The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Let it be known that The Avengers: Age of Ultron, is a big, loud and lumbering corporate product of a movie designed solely to sell toys.  Much like the big green Hulk who serves as one of its heroes, it smashes and rushes its way through a lot of noisy action set pieces, while the plot pretty much remains an afterthought.  The one thing that keeps the whole thing afloat is that writer-director Joss Whedon has a sense of humor about the whole enterprise, and seems to be having fun, as does the cast itself.

Once more, we have the Marvel All-Star Superhero Team saving the Earth, this time from a robot named Ultron (voice by James Spader), who was designed as the ultimate artificial intelligence, as well as a peace-keeping robot, by the well-meaning Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), or Iron Man to you and me.  It seems that Ultron's artificial intelligence started questioning the purpose of humans almost the instant he gained consciousness, and begins to realize that the only way for there to truly be peace on Earth is to wipe out the entire species, and repopulate the planet with his own highly intelligent kind.  The movie pays lip service to some generally interesting Sci-Fi ideas about the reality of artificial intelligence, and robots that can think for themselves, but isn't really interested in it, favoring fast paced-action and one-liners.  There's nothing wrong with that when it's done well enough, as it is here.  But, as fate would have it, I happened to see Ex Machina right after seeing The Avengers.  That is a truly intelligent and thought-provoking film that really dives into the questions this movie brings up early on.  If you want a movie that really explores the ideas that this one barely scratches the surface of, see that one instead.

See this movie if you just want some big, expensive escapist entertainment.  All the heroes from the first movie are back, and they haven't changed much.  When they're not battling evil, they still talk to one another like frat boys trying to be stand up comedians.  This is kind of a staple of Whedon's, whose TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, often mixed fighting the forces of the undead with a lot of sly and witty dialogue.  That's not to say nothing has changed for our heroes.  There's a love interest for Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), and we learn that Hawkeye (Jeremy Rennter) has a life outside of super heroics.  Other than that, these are the same characters we've come to love over numerous films.  Captain America (Chris Evans) is still the square-jawed leader trying to fit in with the modern world, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) still has that hammer and amazing hair, and Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is still dealing with his anger issues.  There are also two new additions to the movie's roster - Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).  Both Taylor-Johnson and Olsen are fine actors, and do what they can here, but they are kind of hindered by the fact they mostly exist as walking special effects. (Quicksilver can run at great speeds, and Scarlet Witch can control people's minds and create illusions.)

The Avengers exists solely for a very specific audience - namely those who have been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe through its various movies.  The whole enterprise is starting to resemble one of those acts where a guy keeps on trying to keep plates spinning on top of poles without letting one of them drop.  The movie throws in a bunch of side characters from the individual films, and if you haven't been keeping up, you're not going to know who most of the people in this movie are, or how they fit in.  It's somewhat daring for a summer movie franchise to alienate a certain audience, but considering the box office Marvel's films have routinely made, something tells me that certain audience is quite large enough to keep things afloat for a while.  But at the same time, it doesn't matter too much, as the movie isn't all that interested in the characters and dialogue.  It's really all about the large, CG battle sequences that are quite spectacular, but sometimes run a bit long this time around.  The movie follows the James Bond formula, and opens right in the middle of an action sequence that is somewhat unrelated to the main plot, where the Avengers are storming a fortress of a monocle-wearing villain.  This sequence not only gives the audience what they've come for right off the bat, but it lets you know what you're in for.

During the course of the movie, we have the heroes fighting off seemingly thousands of rampaging robots, an extended sequences where the Hulk loses control and lets himself loose on a city street, and a climax which naturally holds the entire fate of the world in its hands.  All of this is expertly made, but it seems a bit overkill at times.  Honestly, if you've seen one guy punching a killer CG robot, you've seen them all.  That being said, the movie does slow down enough for it to pretend there's a plot we're supposed to be following.  I enjoyed the often humorous banter between the heroes, both in battle and when they are recovering from battle.  Some reviews I have read complain that the movie tries to be too funny, and borders on being a silly comedy.  I think the humor is necessary.  Without it, these characters would be fairly deprived of personality, and it would be hard to tell them apart, except for their individual powers or weapons.  It helps that a lot of the one-liners are genuinely funny as well, and some of them caught me off guard.  I enjoyed that this movie didn't really take itself all that seriously.  Without a sense of humor, this would just be another loud technological blockbuster.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron does come very close to being a bit too much, but it never loses its sense of fun.  It doesn't exist to rewrite the rules of the superhero movie, and those who walk in expecting something new will be disappointed.  The movie exists to be a mindless good time, and on that level, it succeeds.  This is not the smartest Marvel movie out there, but something tells me that wasn't the intention to begin with.

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