REVIEW | Kyle Pedley

April 21, 2015

 

THE AGE OF MARVEL CONTINUES - IF IT AIN'T BROKE...

 

“There are no strings on me”

 

So chimes James Spader’s sardonic, titular villain, Age of Ultron’s eponymous nemesis who in many ways serves as a fitting analogy for this tentpole blockbuster sequel as a whole; a bigger, faster, shinier remodelling of what has come before, brimming with character, good for a laugh, yet somewhat disappointingly over-familiar to the point of formulae, and arguably not as progressive as it professes to be. 

 

That’s not to say that a great time can’t be had with Ultron; this is Marvel’s platinum franchise, after all, and it returns with the expected gusto, with a pitch-perfect cast, plenty of zippy dialogue and Whedon once again proving nobody can balance character and spectacle in the mainstream with quite so much confidence and flair as he manages again here. Yet, if I bemoaned a worrying trend in routine, cookie-cutter narrative structuring when it came to Marvel output when reviewing Guardians of the Galaxy, then Ultron does little, if anything, to buck this trend. You want third reel aerial battles? Prepare for the mother of them. A city in peril, complete with innocent civilians collateral 101? Copy and paste from the first Avengers and put them through a Faux-European filter (it’s not just America, you know!). Mythical/Paranormal/Galactic McGuffin of devastating power? Help yourself to four! Ultron is, essentially, everything you would come to expect from an Avengers sequel, but unfortunately very little more. It is the epoch of the admittedly excellent work Marvel have done with their ‘Cinematic Universe’ over the course of the past 8 years, but in shoehorning in so much heritage, and playing to formula so rigorously, it plays more like a Greatest Hits compendium rather than a distinctive movie on its own accord, a real shame given Winter Soldier so brilliantly demonstrated how to do just that less than a year ago. 

 

Age of Ultron kickstarts mid-mission, as we join Earth’s mightiest heroes in the midst of a Recon-retrieval mission hunting down Loki’s sceptre, a weapon of mystical power which has been missing since the climactic events of the first Avengers film, and rumoured to have been used for nefarious purposes by the newly resurfaced HYDRA (hint: They’re bad). It’s a suitably thrilling and bombastic opening; we all know these characters by now, and it’s a welcome move by Whedon and co. to throw us straight into proceedings with very little hand holding. Hulk smashes, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow sasses, Robert Downey Jnr.’s Iron Man wisecracks. And yet, even from the offset, it is clear that there is a much more even-handed balancing of the main players this time round - Downey Jnr. continues to mill around hoovering up scenes with relish, but it’s clear early on that this is no longer simply 'Iron Man and friends'. Even stoic Thor and whiter-than-white Captain America get some killer comedy moments. Credit in abundance to Whedon for keeping his finger so firmly and articulately on the pulse of character, and not losing who they are or why we love them amongst the carnage to come. Once again, it is in the moments of interplay between the leads, buoyed by Whedon’s dialogue, where the film really comes to life.

 

 

 

"Once again, it is in the moments of interplay

between the leads, buoyed by Whedon's dialogue,

where the film really comes to life."

 

 

 

One particular beneficiary this time round is Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, who spent much of the original film as a glorified (zombified) henchman. For the first time in any of his appearances, Hawkeye supersedes his bow and arrow, and carves out a real presence and role within the team, surprisingly lending the film much of its heart and sincerity. The same, unfortunately, can’t be said of the blossoming romance between Johansson’s Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner a.k.a The Hulk. Whilst the idea of Romanoff being the only person to get through to Banner whilst ‘greened up’ works nicely, offering a neat follow-on from the hide-and-seek/chase sequence between them in Avengers Assemble, the romantic subplot which runs throughout Ultron seems to have just… happened, and most damagingly threatens to push Johansson’s character into a far less interesting trope. Ruffalo once again makes the perfect Banner, and a better representation of the Hulk on-screen you won’t find, but it’s sometimes difficult to imagine the needier, more emotive Black Widow we see in Ultron being the same woman who emotionally mind-played Loki in Avengers Assemble or was so nonchalantly willing to expose her history and secrets to bring down Alexander Pierce in The Winter Soldier. Still, Johansson once again does great work with what she is given, and as an added bonus we get a genuinely eerie peak into some of her elusive and enigmatic past for the first time.

 

With the old guard still bringing the goods, Whedon nevertheless naturally ups the ante, introducing a slew of new characters into the fold, and they’re something of a mixed bag. Ultron is an effective, charismatic creation, Spader imbibing him with both a real snide sense of contempt and a genuinely entertaining sarcastic streak, and he’s undoubtedly a step up from recent Marvel villains such as Thor: The Dark World’s Malekith and Guardians of the Galaxy’s Ronan. That being said, he is still firmly within the mould of ‘vengeful, world-destroying madman’, and good luck trying to keep track of the logic behind his plans, principles and batshit crazy endgame, which even by franchise standards threatens to tiptoe into realms of ludicrousness.

 

 

 

"Ultron is an effective, charismatic creation,

Spader imbibing him with both a real snide sense

of contempt and a genuinely entertaining sarcastic streak"

 

 

 

Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play newcomer twins Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, he of great speed and she of seemingly nondescript and ever-changing psychic/telekinetic ability, but it’s only really Olsen who registers as a fully-fledged character, save for a few comedic moments with Quicksilver. One can’t help but feel disappointed that Evan Peter’s take on the same character in last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past couldn’t be introduced into the fold instead, as it’s easy to imagine him bouncing off of Downey Jnr. and co brilliantly. Finally, Paul Bettany rounds out the principle newcomers as the mysterious Vision, and whilst divulging too much about his character would spoil things unnecessarily, he’s easily the films best addition, and arguably the most unique and interesting arrival to the Marvel roster since the original team assembled.

 

With an ever-expanding line-up, including the obligatory return appearances from the likes of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Cobie Smulder’s Agent Maria Hill (both of whom feel more shoehorned in and redundant here than they ever have before), Ultron is a film which has to expand in size and scope just to accommodate the bloating. As promised, this time around it is a truly international adventure as the team are forced to take on the newly unleashed 'murder-bot' that is Ultron,, with sequences and set pieces popping up in Africa, Korea, Europe and other reaches of the globe. And whilst many of these are genuinely thrilling and exciting slices of big-budget blockbuster spectacle, with the aforementioned Whedon whimsy, including a genuinely fun detour with Andy Serkis’s black market merchant, some sequences such as a car chase and out-of-control train sequence in Korea (seemingly lifted straight from Spider-Man 2) again feel a trifle unnecessary, repetitive, and in complete honesty, nothing we haven’t already seen before, even within the confines of the Marvel Universe. Likewise, Thor is sent on a side mission mid-way through that has obviously felt the brunt of the editing suite to the extent that it is borderline incomprehensible (though it does facilitate the obligatory shedding of shirt for Chris Hemsworth). 

 

In all, it is almost impossible not to enjoy Avengers: Age of Ultron, even if some of the series' more tired conventions are once again wheeled out and show no sign of flying the nest. The younger audiences will lap up the industry-best action and adventure, the visual effects and cinematography are as good as you’d come to expect (bar a few surprising wobbly moments) and the brilliantly realised core cast remain a delight, with Whedon continuing to prove as adept on the page as he is behind the lens. Still, if the original Avengers felt like a bold, original and exciting first adventure with a cool new group of friends, and one of the freshest big summer releases since the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, Age of Ultron is more akin to an enjoyable afternoon’s kick around with old faces. Interestingly, and without giving too much away, the film draws the stories of some of the main team to a natural end, and with Marvel’s cinematic behemoth continuing to expand, with a slew of new characters such as Ant-Man and Doctor Strange on the horizon, it will be interesting to see if Ultron is indeed the last of this particular breed of Avengers action. In some ways, one has to hope so, for harking back to Ultron himself, whilst this latest offering may give you exactly what you expect and want from an Avengers sequel, no strings attached, it also offers very little in the way of surprises either.

 

 

MUSINGS

 

+ The core cast are as compelling, charismatic and entertaining as ever

+ Typical razor-sharp Whedon dialogue and direction

+ Ultron is a step in the right direction for Marvel villains

+ Scarlet Witch and The Vision are great additions

 

- Third Reel repetition rears its head... again

- Danny Elfman's score is completely forgettable

- Doesn't really progress the overall MCU narrative

- All beginning to feel a little over-familiar

 

 

 

Release Date: Thursday 23 April 2015

Run Time: 142 minutes

Format: Theatrical Release

Official Website: www.marvel.com/avengers