Avengers: Age of Ultron
Grade: A-
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett
Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron
Taylor-Johnson and Paul Bettany, with James Spader as the voice of Ultron,
Featuring Appearances By: Samuel L.
Jackson, Don Cheadle, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Idris Elba, Stellan
Skarsgaard and Hayley Atwell,
And With Claudia
Kim as Dr. Helen Cho, Thomas Kretschmann as Strucker, Andy Serkis as Ulysses
Klaue, and Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton
Premise: A peacekeeping artificial intelligence program
backfires, creating the destructive mutant robot Ultron, who declares war on
the Avengers and all of humanity, immediately setting his sights on
exterminating the world’s population.
Rated PG-13 for constant intense action violence and
destruction, language, a few scary moments, some blood, and mild innuendos
I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Avengers movie. Oh, I saw in theaters, bought it on DVD once it
came out, and it’s now one of my go-to movies whenever I want to watch
something entertaining that doesn’t require a whole lot of thinking, but it
never blew me away as it did many of my peers. Is it because I didn’t grow up
reading comics and thinking about superheroes? Is it because I’m a little
cynical because I know a lot about movies, and wish there was more
originality and imagination in Hollywood ?
Is it because Avengers—tying together
four separate superhero franchises—just screamed “cash-grab”? Or was it
because, while I admired the main cast and the cool characters they were
playing, I didn’t think they were matched up with a worthy villain (love Tom
Hiddleston as Loki, but he wasn’t intimidating, and hardly seemed a match for any of the Avengers, let alone all of
them)?
Happily, I had the exact opposite reaction to that 2012
blockbuster’s first (official) sequel, Avengers:
Age of Ultron, which was written and directed by the helmer of the first
movie, Joss Whedon. Like its predecessor, Age
of Ultron is a Huge movie, but, unlike its predecessor, it wowed me from
the start. Maybe it’s because it’s a little darker and grittier. Maybe it’s
because it was a sequel—allowed to expand creatively in terms of character, plot
and vision now that its more cookie-cutter predecessor locked in the fans.
Maybe it’s because it’s more fun to watch a movie about people arguing,
bantering, interacting and going on adventures when they all have extraordinary
abilities than it is to watch a movie about regular people arguing, bantering,
interacting and going on adventures. Maybe it’s because it feels like a reunion
of friends—after all, it features at least 14 actors who have previously played their Age of Ultron parts on the big screen, and most of them have done it more than once. Maybe it’s because the special effects are noticeably better this
time around (fan-boys may argue, but I never thought the Loki-led alien race,
the Guitarri—who attacked NYC in the first film’s climactic battle scene—were
very convincing). Or maybe it’s because, this time, our heroes are matched up
against a villain who’s genuinely scary, who makes your skin crawl, who seems
like he could take on all our title
characters at once…and maybe win.
Or, you know, maybe it’s because this is a sequel three years
in the waiting, that has had three sort-of predecessors since 2012 (‘13’s Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, and ‘14’s Captain
America: The Winter Soldier). Each of those three in-between flicks had its
merits—in particular, I loved Winter
Soldier—but each felt at least a little bit lacking because it featured only
one or two of the Avengers, rather then all of them. It’s hard to go back once
you’ve had a taste...
Avengers: Age of
Ultron probably isn’t the best summer blockbuster you’ll ever see, maybe
not even the best superhero movie, and it isn’t really groundbreaking, per se,
but it’s way better than the last
big-budget extravaganza I saw in theaters (the bloated and lame-brained Furious 7), and the next three months’
releases will have a hard time even remotely approaching its level of sheer
spectacle and WOW factor.
Plot
**At least passing
knowledge of who the characters are and what they can do is necessary, unless
you have an absolutely unquestioning ability to suspend your disbelief. At the
very least, I would recommend seeing the previous 2012 Avengers (and probably
2014’s Captain America
At the beginning of the movie, The Avengers—who, initially, number six individuals who have either superpowers
or elite skills—raid a compound run by the old Nazi espionage agency, Hydra.
Their target is Loki’s scepter, a weapon used by the scheming villain in the
previous movie to, among other things, blow things up, hypnotize people into doing
his bidding, and create a portal to another dimension. They recover the
scepter, but encounter a few bumps along the way, including a run-in with the
fabled Twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff—aka Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and the Scarlet Witch
(Elizabeth Olsen)—Russian orphans who have been scientifically engineered to
(in his case) run and move at faster-then-a-speeding-bullet speeds, and (in her
case) use telekinesis, hypnosis, and force fields.
Despite their success in retrieving the scepter, The
Avengers have consented that they can’t be policing the world stopping crimes
forever, and, in fact, like most great heroes, they might endanger innocent
people even more by creating villains who want to rise up to stop them. To
achieve this end—the Avengers’ retirement—the team’s two brainiest members,
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who suits up in action as Iron Man, and Dr.
Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who, when particularly irked, transforms into the
big, green, scary-strong Hulk, have been working on a series of robot sentries
who can police the world in their place. Stark, in particular, is intrigued by
the power Loki’s scepter holds, and seeks to somehow implant its powers into
the machines, making them more lifelike so they can think and act and stop
crimes and enemies on their own. However, this little scheme is very much at
odds with the desires of the de facto leader of the Avengers, Steve Rogers
(Chris Evans), the famed Captain America, whose old-fashioned notions of honor
and duty, and good and evil, lead him to conclude that it’s best to simply stop
the current threat and head back to war if another challenge arises, not to
meddle about in more unpredictable forces. However, Stark’s humanoid computer
program, Jarvis (voice of Paul Bettany), can be used to monitor the developing
intelligence and shut it down if need be. This safeguard in place, Stark, Banner and
Rogers are able to relax a little, even having an enjoyable pow-wow with fellow
Avengers Thor (Chris Hemsworth)--the hammer-wielding demi-god--and highly-trained
assassins Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner) and Natasha
Romanoff (aka Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson), plus several of their
other friends and allies.
However, the new program—which Stark has called
Ultron—glitches almost immediately, far too smart for Stark, Jarvis, or its own
good. In seemingly no time, Ultron is a terrifying, hulking robot
(magnificently voiced by a drawling James Spader), whose connection to
computers gives him access to all kinds of knowledge and abilities. Disgusted
by the idea that he was created, Ultron seeks a way to wipe out the human race,
something he doesn’t disclose to two of his first allies, Quicksilver and the
Scarlet Witch (the Twins, it should be noted, suffered great personal loss as a
result of some of Stark’s heavy weaponry, so they’re happy to suit up with
Ultron against the Avengers). With Ultron growing stronger and smarter by the
minute, and using all of Stark’s backup droids to create more just like
himself, and with the Witch messing with people’s minds and Quicksilver darting
about too quickly to see, things look bleak as the Avengers struggle against
outside forces even more difficult than their own battling egos.
What Doesn’t Work?
Like its predecessor, Age
of Ultron is just shy of two-and-a-half hours long. This length may be
rather necessary in order to give each member of this large main cast a
personality and something to do, and to give the plot a few twists and turns
before a big climax, but the movie does feel a little long, and, at times, a little talky. Also,
although the action here is far more fierce and sinister-feeling than that in the
first Avengers flick, it’s difficult
to shake the feeling that even the coolest action sequences are the tiniest bit
redundant, that all these characters are going to make it no matter how bad
things get, because A) they’re all super-strong, super-quick, equipped with
muscles and armor, etc.., and B) they have more movies to make in the future, so they
can’t die off now. I suppose that comes
with the territory, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more sense of real danger,
and a little more drama.
But these are nitpicks.
What Works?
It’s no secret—the keys to this movie are its cast and their
director. Obviously, Joss Whedon wrote and directed the first film, but it’s
hard to fathom what a task it must be to not just make a movie that has roughly 10
major characters—who all have to have at least one moment—but to put them in a movie that is coherent and enjoyable,
at least as good as their last outing, and, perhaps most importantly, pleasing
to those audience members who know these characters well. This movie is smart, funny, and, even, unexpectedly moving. It takes a few big twists, works
in close to half a dozen sidekicks/supporting players from the characters’
respective individual films, and ups itself in terms of sheer action several
times over.
Whedon is a smart, accomplished man, but it must be said,
his task is certainly made a great deal easier by his cast. Few movies can
boast such a group of actors, and I’m not just talking about the Avengers themselves.
Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Idris Elba, Hayley Atwell
and Stella Skarsgaard make up the
supporting cast in this movie, in roles that range from cameos to small
supporting parts; that group could easily be the eye-catching all-star cast of
any other movie. Of course, the leads—with the exception of newcomers
Taylor-Johnson and Olsen—have all played their parts at least twice on the big
screen (Downey Jr. has five turns as Iron Man under his belt now, and Evans,
Hemsworth and Johansson have all played their parts four times), so Whedon is
blessed in that he could make a sheer, pell-mell action movie with not a smidge
of character development and still probably get away with it, because his
characters are established cinematic and pop culture brands by this point—we
know who they are and what makes them tick. But Whedon is not content to
sleepwalk through this, and nor, it seems, are his actors.
What a group. The first Iron
Man, released in 2008, not only arguably changed the face of superhero
flicks—at least in the Marvel canon—forever, but re-established Robert Downey
Jr. as a bona-fide star after years of on-and-off-screen troubles. He could
probably play this part in his sleep by now, and it's possible he does, but it must be
acknowledged that, when Downey Jr. has writing to match his energy and
snappy wit, he may be the most watchable actor alive (it can be argued that his
best scenes consist of just his face, in the tight shots of him making commentary
while inside his Iron Man suit). Evans’ Steve Rogers isn’t quite as interesting a
character as Tony Stark, but he doesn’t need to be, we know what makes Captain
America tick, and he’s well-established by now—Cap’s last outing, The Winter Soldier, made almost everyone’s
Best Marvel Movies Ever list practically overnight. The actor remains winning
in the role. Hemsworth’s Thor is pushed more into the background this time, but
the movie doesn’t suffer, as Thor is even less
interesting as a character, but dang, we sure do love having him around for
the fight scenes so he can swing that hammer. Jeremy Renner, on the other hand, enjoys a Hawkeye resurgence this time around—having been relegated to the
background in the first movie—being bumped up from just the guy in the group
who uses a bow and arrow to a guy with a family, with cares and fears and a
future. Mark Ruffalo is, of course, the third actor to play Bruce Banner on the
big screen, but this is his second go-round and he might as well not have had any
predecessors—he infuses both vulnerability and shy wit to bring gravitas to the
proceedings, making Banner a real, tragic figure.
And yet, it must be said that, with the possible exception
of Robert Downey Jr., the most invaluable player in this flick is Scarlett
Johansson. While comic book readers obviously knew the Black Widow character,
it was difficult, when the actress first appeared in 2010’s Iron Man 2, to see her appointment as
anything but the addition of some eye candy. But, starting in Avengers and continuing in Winter Soldier, the actress (and the writers) has worked
hard to make Black Widow not a femme fatale or a pretty face but an aching,
lonely soul who struggles to maintain an identity behind all the kicks and
punches and bullets. Black Widow is here given a
flirtation-bordering-on-serious-romance with Bruce Banner, which allows
Johansson to play the flirt, the tough girl, and, for a few brief moments, a
starry-eyed lady in love, and it is a beautiful thing (the two share one scene of deep revelations that is almost too powerful and moving for a
movie like this; it seems something out an indie tearjerker at a film festival).
The newcomers to the cast have a tough job, making lasting
impressions as both actors and characters alongside more proven, well-known,
decorated cast members. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (best known for playing another,
more lowbrow superhero, Kick-Ass) has
an especially tough job because his character, Quicksilver, was played by another actor
just last year, in X-Men: Days of Future
Past. Even worse, Evan Peters all but stole that movie with his brief but
memorable stint as the quickster. Taylor-Johnson gets some witty writing of his
own, though, and makes the character notably different by infusing a convincing
regional accent. Fun fact—Elizabeth Olsen played Taylor-Johnson’s wife in last
year’s Godzilla, here, she’s playing
his sister. As the Scarlet Witch, Olsen’s character’s powers make more of an
impression than the actress does, but she shows enough promise to make a
greater impression in potential (and almost guaranteed) installments.
Finally—last and certainly not least—Age of Ultron is given a great amount of its grit, depth, dread
factor, and sheer coolness, by James Spader, who provides the ultra-malevolent
voice of the robot Ultron. That voice became a pop-culture touchstone just from
the movie’s trailers (who didn’t get
goosebumps from his super-creepy take on the classic Pinocchio “there are no strings on me” line?). His drawling yet
sharp line readings—often brimming with barely-suppressed rage—coupled with
Whedon’s writing, make Ultron, with his plan of human annihilation, less a braying
madman bent on world domination (like a generic Bond villain) and more
of a scary nihilist like Heath Ledger’s Joker. His character’s grandeur is
greatly-enhanced by the amount of references he makes to the Bible and God (indeed, the
writing is interesting, given Whedon’s status as an avowed atheist; Ultron’s
lines include “upon this rock, I will build my church” and “every now and then,
God throws a stone, and believe me, He’s winding up”). It’s thrilling work.
Content
A great amount of the 141-minute run-time is devoted to
things going boom, or at least getting bashed around a little bit, and, as
mentioned, the villain’s a little scary (“scream, and your whole staff dies”, he
snarls to a scientist at one point), and the action’s a little darker and
heavier. Some innocent bystanders get banged around a little bit, and there are
some shots of bloody wounds. The Witch also tends to hypnotize people into
dreamlike trances in which they see visions of devastation and despair. And
there a handful of cusswords, something Captain America apparently doesn’t approve of (“language!” he unexpectedly barks at Tony
Stark at one point). This movie has a lot of action and drama, but it’s not
really anything worse than your average Marvel movie…except for that intense
villain.
Bottom Line (I
Promise)
It took a while—and repeat viewings—to make me a believer in
the first Avengers movie. Age of Ultron made a believer out of me
right away. It’s not perfect, but it sets a remarkably high standard for the
summer movies of 2015; I rather doubt any of them can quite reach it. It’s a
little long, but that’s because it’s so locked and loaded, chock-full of
dynamic characters, jaw-dropping action (the Hulk vs the Hulk-buster, omg!) and
even legitimately good writing, featuring the kind of stuff you usually don’t
see in a blockbuster. The characters matter, they’re developed, they might even
bring a tear to your eye (no, seriously—that one part…), and, of course, you
cheer for them nonstop. It’ll be hard to pick your favorite character, or your
favorite part, and it’ll make you want to see the next one right away.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
Based on the comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Rated PG-13
Length: 141 minutes
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