This review contains some spoilers for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
2012’s The Avengers was a film unlike any other, bringing together six of Marvel’s biggest heroic names (or at least, the names they had the rights to at the time) for a superhuman melee the likes of which had been never attempted before on film. The after result was a smash hit for Marvel Studios, as Avengers broke record after record. Naturally, with a success on their hands, a sequel was in the cards. Three years later, that sequel has arrived in the form of Avengers: Age of Ultron, a film that’s bigger, badder, and certainly louder than its predecessor. Writer/director Joss Whedon returns again for his last dip into the Avengers’ world, and he certainly does go out with a bang.
Right away, the film makes its intentions known by opening with a frenetic action sequence featuring the title heroes putting the hurt on Hydra in an attempt to recover Loki’s sceptre. The first Avengers film had a climax which featured a remarkable one-take shot panning across the team taking down aliens invading New York City. In Age of Ultron, that’s topped within the first few minutes as we’re taken thru a scene of the Avengers tearing apart Hydra forces. Much later on, the action rises significantly when Iron Man (the ever-enigmatic Robert Downey Jr.) has to keep the Hulk – turned loose onto Johannesburg by the mind-altering magic of the Scarlet Witch – under control. To accomplish this, Tony Stark calls in the heavy artillery in the form of the much-anticipated Hulkbuster armor (referred to within the film itself as “Veronica”), setting the stage for a satisfying slugfest between two gargantuan monsters (albeit with one just in a suit of armor).
The “family” dynamic between the heroes is also in full-display as the Avengers partake in humorous banter throughout the film, even when combating evil. In fact, the aforementioned opening action gives way for one of the funnier recurring gags in the film, when Captain America’s (Chris Evans, who once again is just about perfect as Cap) admonishing of Stark uttering a profanity leads to some good-natured ribbing from his allies during the course of the film. It’s none more evident during the party scene inside the Avengers Tower, where they celebrate a seeming job well done with much gusto. Here, we also get some cameos from MCU supporting stars like Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/The Falcon and Don Cheadle as James Rhodes, reminding us that yes, it’s all connected. At the centre of this party sequence is a bit where the team all try their hand at lifting Thor’s hammer, with the expected amount of success. Naturally, the partying comes to an abrupt end when the true threat of the film shows his robotic self.
The threat the Avengers face again this time around is the subtitular Ultron (James Spader), a Stark-created artificial intelligence meant to help protect the peace gone horrifyingly wrong. How wrong? For starters, Ultron wants to achieve his peacekeeping objective by annihilating humanity. Spader is clearly having a ball giving sentience to a homicidal robot with quite the wit on him (no doubt inherited from Ultron’s “father” in Stark) thru both voice and motion-capture. Also rearing his ugly head in a brief capacity is Ulysses Klaue (motion-capture maven Andy Serkis in a rare on-screen role) appearing in a scene that pretty much serves as a warm-up for Black Panther, another one of Marvel Studios’ films lined up for Phase Three of its expansive universe.
That being said, the film does quite a bit to set the stage for Phase Three, aside from Klaue’s cameo. We get hints of tension from Cap and Iron Man, no doubt functioning as a quasi-prelude to Captain America: Civil War. Thor’s subplot spinning out of the action in Africa conceivable serves as foreshadowing for his film series’ own sequel, Thor: Ragnarok. And of course, the mid-credits tag scene prepares audiences for what’s to come in Phase Three.
If there’s one thing that’s the biggest strength of Age of Ultron, it’s the fact that the bulk of the film’s action setpieces aren’t just our heroes hurtling from one robotic threat to another, they all go out of their way to emphasize the third word in the Avengers’ famed nickname, “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. Yes, they’re gods, super-soldiers, armored billionaires, and gamma-irradiated green monsters, but they’re still the heroes that people look up to. So it’s nice to see scenes of Avengers rescuing civilians and/or getting them out of harm’s way from their melees with Ultron and his seemingly endless metallic legions. Battles in superhero films tend to bring mass destruction with reckless abandon, but Whedon goes out of his way to never forget that a superhero should be saving lives on top of fighting off bad guys, even emphasizing a few civilians along the way.
After spending most of the first Avengers film as a brainwashed pawn of Loki up until it came time for the team to truly assemble, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) finally gets a chance to shine in Age of Ultron, likely becoming an instant fan-favorite. His backstory, while surprising, ends up helping the film move forward, giving the superpowered action a much-needed air of levity and humanity to it.
And then you get the new blood stealing the show. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen both make their MCU debuts as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, respectively, first as sympathetic villains working with Ultron, and then inevitably making their face turns when things really get serious. Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver in particular is a real standout between the two, as his powers and confident arrogance are in full display. On top of the twins, there’s Paul Bettany – originally only serving as the voice of Iron Man’s snarky AI JARVIS – getting a big on-screen role as the Vision, a synthetic android originally meant to be a body for Ultron but turned to an ally of the Avengers by Thor. That said, Vision not only engages Ultron in physical battle, but also in a war of minds, which is a logical conclusion for his character arc given Vision’s “connections” to Ultron.
As fun as things can get, it’s not without its problems. One notable misstep is the inexplicable Black Widow/Hulk romantic relationship that makes up the bulk of the interactions between the two. Certainly, their troubled backstories might seem like it’s enough to “pair” the two together, but there isn’t nearly enough to suggest that the two become an item of sorts. That’s not to say that there is no problem with the two characters in question being platonic friends, which is possibly the better course of action in terms of this subplot. There is also a small issue present with Stark apparently retiring at the end of Iron Man 3, and then seen readily suiting up as an Avenger here, however that’s not to any big detriment. The same can’t be said for how the film feels slightly choppy in its editing at times, with instances where scenes feel like it could be expanded upon if an additional scene was attached to it.
While it’s true that Avengers: Age of Ultron is a film with flaws ever present, but they do not become a detriment to the film’s overall enjoyment factor. It’s definitely a hell of a final hurrah for Whedon, who now leaves the Avengers franchise in the capable hands of Joseph and Anthony Russo. Ultimately, this is a film firmly planted in its goal to entertain legions of movie goers and comic fans, and it definitely accomplishes that goal in short order.
Grade: 9.0/10
Notes & Quotes
- Trailer Roll-Call for my screening: Southpaw (boxing film of no interest to me), Terminator Genisys (the trailer literally spoil’s the film’s big twist), Ant-Man (the Thomas scene had the theatre laughing uproariously), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Breathtaking in 3D).
- Since, yes, I’m the guy who does the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recaps/reviews for FAN, I think I’ll mention the links the show has to the film. The last episode to air before the film’s release in North America (“The Dirty Half-Dozen”) was explicit in its ties to Age of Ultron, with the mysterious Theta Protocol being closely related to the Avengers. It’s expanded upon the following week (“Scars”), with Theta being revealed to be the rebuilding of the No. 64 Helicarrier, which figures into the film’s big climax.
- I found the film’s final scene to be quite funny, but I do see how some might have a slight problem with it.
- Don’t bother staying for the full credits sequence, there’s nothing to see.
- I noted some praise for Hawkeye above, but that does not necessarily mean that I agree with recent off-color remarks about Black Widow made by his actor, Jeremy Renner, during press tours for the film. Clearly, not much thought went into his head, especially since it appears he’s not truly sorry for saying such things.
- “It’s simple, really. You’re all not worthy.”
- “You don’t think I can hold my own?” “Tell you what: After this is done, I’ll hold your own.” “…you had to make it weird, didn’t you?” (Leave it to Tony to make things weird without much effort.)
- “Sorry, already did the mind control thing. Not a fan.”
- “I’m glad you asked that (re: Vibranium), because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan…” (Even killer deathbots can throw witticisms like the best of them)
- “And for gosh’s sake, watch your language!” “That’s not gonna go away for a while…” (