*SPOILER WARNING*
*Directed by Joss Whedon
*Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Andy Serkis, Thomas Kretschmann, Stellan Skarsgård, Linda Cardellini
The Plot: Even though the Avengers having been making great efforts as an unstoppable team of heroes, Tony Stark decides to put forth a future endeavor to create an A.I. system called Ultron that would perform the Avengers tasks just as successfully, so the team won't always have to be at the world's beck and call and take refuge. However, the Ultron program grows sour and the A.I. starts to expand a much powerful mind that deems to overpower our beloved heroes, attempt to tear them apart, and soon wipe out a flawed human civilization to build a better world.
Before it's release and after the incredible success of the first film this was no doubt another one of the most anticipated films of all time. Yes, most anticipated 'films'. Not just comic book films, but out of any movie being released at all in recent years. It was released in May of 2015 and to think that this movie and the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the same year was seriously the unthinkable. It was one thing for Infinity War to come out, which was announced months before Ultron's release, but just from the looks of that first trailer, which is still one of the greatest trailers of all time, the stakes looked a lot higher than the first film. This time we were going to see Ultron, who looked so terrifying as this creepy android, twist the minds of the heroes we love and challenge them.
Thanos seemed like the big baddie to be afraid of, but Ultron was looking pretty menacing and with a chilling presence such as James Spader playing the role looked and sounded amazing. Joss Whedon was reprising to direct as well. This had everything to top the first film, right? In some respects I feel Age of Ultron is able to expand on more aspects that made us eager in the first film, but isn't nearly quite as good or as thought-provoking as its predecessor. All that out of the way, this movie is still a very fun watch from start to finish and can serve as a reminder to fans of the franchise why they enjoy these movies in the first place and that's because of these characters.
Definitely, one of the biggest props to give Age of Ultron is that as opposed to the first film, it's able to showcase more of that team dynamic that the first film successfully built-up. It for sure paid off and as we see in this film we're able to see our heroes work together in a believable fashion and work out differences like normal people would. These movies understand that these are people in these suits and under these masks because if the idea was to just show our heroes being perfect and succeed all the time on these adventures, would the movies be as impactful? No. Absolutely not. But since Joss already had one film under his belt he had a grasp of all these characters and understood where to convey the proper emotions for each character.
And these are still great characters, I don't have to name every cast member, but all the actors who returned still bring that level of panache to their characters. They're likable, audacious, and don't come off as bland or one-dimensional because of that. For that reason it makes the film a lot more interesting to watch and not so much the one-note superhero movies, moviegoers with superhero fatigue tend to forget. A film like Age of Ultron falls under that curse and while it does have problems, I think one of the aspects that's overshadowed is that people tend to forget that these are still the same characters that we fell in love with in the first film and, heck, the pre-Avengers films. Every cast member gives it their all and they're successfully written in a way to make you buy into the stakes they're in and care about them in the action.
Speaking of action, no surprise here, but all the action scenes are still undoubtedly fun to go off of the film's rich spectacle. Once again, the CGI still looks unbelievably solid and has a convincing amount of weight in those effects-heavy scenes. I was entertained from start to finish whether it was the smashing opening battle finding Loki's sceptor, the earth shattering Hulk and HulkBuster fight, and the stupendous final battle with Ultron and Ultron's drones.
There are certainly aspects of this film to enjoy because the characters we love are still there with actors who give it their all and there's fantastic spectacle, but where I feel Age of Ultron suffers is in terms of its writing because while I did like the characters in this movie I feel their arcs weren't fully developed and for some they didn't have much of an arc at all. For instance, Tony realizes he made a mistake creating Ultron and questions it, but once the third act hits with the giant action scene and he has to save the citizens of Sokovia, it's fun and everything, but just not as much emotionally at stake. There should've been more of that powerful standoff with him and Ultron, which really could've got under everybody's skin.
Captain America has the trouble of trusting Tony towards the third act because of Wanda introducing the idea that the base of Ultron's motivations came from Tony. There was a small conflict there, but once Vision is introduced in the same scene after Steve confronts Tony it's almost as if it didn't even happen. So, there wasn't much of an arc for Steve and there was an opportunity for one, but it gets shoved in and immediately glossed over.
While Thor's "Vision" quest bothered me in one of my last viewings for I felt it focused on more set-up to Infinity War I felt it grew on me this most recent viewing for it made sense to introduce Vision so he'd have the proper introduction. Yet, it's not like Thor changes much in this story, he's still the same from beginning to end and only takes a little side-trip to understand something that bothers him from Wanda's enchantment. That's it.
I felt Bruce had the most development involving the romance with Natasha, but while I loved that she was open with Bruce in this movie including the idea of her revealing more about her tragic past and us actually seeing glimpses of what happened was super powerful. I felt the way she was dictating her romantic feelings to Bruce felt a bit out of character and way too lovey-dovey for her. I don't mind their being a romance between Nat and Bruce at all, but just the way her dialogue was written could've been more subtle and along the lines of her character.
Other than those flaws involving characters I also really appreciated the reveal of Hawkeye's family, which really humanized his character. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were amazing well-developed and well-rounded characters that fit so nicely into the film's central conflict. Ultron was a very solid villain as well and had believable and very clear motivations that made him feel very threatening and he also had some pretty amazing and hilarious one-liners that I didn't see coming at first. One of the better Marvel villains in this series. Vision's introduction was super incredible and a nice change of pace from the regular down to earth characters we're used to. Almost like a flawless Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen, Superman type character. The first scene where he picks up Thor's hammer is still a very jaw dropping moment. Love it to death.
Overall, despite it's screenwriting flaws, I find there is a lot of fun to be had with Avengers Age of Ultron because the great characters are still there and the entertainment value is through the roof.
4/5
If the characters lacked soul I would've given it a 3.5, but since that aspect was there along with its spectacle, it was really hard not to have a good time with this movie. I was going to review Captain America Civil War before Infinity War, but time would not allow unfortunately. Yet, I do still want to in the future and I will say it gave me more of that character depth and suspense I felt this movie lacked and it was a vast improvement. However, I do still have fun with Age of Ultron regardless.
So tune in next week when I finally review the grand daddy we've all been waiting for:
Cannot wait to finally see that, so stay tuned.
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