Busy, busy, busy.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was supposed to be the risky “weird” gamble in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It ended up being an unqualified, runaway success that connected with the mainstream and tore down the supposed barrier between normal people and space opera theatrics. Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron is the diametric opposite of a gamble. The only question surrounding Joss Whedon’s latest superhero team up film is whether it’ll be the highest grossing film on the worldwide market this year, or if the new Star Wars film will take that crown. Avengers 2 is as close as it gets to a box office guarantee. Which is perhaps why Whedon, as writer/director, and Kevin Feige, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe head honcho, seemed to have no qualms making this the most dense and far out Marvel film to date.
A lot of the magic of the MCU is on display in top form here in Age Of Ultron. The cast members have these characters totally nailed by this point, Whedon’s snappy dialog provides enough one-liners and humorous exchanges to keep you laughing throughout, and perhaps even more impressive is how evenly the screenplay distributes character moments and sequences of import for each Avenger (by and large). There’s a scale befitting an Avengers film as well, with the major action set pieces being simply breathtaking in their magnitude, although largely Earth-bound, this time around. All of this is captured with perhaps a more cinematic eye (which perhaps comes down more from cinematographer Ben Davis who lensed GOTG rather than Whedon, but who knows for sure?) than in the first film, which has regularly been called out for having a TV vibe to it.
On top of those dynamics, you’ve got a bunch of new additions to the cast, a whole other “phase” of Marvel movie mayhem to incorporate into the plot line, and just as many films you’ll need to “top” with this latest mega-entry. That is a lot of weight to bare, and frankly, it is probably all a bit too much. This film being a continuation of all that has come before does allow our characters to speak in a shorthand that lets the audience in on all the jokes, and never in history has there been a franchise where the filmmakers can be SO certain that the vast majority of their audience has seen virtually every film leading up to this one (and therefore needs to hold the audience’s hand less). There’s also a sense in which this film was not created in a vacuum, and our societal frustration that our heroes don’t seem to be protecting the innocents anymore so much as toppling city after city in mega-climaxes across both the Marvel and DC universes, not to mention every blockbuster in recent memory, has created a distinct focus on saving innocent lives here in Age Of Ultron. Time and again, our heroes pause to scan for bystanders, contain the damage to certain areas, or go out of their way to offer safety to the masses amidst the villain’s nefarious plans. It is refreshing to feel like our heroes have time to look out for us little guys again, even if these asides perhaps do contribute to the overlong nature of the packed-to-the-gills film.
So yes, while this being a late entry in the new world of superhero cinema does allow it to respond to certain issues we’ve taken with what has come before it, the weight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe being built does start to collapse a bit. Magic and technology, earth, the galaxy, and the heavens, deep secrets of the dense Marvel mythology attempting to meld with globe-pleasing spectacle… it is remarkably challenging to keep up with it all, and one has to think that if even the marginally comic-book-aware fans are having trouble making all the pieces fit together, general, non-comic-book-versed audience members will be scratching their heads twice as hard.
This time around, our intrepid Avengers kick off the film in a bravura action sequence to recapture Loki’s staff (which contains within it an Infinity Gem, the grandest of all cinematic MacGuffins and the keys to building this universe to its ultimate confrontation with intergalactic nemesis Thanos) from a Hydra base in Europe somewhere. This brings them into contact with Hyrdra-trained superpowered twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, respectively), better known as The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to comic book fans. Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) get to work analyzing said staff and decide to secretly use its power to help put Stark’s “Ultron” system online. After the intergalactic invasion of the last film, Stark is feeling nervous about the safety of the planet. But as we all know from every movie ever made (and several within just the past few months), artificial intelligence is tricky. And within moments of coming to life, the James Spader-voiced Ultron seeks to destroy the Avengers and ultimately the planet. A whole lot of back and forth happens after that, leading to a momentous showdown atop a floating city in which the loyalties of Wanda and Pietro will be tested, the value of the very human members of the team such as Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) will be determined, Banner’s ability to control the Hulk will be questioned, Steve Rogers’ (Chris Evans) leadership over the team will be firmed up, and even Avengers Operating System Jarvis (Paul Bettany) will be called on to take a new form in The Vision… a remarkably complicated Frankenstein’s robot amalgamation of technology, magic, villainy, and heroism which never quite lives up to the rigamarole surrounding him.
There’s just constant, exhausting busyness happening in this movie. And it happens for two and a half hours. Perhaps this is more a matter of user error than anything else, but I think not. At times it is simply too hard to keep up with. For instance… the central villain Ultron is supposedly derived from something found in Loki’s staff. Within that staff and its infinity gem there is supposed to be BOTH interdimensional magic properties AND advanced technology of some kind. Upon quizzing several friends, none of us were entirely certain just WHERE the Ultron AI that Stark tries to bring online actually came from. Somewhere within the staff? Is there AI code inside the magic stone? Many geeks will likely jump all over me for this point, and explain to me exactly what “really” happened to bring Ultron to life. But my point remains that huge plot points such as this one zip by at such a brisk pace that many won’t actually have time to put all the pieces together as to what is really happening. It all leads to a villain who feels undercooked and merely a stall tactic to squeeze one more movie out before we reveal the REAL big baddy of the MCU: Thanos.
Or another for instance: At one point Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who had to have something to do here, leaves the team to get into a mystical pool to help him divine something or the other from a vision that Wanda had placed into his head (not to mention to provide a way to show off Hemsworth’s considerable shirtless beefiness). I saw the film yesterday and really couldn’t tell you what he discovered in that pool, or why it was so important. It was just one of a dozen little mini-side-quests taken in Age Of Ultron in order to give each cast member a small nugget of importance or heroism on the journey. But I do know that ultimately Thor and his magic realm has something to do with the creation of The Vision, who in turn has something to do with the Avengers’ ability to save the day from Ultron.
Look, there’s a lot to criticise in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and it should probably fall on the film critics to note these, because the flaws in the film sure as hell aren’t going to put a dent in its box office. But… they might cause a dent in the next one after it. I will not be the only one who missed a few developments in the ever thrusting plot simply because I was still thinking about that last flourish that danced past my eyes. Nor will I be the only one who simply can’t keep track of all the various “Marvel”-isms. This could be a flaw in my own ability to keep up, yes, but when you’re juggling over half a dozen main characters in a film of this scale, the moving parts are legion and result in a sacrifice of clarity and a few moments to breath.
But for every moment of disconnect and excess, there’s a humanizing moment, a hilarious exchange, or a team up crowd pleaser like that one time Thor knocks his hammer against Caps shield to knock out a nest of foes. There’s also a killer Hulk versus Iron Man sequence that’ll have fans slobbering, and even Hawkeye has some legitimate character building moments which were sorely lacking in his earlier appearances. At one point Hawkeye let some of my steam out by voicing my very frustrations. Something along the lines of “We’re fighting an army of robots on a floating city. I have and bow and arrow. Everything is crazy”. Amen, Hawkeye. Amen. The final sequence also has some real money shots (as did the opening sequence), and Ultron’s ultimate weakness as a villain can’t overshadow how insanely likeable our heroes are as complex characters with conflicting ideas and priorities.
There’s a lot to like in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. There’s a lot of everything.
And I’m Out.