Marvel/Disney
Let’s face it. There isn’t anything I, or any other critic, could say to dissuade people from seeing Avengers: Age of Ultron. Not that I want to, mind you. I enjoyed it very much … just not a much as the first one.
Let’s get the story, as it is, out of the way. If you remember the tease from the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we see Baron Strucker with Loki’s scepter and other alien tech, and two prison cells holding “the twins.” Age of Ultron picks up right from there as the Avengers converge on Strucker’s lair to retrieve the scepter. They get an unpleasant surprise when the twins are unleashed on them, getting knocked about by the young man (Quicksilver, but never called that in the movie) and having their minds warped by his sister (Scarlet Witch, again not called that in the movie). The group makes their escape with the scepter, then Stark and Banner are seen working on unlocking its secrets in order to create a new form of artificial intelligence that can protect the world.
They leave JARVIS in charge, but something goes terribly wrong as the scepter’s power strengthens and unleashes the artificial intelligence, Ultron, upon an unsuspecting world. Ultron is making it his mission to protect the world, but not in the way Stark had anticipated. Ultron sees the Avengers as violent criminals starting wars to have something to do, and the rest of humankind unworthy to live in his world. The solution for Ultron to protect the planet is to kill the Avengers and cause a massive extinction event, leaving the world to him and his own metallic creations. And to help him in his mission, he enlists the aid of the twins, Pietro and Wanda, because they have their own grudge to settle with Stark.
If you’re looking for a movie full of action, look no further. tweet
If you’re looking for a movie full of action, look no further than Avengers: Age of Ultron. The battles start from the very first frame and rarely let up. There are some nice character developing moments, though, for Natasha and Bruce as their relationship deepens, and we also get a nice peek inside the life of Barton/Hawkeye. Banner/Hulk ends up being the most sympathetic character as he struggles with trying not to turn green and wondering how he could ever live as a normal human being with a girlfriend. When Wanda messes with his mind and he goes berserk in the city early on (with Stark in his Hulkbuster armor), Bruce fears that people are seeing the real Hulk and that scares him. The scenes between Mark Ruffalo and Scarlet Johansson carry some real weight to them.
But then it’s back to the action before things start to lag too much, and sometimes you just have to sit there and contemplate how on earth Joss Whedon pulled off some of these scenes (answer: with a lot of help from the armies of SPFX people). Of course, each battle with Ultron and his minions escalates until the climactic one with heroes and flying robots all over the place. It’s exciting but it’s also almost too much of a copy of the Battle of New York to be all that satisfying. I do have to say that Ultron’s solution for an extinction event is a clever one since he can’t gain access to the nuclear codes which are always changing. There’s ultimately a lot of flash, and the humor you’d expect, as well as some nifty cameos from characters from previous movies, but I just wish the plot didn’t feel so by-the-numbers. I just wanted more from the story, not necessarily more pyrotechnics.
Marvel/Disney
The film’s major asset is James Spader voicing Ultron in only that way James Spader can (he also performed the character for the motion capture effects team). Spader just has a great voice and a great way of delivering a line, whether it be menacing or a snide quip. I also enjoyed seeing JARVIS given a physical presence as Vision, so we finally get to see Paul Bettany instead of just hearing him. The twins, however, are another matter altogether. They seem to just be a “Convenient Plot Device” rather than an organic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Part of this could be attributed to the fact that 20th Century Fox actually controls the characters (Quicksilver was seen in the last X-Men movie with Evan Peters in the role) and the term “mutants,” so adding them to the story probably involved a lot of headaches. (Not to mention they are the children of Magneto, so for Avengers they are just referred to as “miracles.”) One wonders if Whedon could have drawn on some other characters instead of giving this pair short-shrift. The biggest problem I have with them is the Boris and Natasha accents used by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. That was more distracting than realizing the two also played husband and wife in Godzilla!
There is another “Convenient Plot Device” involving Thor and a pool of water that just seems thrown in to help make sense of things. My other huge problem with the movie is Chris Evans’ wig. It’s bothered me in the Captain America movies and it bothers me even more this time around. Please! Marvel, you certainly must have enough money now to have someone make Evans a decent wig that doesn’t look like something from Party City.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is a big, loud, summer popcorn movie. tweet
That being said, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a big, loud, summer popcorn movie that succeeds completely in what it’s set out to do. It’s not quite as good or original as the first Avengers movie (which I summed up as the best superhero movie ever made, at that point in time), but it gets the job done and nicely sows some seeds for what is to come in Phase III, especially where the Infinity Stones are concerned. Do take note: there is a mid-credit tease coming after the main cast credits, so sit tight. After that, unless you’re one of the thousands of SPFX folks who worked on the film and you’re eager to see your name, there is no need to sit through to the end. Bucking the trend of past Marvel movies, there is no post-credit tease.
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