So, here we are. As the blockbuster movie season has begun, we get it rolling off the right track with Marvel's new film, Avengers: Age of Ultron. Your favorite superheroes return to defend the Earth from the evil ready to knock on your front door; this time, we see our heroes trying to remain a unit through their dark times. Will they succeed? Or has the effort to supersede the original dragged the sequel down entirely?
First off, I'd like to clarify that I actually had a really fun time with this movie. It lives up to the hype in ways you wouldn't expect, while still giving you some surprises to enjoy. However, there are aspects of the movie that detract it from being a truly outstanding picture.
The movie starts off with us rejoining our heroes in their efforts to destroy the recently reborn HYDRA organization as revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Hulk smashes, Cap punches, Iron Man flies, Hawkeye shoots, Thor electrocutes people, and Black Widow kicks people in the head. It's the typical superhero fanfare that we're now accustomed to in this universe, but I must admit it caught me pleasantly surprised; I like the fact that Marvel feels they're in a comfortable enough place to just launch us into the story head-on, instead of taking it slow for a big opening build-up. I feel kind of silly feeling surprised, though, because after eleven films this should have been expected.
Anyways, as the Avengers make their appearance, you will notice that a lot is actually going on in these first twenty minutes. As Tony Stark is looking for Loki's staff from the aftermath of the Battle of New York, Cap is busy hunting down the head honcho Baron von Struck and Pietro Maximoff, a.k.a Quicksilver, has a bit of banter with an impaired Hawkeye. It's all very quick, and leaves you with very little time to catch your breath. However, this isn't where director Joss Whedon wants your focus. This movie once again follows Tony Stark's ploy to try and be the ultimate defender of Earth, as telepath Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, shows him visions of what can happen to the world should the Avengers fail. And thus, we have our drive for the story.
As far as the rest of the movie goes, there isn't much to complain about. The action is spectacular, the characters are great, and the story is compelling. However, there are a few beats of the movie where I was just asking myself...what's going on? Has this been edited? Why is this happening here, now?
To address those problems, the first thing I'd like to tackle is the Thor side-mission. At one point in the film, Scarlet Witch manages to show all the Avengers' fears to them, but for Thor he sees a vision of the future: this would include seeing the rare Infinity Stones scattered throughout these films, as well as certain characters and locations to be featured in the next Thor film. This is fine and all, but what Thor does is go off on his own for a sub-subplot which detracts from the rest of the movie as a whole. There is a small part which plays into the Vision's creation (which I'll get to later), but that's about it. Thor's just gone for a good half-hour. I get it - Marvel has such a huge slate on our hands, and the fans are always anxious to see what's next from them, but it just seemed like the movie's focus was more about what's to come rather than their current issue with a sentient robot hell-bent on the destruction of mankind.
Another thing that felt really weird about the movie was Nick Fury's involvement. Since we saw him last, he was preparing to go undercover to wipe out scattered HYDRA forces, just like the Avengers were. However, in this movie he shows up out of the blue to smart-mouth Tony Stark a bit. And hey, I love Sam Jackson's Nick Fury. But, it seems to me like he was just there because Marvel said to themselves, "Well...he was in the last one...". Honestly, it just sort of felt surprisingly random and convenient, more so than in the past with these movies.
Thirdly, there is the Banner-Romanoff romance of the film. Now, I'm not sure where this idea came from, whether it was just that it hadn't been done in the comics or that there was never a romance story in an Avengers movie or what, but this was really a left-field move to make. However, I've got to praise Marvel on this one - this was a good move. Not saying it's the route I would've originally wanted to take it, but what they did with these two characters by putting them in a relationship really opened them up in ways we just haven't seen before. For all those fans clamouring for a Black Widow backstory, Avengers: Age of Ulton has you covered; it's all revealed here. And with all this craziness going on, Natasha's reasons for falling for the Hulk make sense: "All of my friends are fighters, and here comes this guy who tries to stay away from the fight because he knows he's gonna win". I'm paraphrasing, but that's the general notion. I was pleasantly surprised by this, because after the Hulk is hacked by Scarlet Witch, Bruce is reminded what kind of a monster he can be at times - this brings us back to the vulnerability aspect of Bruce Banner that makes him so human. Props to Mark Ruffalo and Scarlet Johannsen, they knocked it out of the park in this one.
Before I end it, I have to talk about Vision, Ultron and the twins. Coming in at about two hours, you wouldn't expect much from Vision. But he's an interesting character, in that he is able to manipulate one of those Infinity Stones I was talking about earlier. He's a synthetic robot built to be the ultimate form of Ultron before the Avengers get to him first. He has the mind of J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony's helpful A.I. system. The thing about Vision is he's also very hopeful yet understanding about humanity. He even tells Ultron in the aftermath of the final battle: " Yes, humanity is doomed, but there's a certain beauty to their kind; the fleetingness of life is what makes them fight for it even harder". Again, paraphrasing, but Vision is very interesting. Having not seen him that long, I can't comment much of what I think - only that I can't wait to see more of him in the future.
I want to also get to Ultron. Voiced by James Spader, who did a fantastic job, Ultron is menacing, full of rage, and even comedy. The comedy, I have to be honest, threw me off a bit - Ultron has traditionally never been one to joke around, but I guess if you're built by Tony Stark, that's something that just kind of comes in the package. Ultron is a man -er, machine - with a plan, and he executes it very well. He's imposing, he's dramatic, and he has the strength to challenge Thor! Ultron is an amazing villain, and someone who Marvel can add to their awesome villains list, alongside Loki, Red Skull, Abomination, General Ross and the Winter Soldier. Now, even though he may have been destroyed, have no fear - nobody really stays dead in comic book films.
Finally, we get to the twins, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. I was pleasantly surprised by the two, especially Quicksilver. I mean, after coming out of X-Men: Days of Future Past, I didn't know how Marvel could top it. In my opinion, they did. I liked Quicksilver's spunk attitude in this movie more, especially since we saw just straight-up more of him in this one. He was witty, he was quick (Heh), and his death hit me hard.
However, this is probably due to the fact that Quicksilver was so closely connected to his sister. Scarlet Witch impressed me with who she was: someone so clearly competent and super-powerful, yet vulnerable in her own right...kind of like the Hulk. She was dark, she was even really creepy when she needed to be. Scarlet Witch was also just someone whose pain you could feel, whether it was her personal weaknesses, her lack of faith in herself, or her brother's death, you felt for her. Hats off to Elizabeth Olsen, because she became my favorite part of the film.
In the end, Avengers: Age of Ultron was another successful entry to the cinematic universe, and something that Marvel should be proud of, and fans should be loving. This really was a love letter to the fans that have been with it since back in 2008 with Iron Man. While there might be some focus issues with the story, the characters, both old and new, were refreshing and compelling enough to keep me intrigued and wanting me to see more from them. After all has been said and done, I love Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Rating: 8.75/10
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