The summer movie season just exploded this last weekend with perhaps the most anticipated film of 2015 if not the last three years: Marvel Studios AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. This is the latest film in what is known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe bring together again Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and more. The first film set the bar incredibly high, commonly referred to as the greatest super hero film of all time. That's a lot to live up to. Does Age of Ultron live up to the hype? Keep reading to find out...
"Hype" is kind of like a double edged sword. It can bring a ton of people to a movie and boost ticket sales tremendously, but it also sets a very high level of expectations that can be nigh impossible to meet. The first time I saw Avengers 2 I must admit I came out of the theater a little disappointed. Such big moments as those everybody talked about in the first film seemed surprisingly non-existent in this film. There a couple moments from the first film that will forever standout in our hearts and memories. Age of Ultron didn't have those kinds of moments. At least for me.
The film clocked in at 2 hours and 21 minutes (that's basically the exact same run time as the first film). That's a decently long film (no Lord of the Rings epic mind you, but lengthy nonetheless). Believe it or not the film wasn't long enough. This movie was inherently a massive project to undertake, merely including all the characters from the previous picture and giving each of them their moment to shine and steal the spotlight. Now they've added even more characters plus a totally new villain that needed to be established (whereas Loki in Avengers 1 was already established in Thor 1). In fact there are at least 4 major players that need complete establishing in this film plus major scene moments along with a handful of secondary characters that needed further development.
All of this in 2 hours and 20 minutes? Plus set up for future films? No wonder Joss Whedon doesn't want to make any more Avengers films, it's an impossibly tall order to fill. I heard something about his original cut of the film being 3 and 1/2 hours long. I sincerely hope that cut of the film or at least a significantly extended cut surfaces at some point. More time would seriously alleviate much of the problems I have with the movie. As is the film feels very rushed and truncated. Actors like Thomas Kretschmann and Andy Serkis are barely featured. Why have them at all if you're just going to throw them away? Andy Serkis at least has a chance of coming back in a bigger capacity in future films, but Baron Strucker, for being one of Nick Fury's greatest enemies, seemed like he was wasted and not given any sort of justice to his comic book counterpart. And many of our main heroes aren't given enough time to shine and show how great they really are. In summary, this film should be longer. I guess I'm just greedy that way.
Enough criticism. Let's sing some praises. Jeremy Renner is fantastic in this film! His character is really fleshed out and given room to grow. They do it in subtle ways too. Sadly he doesn't have the big action scenes like some of the others. Instead he brings humanity, heart, and solidarity. At one point or another all the heroes break, all except Hawkeye. He really is the heart of the film. And much deserving of it. He was a badguy throughout most of the last one and he was originally supposed to be the one from SHIELD hunting down Captain America in The Winter Soldier (Thank God that didn't happen). Finally he gets to show his quality.
Bruce Banner is further developed too. Hulk isn't featured as much (at least in a positive light), but Banner is given far more character development and screen time. A new plot thread is woven into his arc that is quite interesting involving another character on the team. It is a welcomed surprise in my book (Incase you didn't know I'm the most critical of the Hulk because he is my all time favorite). Mark Ruffalo proves once again that he is a worthy successor to the role and the first actor in over ten years to play the character multiple times. The only disappointment is that Hulk doesn't have a shining moment like he did in the first film. No scenes like "I'm always angry" or "Puny God." He doesn't even come close to the show stealing performance he had in the last film. That was a huge let down for me, almost like Joss Whedon was trying to ease Hulk out of the franchise a little bit (not cool!). Hulk's big scene is a predominantly negative sequence for his character, but I feel it was all done on purpose to set him down a certain path to be further explored in another film. I'm still not happy about it. Weak writing, man! If you wanted to get rid of the Hulk you should be spending the extra time getting the audience to love him all the more and then take him away making his loss all the more heartbreaking. C'mon, Whedon! You've done it many times before, so why not here?
Iron Man once again is the scene hog. He of course has the most action scenes and most screen time in general. But he has a lot more riding on his shoulders in this film. Robert Downey Jr. is as always a treat to watch as Tony Stark. The last time we saw him was in Iron Man 3 where he virtually gave up being Iron Man and destroyed all his armors. Luckily Avengers 2 ignores everything about Iron Man 3 and proceeds as if nothing has changed since we saw Iron Man in Avengers 1 (which is a good thing. Iron Man 3 didn't add much of anything to the series whatsoever).
Captain America and Thor are also as strong as ever. Cap's role in this film is trying to keep his team from falling apart, but not even he can pull them all together this time. He's got some pretty good scenes but overall I thought he was showcased better in The Winter Soldier. Thor also seems to fall into a similar capacity. He has a few scenes all his own including meeting up with Erik Selvig again. The scenes with him again seem to be setting up for another film and not directly effecting this movie.
SPOILER ALERT
What I found particularly interesting and honestly more intriguing than Cap, Thor, or Iron Man were Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision. I thought all three actors did an exceptional job. Scarlet Witch was probably the most fascinating of the three. Some scenes placed a higher emphasis on the "Witch" aspect making her appear pretty freaky and even demonic (which was very cool). Some reviewers bashed on the Russian accents, but I liked them. Vision's creation and characterization were very well done. He's basically the flip side of Ultron. They just barely showed his phasing ability, but they definitely showcased him as a powerhouse!
Quicksilver at first glance seems quite simple. Since being featured in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST last year, and very well done too, Marvel Studios decided to go another route. With THE FLASH tv show debuting this year too there have been a lot of speedsters in the media. I felt this Quicksilver looked the best of all three without blatantly ripping off what was cool and innovative about the others. Again, I liked the accent and generally enjoyed Aaron Taylor-Johnson's performance (finally making the jump to actual super hero). His death was the biggest shocker in the movie for me. War Machine's inclusion at the end was a welcomed surprise too, one which again I wish had more time.
And then there's Ultron. I've always liked Ultron in the comics and James Spader brings him to life in a way I never imagined. Ultron is dark yet surprisingly humorous. Since Tony Stark brought him to life Ultron emulates a portion of Tony's humor. His look is pretty impressive and I liked the way he was constantly trying to upgrade himself (true to the comics). But something in his humor and his story made him appear a little less threatening than I felt he should have been. I always imagined Ultron as SKYNET from the Terminator series given form, an extinction level threat. He's still cool in this film, but he lacks the gravitas of Skynet in my opinion. I just want to keep laughing at him, not cower in fear or sit at the edge of my seat like the Winter Soldier did.
This brings me to a general complaint about the Marvel Studios films as a whole. What's so wrong about going dark? If you're worried about the rating, a lot of quality horror films have come out in the last few years with a PG-13 rating. I personally feel a little "laughed out" by the last two films. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was loaded with humor (Marvel's fail-safe with a questionable property). It worked, but I feel they really overdid it in spots (the Dance off distracting Ronan... Really?). Ultimately Avengers: Age of Ultron was hurt by the loads of jokes and humor. Marvel has garnered a lot of praise and attention from their integration of humor and action but the last two films have taken it too far in my opinion. And next up is, you guessed it, another comedy! I'm actually looking forward to ANT-MAN despite my comedic protests.
I was expecting this film to be the turning point. This film should have been the "Empire Strikes Back" of the series. Instead it felt like just another happy romp around the world kicking ass and killing badguys with a "been there, done that" feeling. And if CIVIL WAR is next I don't see how its going to come about because the film ends with Cap and Tony on good terms with no real tension between the team members. Thor: The Dark World I thought had more gravity than this and a much better balance of seriousness to levity. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is probably my favorite Marvel Studios film to date just behind The Incredible Hulk, both films taking the seriousness to higher levels. This film however shot itself in the foot with humor just like Guardians did (which is a shame because I love the Guardians from the comic and because of the movie the comic book is now one big party favor).
If Joss Whedon is done making Marvel movies then I will say "Thank you" for everything you have done. If the Russo Brothers are taking over Avengers: Infinity War then I say "Hell yes!" Personally I want the following Marvel Studios films to be gripping and edge of your seat like Winter Soldier. I'm done with the over compensation of humor. It has helped Marvel tremendously, but now its time to up the gravity and rely on better story-telling. If you want a template for going forward refer to The Winter Soldier.
Okay, it seems like I've been a little harsh on the movie, most of it stemming from me expecting the film to be far more serious than it was. The movie is actually quite good. I've seen it twice. Probably will go see it again and discover I've put my foot in my mouth with this review. My first viewing I came out less than "wowed" whereas with Avengers 1, Thor 2, and Cap 2 I came out on a real high. Guardians got better the more I watched it, but it still left me conflicted after the first viewing. I did enjoy it quite a bit, but I feel it was upstaged by its predecessors.
Okay, this diatribe has come to a close.
Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10
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