Avengers: Age of Ultron

            It's kind of hard to imagine that it was just three years ago that The Avengers film came out and essentially redefined the way summer blockbusters and franchises are made.  With the success of both Phase One and Phase Two of the MCU, just about every major franchise out there is following its example, be it Fox planning on having half a dozen X-Men films released over the next few years, Star Wars releasing two standalone film alongside a new trilogy, Warner Brothers rushing together their own D.C. Cinematic Universe, or the Transformers films putting together their own expanded universe.  In fact the success of these things will probably have changed the way summer blockbusters are made for all time.  I, for one, have never been entirely onboard with the whole thing.  I love the idea of a film franchise having its own expanded universe the way comics or books do, but I find that the serialization of said films can lead to the individual films being slightly unsatisfying experiences in of themselves, often feeling like the "real" action or the "real" big event will be in the next installment.  This, thankfully, isn’t always the case, with films like X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy feeling like satisfying experiences in of themselves, where seeing all other installments of their universes enhances the experience as opposed to being required viewing.  Unfortunately today’s subject is not one of these cases.

            Taking place after The Winter Solider, the film opens with The Avengers taking on one of Hydra’s last remaining major strongholds in Eastern Europe.  Upon completion of said task, Stark finds Loki’s scepter from the previous Avengers film and, upon examining it further, discovers within the secret to the creation of artificial intelligence.  With the help of Bruce Banner, he creates the artificial intelligence, Ultron, with the intent of using him as a peace keeping method to protect the world from future alien threats.  Unfortunately, Ultron immediately goes insane and comes to the conclusion that the only path to peace is humanity’s extinction, leading The Avengers on a worldwide chase as the robot can literally transfer himself anyplace where there is internet access.

            This unfortunately is the film’s main downside.  If you were to watch any of the trailers or clips that have been all over the internet, it’s not hard to know exactly where this whole thing is going.  You know off the bat what Ultron is going to do, that there is going to be a midway point where The Avengers have to take a break from fighting in order to mentally recuperate from a failed battle, that there will be a few big heel turns towards the end of the second act, followed by a big, world stakes climax that has The Avengers once again fighting an army of faceless minions and a few teases for the upcoming Infinity War thrown in, and there is ultimately the problem.  Like its predecessor, it feels as if treading water; just here for the sake passing time and building more universe lore so Infinity War will make sense when everything comes into play and keeping us occupied while reserving the more serious character developments for Captain America and Iron Man in the upcoming Civil War film.  Unfortunately, while these universe building bits are interesting, it doesn’t provide enough substance to get us through the by the numbers plot.  It isn’t what I would call poorly written but it does lack the same universe redefining twists that were thrown at us in The Winter Soldier or the sheer quirkiness that made Guardians of the Galaxy so fun to watch.

             Luckily where the film lack in the plot department, it makes up for in the character department, for the most part.  Even though his ultimate goal is the same as every other killer AI in movie history and his design reminds me a bit too much of Megaton’s from the Transformers films, Ultron himself is a menacing foe played fantastically by James Spader.  If there is one major problem with the MCU, it’s the district lack of complex villains, with most simply ending up being evil for the sake of power, greed, or a need to destroy the universe/world for some unclear reason and while Ultron doesn’t entirely escape this trapping he does manage to elevate above most of his fellow MCU villains by having clear reasoning behind his motivations and genuinely believing that his path is the right one.  The same can also be said for Scarlet Witch and Quick Silver, played memorably by Elizabeth Olson and blandly by Arron Taylor-Johnson.  Comparisons will inevitably come up between the MCU’s version of these characters and X-Men’s but this film gives very clear motivations for both of the characters and their reasoning for initially working with Ultron, having a very understandable beef with Iron Man.

            Many other supporting cast members also have a fair amount of development, unseen in previous films.  This is the first time we really get to know Hawkeye outside of “the guy who shoots arrows” and come to understand a lot more about his relationship with Black Widow.  Black Widow likewise has more time devoted to her, explaining a bit more of her backstory, as well as developing a romantic relationship with Bruce Banner that has a satisfying if heartbreaking payoff.  Mark Ruffalo is once again perfect in the role of Banner, playing a man who is genuinely afraid of the monster that is within him and worries what it may do to others. 

            The main downside, however, are the three big characters.  Outside of a few verbal arguments between Iron Man and Captain America that were clearly meant as set up for Civil War, Tony, Steve, and Thor don’t get nearly as much development as the other characters, clearly saving this for future installments.  As a result, it almost feels as if the three of them are their just for the sake of building up for future installments of their own respective films.

            I would be lying, however, if I didn’t say that the film was fun, and this is due once again, to its fantastic sense of humor, outstanding action scenes and special effects.  Even though it is a little hard to get past the fact that once again the Avengers are once again facing off against an army of faceless villains, it is a sheer joy to watch them destroy all of these mechanical monsters in such creative ways, with cleaver one-liners carefully inserted throughout, with a climax that feels like an obvious giant middle finger to Man of Steel’s city destroying, high collateral damage climax and I’m always up for any kind of ripping on that film.  There are also a few scenes where the heroes are forced to fight one another, most notably when Iron Man has to fight the Hulk in the Hulkbuster armor, in an action sequence that’s all at once fun, funny, dramatic and suspenseful, and, unlike its predecessor, actually justifies its own existence.

            In the end Avengers: Age of Ultron does some things right and something’s wrong.  It’s not any kind of masterpiece or universe redefining installment but it is a decent entry to the MCU, a must see for Marvel fans and at the very least a pretty good way to spend a weekend afternoon/evening.  Even if it is obviously just treading water until Civil War and Infinity War come out, I say it’s worth a shot.

All Around

7/10

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