[projekktor id=’18747′]
Avengers: Age of Ultron is the eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and true to form Marvel Studios has pumped out yet another wildly entertaining adventure. Filled with heart pounding action, witty dialogue and just enough character development to get viewers through the “hows” and “whys”, while leaving enough unanswered questions for whatever standalone is coming down the pipeline next (can’t wait for the home improvement television spin-off, Handy Man Hawkeye). The only downfall of Age of Ultron is that it isn’t its own film, it is just set-up for the studio’s upcoming and much buzzed about “Phase Three.” For those unfamiliar with Marvel’s Phase Three it’s a period of time that will last from 2016-2019 and will see the release of 9 more MCU films including two more Avengers movies.
If you haven’t seen a MCU movie before – don’t start with Age of Ultron. The plot relies heavily on the assumption that viewers have seen at least the three Iron Mans, two Thors and two Captain Americas as well as 2012’s Avengers – so 8 out of the 10 MCU releases. Age of Ultron begins with the Avengers attacking a Hydra outpost in search of Loki’s magical staff. Following the events of Avengers and Captain America: Winter Soldier, the team is doing their own clean up now that S.H.E.I.L.D has become defunct. Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) has been working on a new side project, a world-wide security program called Ultron. The aim of the program is to be a virtual shield around the world that not only alerts authorities to potential threats but also disarms them. Ultron is Tony’s retirement plan – without it he’ll never feel comfortable shedding his iron suit, his newest goal as discovered in Iron Man 3. After locating the sceptre, the Avengers bring it back to their headquarters where Tony and Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) dissect it and somehow use it to take Ultron from hum drum code to full fledged artificial intelligence. Initially, plagued with the notion that he must save the world as per his programming, Ultron ultimately decides he’d rather just destroy it.
In total the Ultron problem probably takes up around 40 min of the 141 min film. Granted, there’s A LOT going on in Avengers: Age of Ultron and honestly the robotic mastermind seems to be the least of their worries. Four new characters are introduced – the previously mentioned Ultron (James Spader) plus Hydra’s enhanced human twins Pietro (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) as well as the god-like android The Vision (Paul Bettany.) We get a little more back story on Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and finally learn something about Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. There’s growing tension between team leaders Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) which gets the wheels turning for next year’s Captain America: Civil War. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is absent for much of the Ultron debate as he goes on a spirit quest that primes 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok or 2018’s Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1 or more likely both. Oh and there’s a death – but since it is the world of Marvel Comics, I assume the character will be resurrected in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.
Unfortunately for film fans we live in a world dominated more by hype than content. The credit cookie (an unrelated scene that teases the next big blockbuster for the franchise) is sometimes more talked about than the actual film. And given the numerous blogs and forums online that speculate on and dissect every piece of released or leaked footage maybe I’m in the minority and audiences are more interested in the build-up than the event. Perhaps Avengers: Age of Ultron is just another genius move by Marvel Studios, a whole film dedicated to build up. But I can’t stop feeling like I was cheated out of what could have been an epic movie.
That being said I have to commend puzzle master Joss Whedon who wrote and directed the film. Maybe a testament to his television days, Whedon was able to weave in the requisite Phase 3 foundation building in a way that didn’t take away from the story he was trying to tell – the origin of Ultron. As far as origin stories go it covered all the bases: we got a sprinkling of Ultron’s inner turmoil over what he believes is his mission (protect the world) plus some heavy handed daddy issues directed at his creator Tony Stark. While all the other plot devices allude to grander stories that will be continued – Ultron’s story begins and ends in this film (as much as comic villain’s story can end that is). His creation isn’t the lead up to the next film (although the character does feature heavily in the Ant Man comics). A refreshingly self-contained story in a universe dominated by continuation.
The final line of Ultron’s chilling monologue “there are no strings on me” makes me wish the same could be said about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that I see the strings of the Marvel machine at work I’m wondering if they can ever be unseen or if every movie moving forward will follow the new mold of hype over substance. Despite my misgivings, Avengers: Age of Ultron is still a fun film and it has everything you could want in an Avengers movie: Thor shirtless, Hulk smashing and Iron Man wise cracking.
Reviewed by Vithiya Murugadas.
