Directed by Joss Whedon
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and James Spader
It's hard to believe that a sequel to The Avengers could live up to all the hype. It did what no superhero film had done before, teaming up multiple characters from multiple films. It became beloved by fans and critics alike, and is now the third highest grossing film of all time.
So after the months of epic trailers and juicy gossip, how does Age of Ultron stack up alongside Avengers, and other films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? After seeing the film for a third time in theaters (Judge me), I say it falls in the…upper-middle of the pack. Let's begin.
After going their separate ways for another round of solo films/adventures, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Thor (and the rest!) have reassembled to take down Hydra (Who you'll remember reemerged in Captain America: The Winter Soldier). While raiding one of the last Hydra facilities in Sokovia, Tony (Downey) makes a startling discovery, and shown a very grim hallucination via Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). This leads him, along with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to jumpstart an artificial intelligence, word-peace keeping program Ultron (Spader).
Unfortunately, Ultron becomes a little too smart for his own good. The menacing machine soon sets out to put an end to The Avengers, and all of mankind. The team sets out on an worldwide mission to stop Ultron, while also dealing with the super-powered siblings of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) aka Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
It may not seem like it based on that short summary, but there's a lot going on in this film. A lot of story, and a lot of characters. A heavy burden falls down on Age of Ultron. It has to act as a sequel to not just The Avengers but in some respects to Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Then it has to continue to set-up this ever expanding universe, as we prepare to go in to a huge Phase Three of the MCU, which will culminate in the third (and fourth) Avengers film, Infinity War.
Age of Ultron manages to balance a lot of its story elements...for most of the film. Some things at times are left unattended or under developed. There's so much going on you might find yourself scratching your head saying, "Wait when did that happen?" or "Wait how did we get here?" That being said, there's so much awesome, fan-pleasing moments here you might forget your concerns, because you're so enamored with what's on screen. The action scenes are some of the best in the franchise. Your eyes will be glued to the screen in awe.
Somehow, all the characters old and new, get their proper chance to shine. The one exception would have to be Thor, who halfway through the film is subjected to an underdeveloped subplot that factors into where this massive franchise is heading. Hawkeye truly get his due in this film, and is one of the best parts of it. What they've done to explain where he's been through all of Phase Two is beautiful. Hulk and Black Widow are given a romance this film. You wouldn't think it'd work, but it really grows on you, and it gives some great material to Ruffalo and Johansson. The new characters, The Vision (Paul Bettany) in particular, are great additions. I won't go into everyone's individual performances, because I think you all know by now how great this ensemble is.
Some people would say Ultron succombs to the cliche that Marvel can't make a good villain. I am not one of those people. Much like Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, while his motivations are one-dimensional and his character development is rushed, the actor behind the performance accelerates the character to a higher level. James Spader is at his very best as Ultron.
It's already been revealed that Joss Whedon's original cut of the film was about three and-a-half hours long (That means we missed out on an hour of footage, for those trying to do the math.), and that an extended cut will be featured on the Blu-Ray release. Hopefully this extended cut film and Whedon's original cut are one and the same, because I really feel like adding some of that hour's worth of footage would really strengthen the film.
Let me be clear, I really do enjoy Age of Ultron. It's as funny, action-packed, and fan pleasing as Marvel gets, and is arguably one of the better films in the cinematic universe. I loved it the first two times I saw it, the third time I was starting to see the cracks in the foundation. Another draft of the script, another hour in the editing bay, something could have been done to flesh the story out a bit more. That being said, do not let that dissuade you from seeing it. It's still a wonder to see all of your favorite characters together again, and the good outweighs the bad here. No doubt Age of Ultron will still become one of the best films of the year.
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