The set pieces continue to impress, from the Iron Man/Hulk fight to the final battle, and those who complained about the slow start of the original should be happy about the opening sequence.
Although the film is hindered by having to cram so many elements into the final product, Whedon and company made another fun piece of summer popcorn. That overstuffing could be problematic for the Russo brothers, who will take over for the Infinity War two-parter. Whedon’s wit and sense of fun buoyed the more problematic parts of this film, but eventually trying to fit in this much into a movie is going to lead to a big disappointment. Not that I’m rooting for that: even with my qualms, Age of Ultron is good fun and I want to see this party keep on going.
Grade: B
Notes:
· Another note to DC: see how Marvel handles dealing with civilians caught in the crossfire. Even in the chaotic battle scenes, they will still make sure to have the heroes save a couple of civilians.
· While I thought Aaron Taylor-Johnson was good, Evan Peters definitely wins the Quicksilver-off. Peters walked away with that film’s best scene.
· “Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep.”
· “Language!”
· Actor most underserved: Elizabeth Olsen. I keep waiting for her to get the mainstream breakout she deserves.
SPOILERS
· It’s a good thing Hawkeye wasn’t killed off because that would’ve been the most telegraphed death scene in recent memory. It also makes sense for Quicksilver to die to avoid too much confusion between the MCU and X-Men franchises. Hopefully there isn’t a resurrection. Nothing against Taylor-Johnson (Godzilla aside), Marvel needs some people to stay dead.
· The Vision (Paul Bettany), while cool, arrives way too late in the film. They could’ve split these up and have a movie about Ultron and one where The Vision gets his due.
· That mid-credits scene could’ve been a bit longer, maybe helped set up what was going to happen. They keep teasing Thanos; let’s see a little more of him.
