PLOT: Tony Stark’s experiment goes awry, creating a supreme being of artificial intelligence, who wrecks havoc upon the world. The original cast of the Avengers, along with some new heroes, re-emerge to confront the threat.
REVIEW: Avengers: Age of Ultron is a worthy “by the book” sequel to it’s inspired predecessor, The Avengers. The film stays safely within the formula established by the original, enriches the characters, and plays in a much larger sandbox of superheroes.
Let’s get some of the negatives out of the way first.
Ultron is a far less interesting, far weaker threat than Loki and the alien invasion the team had to face in the original. While we are promised a being who can “escape into the Internet,” who can change forms, and get stronger with each transformation, ultimately, he is just a “big boss” at the end of a level of a video game.
The Avengers don’t really come up with any sort of witty way to confront this all-powerful being. Instead, they simply pound and pound and pound until he is defeated.
The problem this time out is that it feels like the characters aren’t challenged enough. They seem bored. It’s all very routine to them. When Ultron is born, and his threat is established, you don’t sense any real concern from the heroes. To them, it isn’t a matter of “how” they are going to destroy him, it’s “when.” Ultron is simply an annoyance to them.
The first film felt like it took every last ounce of strength of every member of the team to survive, with Tony Stark daringly sacrificing his life and almost not making it. They were exhausted, wounded. Stark was left battle-scarred, enough so that it affected his psyche going into Iron Man 3.
In Age of Ultron, there was hardly a bruise or a scratch on the characters, and when it seemed like the odds may have started to stack against them, fortunately they have an entire secondary level of reinforcement superheroes who can conveniently show up and help things out.
Nick Fury resurrecting a flying aircraft carrier in the climactic battle didn’t feel like a surprise, it was an inevitability.
Scarlet Witch choosing to become an Avenger and using her scarlet powers to destroy waves of robots was obvious.
Herein lies a dilemma for the Avengers moving forward.
I would imagine there was a whole lot of Scarlet Witch backstory cut out of this film. The hardcore fans probably already knew what her powers were, what she was capable of. On screen, however, her powers feel very “WB,” they look like something you’d find in Once Upon a Time. As soon as our heroes start to use cool-looking unexplained CGI-animated powers, all of a sudden their ability to save the world seems that much easier.
The brilliance of the first Avengers movie was that it gave each hero a challenge on their level. It wouldn’t have been fair to put Hawkeye against Loki. But Thor, for all of his godlike powers, seemed much more mortal and vulnerable when he was up against Loki.
And while Captain America and Black Widow were busy taking care of minions on the ground, Hulk had massive mechanical flying monsters to contend with in the original.
Here, it felt like Hulk ultimately just didn’t have that much to “smash.”
All of this said, there’s still greatness in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
When I think of this as a movie told from Hawkeye’s perspective, I simply love it. He is the surprising heart of the film. He lends a vulnerability, a humanity to the film that is a huge contrast from the gods and their powers. Here, from his point of view, even Tony Stark is in the category of “God” and seems far more detached and less approachable when we see just how endearing Hawkeye is.
What makes his character resonate is his being caught between the A-level of Avengers, i.e. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, and Black Widow, and the B-level heroes, i.e. War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, etc. For all intents and purposes, Hawkeye should be B-level, and yet there he is, not only fighting alongside the Gods, up against what is really at stake.
One of the best scenes in the movie is the quietest scene, at Hawkeye’s “safe house” farm where we get to meet his wife and kids. Here, he questions his purpose for even being a part of the team, and yet he also feels responsible for them, that he does have a voice, and influence, to help them along the way.
Where I unfairly misjudged Hawkeye as B-level after watching the original film, now he has become one of my favorite characters, because of his humanity, his vulnerability, and what he has to lose.
I can’t understand the backlash against the Black Widow-Hulk arc. Does her falling for Bruce Banner really make her a weaker character? If anything, Black Widow is asked to be an even stronger character than in the first, because of her feelings. In the first movie, she can hide behind her stoic demeanor and her cold heart. She is incapable of letting anyone in.
But in Ultron, she does care, for Banner, and therefore the stakes are much higher for her. The relationship developing between Banner and Black Widow absolutely works.
The greatest aspect of Avengers: Age of Ultron is it’s regard for human life. As a clear reaction to the fan backlash of Man of Steel, where an entire city is leveled to rubble, with a presumption of a heavy loss of life, Age of Ultron goes out of its way to save the innocent victims caught up in this war of the gods.
That really was one of the biggest problems with Man of Steel. Superman was so selfishly caught up in his own drama that he never stopped to save anyone. I think he saved a helicopter pilot, but moments later, the helicopter itself comes crashing down, so even that was pointless.
In the climactic scene of Ultron, when an entire city is about to be destroyed, the heroes go out of their way to make the saving of the humans a first priority, not last. We see several moments of Avengers working together to rescue victims before taking on the big boss.
It shows that once again, the Marvel Universe completely gets it.
This is not a film that attempts to push any boundaries.
The special effects are awesome, but not revolutionary.
The character arcs are refreshing, but not polarizing.
This is not the dark “Temple of Doom” of the Avengers saga.
But there’s a whole lot of entertainment, a whole lot of fun, and a whole lot to enjoy.
It’s what a summer superhero movie should be.
It’s what works.
Grade: B