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| Courtesy of Marvel |
Marvel
Studios redefined Hollywood blockbusters with 2012’s The Avengers. Not only
did writer/director Joss Whedon demonstrate that compelling characters are more
important than giant explosions, he also proved that audiences were invested enough
to follow the narrative Marvel created over the course of five previous movies.
When
the camera swooped around Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris
Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)
and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), capturing that iconic moment when the Avengers stood
together to fight alien invaders in the Battle of New York, audiences didn’t lose
their minds just because it was an incredible shot – even though it was.
They
cheered because that moment was predicated on everything that happened in Iron
Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The
First Avenger. Simply put, nothing like that had ever happened on the big
screen before.
That’s
why Avengers: Age of Ultron never stood a chance of wowing moviegoers in the
same way. Don’t misunderstand me – it’s still a fun movie packed with astonishing
action sequences, terrific character moments and witty one-liners. But it’s not
accompanied by that realization that you’re watching a new frontier in
filmmaking play out in front of your eyes.
That’s
the kind of ridiculous feat Marvel and Whedon accomplished over the last seven
years. Suddenly, watching an epic superhero movie that’s “just” really good – as
opposed to revolutionary – feels like a letdown. The creative team is a victim
of its own achievement.
Perhaps
that’s also why Age of Ultron is much more accessible to newcomers. Watching
the previous four movies in Phase Two, as Marvel calls it (Iron Man 3, Thor:
The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the
Galaxy) will help you understand the flick’s narrative minutiae, a few in-jokes
and the often exhausting setup for future films. But you won’t be lost if haven’t
seen them; most of the plot is surprisingly stand-alone.
The
film kicks off in media res, with the Avengers battling Hydra forces to
retrieve Loki’s scepter, which caused so much damage in the first movie. That’s
when we meet two new characters, twins Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro
Maximoff (Aaron-Taylor Johnson), who hold a major grudge against Tony Stark (Downey)
and possess impressive powers that will cause major trouble for him and his
friends.
After
the battle, Stark and Bruce Banner (Ruffalo) use the technology they recovered
to build a program designed to let robots work for peace so the Avengers can
retire. The good news is it’s successful – as soon as Ultron (James Spader)
gains consciousness, he begins to enact his goal of world peace. The bad news
is he believes peace is only attainable if people cease to exist. Way to go,
Tony. Now the Avengers must race to stop Stark’s creation before it wipes out
humanity, as well as contain Ultron’s wild-card associates, the Maximoff twins.
One
of the biggest complaints about The Avengers was that it took a good
half-hour or so for things to get interesting. Age of Ultron doesn’t suffer
from that problem. The film is an exhausting 140-minute assault on viewers’
senses, where the action only lets up so the team can throw a victory party
(probably the most entertaining sequence) and hide out at a secluded farmhouse
(an intriguing narrative element, but also unnecessarily drawn-out).
Fortunately,
most of that action is highly entertaining since it’s grounded in the characters’
personalities and motivations. They’re not aimless participants in explosions (looking
at you, Michael Bay). Instead, they react to events the way only those
characters would.
Unfortunately,
nothing major has changed by the end of the film. Compare that to Winter
Solider, when the entire Marvel Universe transformed over the span of two
hours. Sure, we have a few new Avengers in an already-crowded superhero world,
but we barely get to spend time with established characters we already like.
On
the plus side, Hawkeye is practically the main character this time around
(which feels like Whedon apologizing to Renner for giving him nothing to do in
the first installment). And it’s an intriguing choice to make Stark the film’s accidental
villain, as he’s the reason Ultron exists in the first place. But Thor and Nick
Fury – and, to a lesser extent, Captain America and Black Widow – feel like afterthoughts
in their own movie.
Ultron
is an intriguing character, as is the Vision (Paul Bettany), a mysterious new player
in the Avengers’ world, but we don’t get to know them well because there’s
already too much stuff going on. It’s a shame, because Spader and Bettany
deliver entertaining, oddball performances. Same goes for the talented Olsen,
who instills a lot of personality into a fairly one-note character.
Most
of the movie’s problems stem from Whedon spending way too much time and energy
setting up future installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rather than focusing
on the story he’s currently telling. (To be fair, it’s almost certainly at the
behest of the people signing his checks.) I counted at least two significant
subplots setting up films we won’t see until at least 2018, both of which unnecessarily
pad the film’s running time and distract viewers from the narrative tasks at
hand.
But
he makes up for these shortcomings with his always-entertaining dialogue. Iron
Man’s reaction to discovering a secret door and the characters’ conversations
at their victory party are my favorite parts of the movie, neither of which involve
crazy action sequences. That’s Whedon in his element, and it’s a shame that his
farewell to Marvel movies doesn’t feature more of it.
I
realize the grade at the bottom of this review doesn’t seem to line up with the
previous paragraphs, but it all goes back to what I said at the beginning. Age
of Ultron is still an extraordinarily fun start to the summer movie season.
But it fails to live up to the admittedly impossible standards Marvel has established
for itself. I know that’s unfair, but I suppose that’s the price of being a cinematic
trailblazer.
Avengers:
Age of Ultron is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence
and destruction, and for some suggestive comments.
Grade:
B
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