After retrieving Loki's sceptre from the remnants of neo-Nazi organization Hydra, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is shown a vision that drives him to build an artificial intelligence with the intention of having it keep the peace so the Avengers don't have to. However, this project malfunctions, and soon the Avengers face a greater threat than ever. A lot of emphasis needs to be placed on the "greater threat than ever" part, because this is possibly the darkest Marvel feature to date. At times this makes for a more interesting story, but Age of Ultron's myriad plot threads prevent the more serious tone to actually make as much of an impact as it should, and worse, it brings down scenes that should be a lot more enjoyable than they are. It's still not as bleak as DC's 2013 effort Man of Steel, but by the end the tone is more grim than anything Marvel has done up to this point.
Before we go further with this, though, I should clarify that even though this review will be more than a little critical of the film, Age of Ultron is still highly entertaining. Whedon's trademark snappy dialogue is complemented by the excellent character work of the original Avengers, and at this point they're almost equally matched in acting prowess. The relationship between each of these original seven characters is clearly very well thought-out, especially for comedic purposes. This was a strength of the original Avengers as well, but at that point Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton and Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff were still newcomers. If you're wondering why I make a point of referring to the characters by their real names as opposed to their pseudonyms, it's because the movie thrives on humanizing its superheroic protagonists, just as the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe does. These characters aren't just symbols to clash against the baddie of the day, and that's what sets the MCU apart.
Age of Ultron's budget is larger than ever, and it shows on the screen-for better and for worse. As usual, the visual effects are top-notch, with the world's best CGI and maybe even some practical effects thrown in for good measure. The sheer quality of the visual work is enough to keep the film from appearing soulless despite its clear CGI overdose, However, having so many resources doesn't happen in a vacuum. At this point, the MCU is a humongous franchise that currently has films planned all the way up the end of the decade. This bloat manifests itself clearly in the Avengers sequel: Where the first film was the culmination of the cinematic universe up to that point, the second film is more of a starting point, introducing three new heroes and a lot of new ideas. While this doesn't detract from the film's enjoyability, it's bloated in other ways that do.
With twelve characters being in focus over the course of the film, Age of Ultron is ultimately a juggling act. Unfortunately, 2.5 hours just isn't enough space to cover everything... which is why these characters get their own films. Even ignoring that, not all the character subplots actually matter. Thor's and Tony's wind up driving the main plot, but Steve's, Natasha's, and Bruce's barely matter at all. Then there's the new characters, who are so quickly established that the emotional scenes have considerably lessened effect. That's actually true of all the more serious scenes in the film, many of which would be considerably more powerful if they were given time to themselves and didn't have to share space with each other. Instead, trying to care about every single little thing that's going on proves exhausting, and combined with the dark tone runs contrary to the light-hearted monster-bashing goodness of the first film. This is especially disappointing because part of what made The Avengers so great was its sense of synergy, with all seven heroes plus Nick Fury juggled expertly by Whedon's deft hand. Now, however, there's just too much for him to handle.
What doesn't run contrary to the first film is the formula, which has finally begun to sag under its own weight. Age of Ultron is a film of few surprises, generally resting in a zone between "generally safe" and "completely predictable". There's no subversions of expectation to speak of, and while there's one or two scenes that still come as a shock, they're nothing mind-blowing. The thing is, it didn't have to be this way. Last year's excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy were both fresh enough to inspire hope in the universe, and until now we had every reason to believe that Age of Ultron would be the same. Instead, what few unique twists the film has are telegraphed a mile away. Worse still, the structure is eerily reminiscent of the first Avengers, not only including Loki's sceptre as a plot device but also having an obviously temporary lapse in trust between the heroes and culminating in a big final battle. It's not the same movie, but it is strictly formula.
The action scenes are also more immense than ever, though this time it's mostly for the worse. While there's an increased sense of scale, the film's attempts to follow multiple characters often result in the camera refusing to sit still, which while easy to ignore at best is incredibly distracting at worst, especially in 3D. In addition, it seems Marvel has finally begun to succumb to some of the worst excesses of blockbuster filmmaking, because the amount of property damage on display is staggering. The heroes are to blame for some of it, but even when they're not, it's so intense as to change more than one scene's tone from exciting to mortifying. The aforementioned final battle is a grim, gloomy, pessimistic affair, which undercuts the fun of it significantly, but in the end it's still intermittently enjoyable.
The best scenes of Age of Ultron are scenes which revolve around banter. Dialogue is what Whedon does best, and as always there's plenty of witty, memorable lines from our heroes. There's a fair number of scenes revolving around this, but the extent to which the dialogue and characters are the best parts of the movie shows Whedon's general lack of skill as a film director as opposed to as a television director. In fact, Age of Ultron is so heavily rooted in its own franchise that it seems the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more akin to a television series than to a major film franchise. There's a lot here that's based on stuff established in previous films, and it's ultimately to Ultron's detriment, as new viewers won't get the significance of a few lines... if there's anyone on earth that wants to see this film but hasn't watched at least some marvel films.
The villain this time around is the titular Ultron, voiced by James Spader in a fantastic performance that gives him less and less to work with as the film goes on. Ultron starts off as a confused, interesting character, but then settles on a rote "evolving humanity" narrative that's served as the motivation for villains countless times before. It's hard to overstate how bland and boring Ultron is as an antagonist, which is especially disappointing because unlike the dark elves of Thor: The Dark World, Ultron actually started off with potential to be interesting before he became a generic world destroyer. Even then, there are some ideas that will probably become interesting later on, so it's not a total loss.
All of Age of Ultron's faults can be tied back to the same source: An emphasis on quantity over quality. There's certainly more movie here than in The Avengers, but it's inferior in just about every way. As the first movie to exhibit this, it's definitely not a trend yet-the rest of the second Marvel wave might have kept topping itself, but it usually stayed fresh, Thor aside. However, unless someone realizes where this film went wrong and reverses the tide, things could get ugly. Thankfully, all the smaller character movies have the potential to be much less overstuffed than this behemoth of a team-up, but if the Avengers branding on Doritos bags is any indication, the milking of this cash cow is well underway.
Again, that's not to say Age of Ultron is a bad movie. It's a disappointment, sure, and it comes just short of a full recommendation, but it's still hugely entertaining and retains the humanity, wit, spectacle and memorable moments that the franchise is famous for-even if the first of those is starting to peel away. Perhaps it's because of heightened expectations after the 2014 films, but for Ultron, "pretty good" isn't quite enough. Still, it is pretty good.
7/10
The villain this time around is the titular Ultron, voiced by James Spader in a fantastic performance that gives him less and less to work with as the film goes on. Ultron starts off as a confused, interesting character, but then settles on a rote "evolving humanity" narrative that's served as the motivation for villains countless times before. It's hard to overstate how bland and boring Ultron is as an antagonist, which is especially disappointing because unlike the dark elves of Thor: The Dark World, Ultron actually started off with potential to be interesting before he became a generic world destroyer. Even then, there are some ideas that will probably become interesting later on, so it's not a total loss.
All of Age of Ultron's faults can be tied back to the same source: An emphasis on quantity over quality. There's certainly more movie here than in The Avengers, but it's inferior in just about every way. As the first movie to exhibit this, it's definitely not a trend yet-the rest of the second Marvel wave might have kept topping itself, but it usually stayed fresh, Thor aside. However, unless someone realizes where this film went wrong and reverses the tide, things could get ugly. Thankfully, all the smaller character movies have the potential to be much less overstuffed than this behemoth of a team-up, but if the Avengers branding on Doritos bags is any indication, the milking of this cash cow is well underway.
Again, that's not to say Age of Ultron is a bad movie. It's a disappointment, sure, and it comes just short of a full recommendation, but it's still hugely entertaining and retains the humanity, wit, spectacle and memorable moments that the franchise is famous for-even if the first of those is starting to peel away. Perhaps it's because of heightened expectations after the 2014 films, but for Ultron, "pretty good" isn't quite enough. Still, it is pretty good.
7/10
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