“Avengers: Age of Ultron” Review
(From Left) The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansonn) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) prepare to face down Ultron in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
While a massive success at the box office, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” wasn’t held in as high regard as the original. It’s still well-liked but most Marvel fans thought that it was inferior to the first. In some ways, they’re right. Because the first one was so hyped and many Marvel fans couldn’t believe that they were seeing their heroes on the big screen, it’s hard to beat the magic of the first. However, after the dust has settled, I am in a vocal minority which believes that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is superior to the first film.
After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the revelation that HYDRA is still active, the six Avengers are reassembled to take down HYDRA and steal back Loki’s scepter, which has been used to experiment on people. After completing the mission, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) discover that Loki’s scepter houses the Mind Stone and they use it to create a peacekeeping Artificial Intelligence program called Ultron (voiced by James Spader). When Ultron believes that the best way to keep peace is by destroying humanity, The Avengers must take on Ultron and his army of robots before the world is potentially destroyed.
As much as I love “The Avengers,” one of its biggest flaws is that the story wasn’t particularly strong but the coming together of characters overshadowed that. But in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Joss Whedon crafts a much better story that keeps the fun of the first while improving the characterization, particularly for characters without a solo film like Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansonn) and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner).
Both Barton and Romanoff have their backstories explored more with Clint being revealed to be a family man with a wife, kids and a farm. Natasha is given a romance with Bruce Banner and more of her backstory as a KGB agent is revealed.
When The Avengers become emotionally frayed after a battle with Ultron, they retreat to Clint’s home to heal up in my favorite scene of the film. As much as I love the action, seeing characters like Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) talk to each other and exchange jokes is just entertaining to me. This film also cemented Hawkeye as an essential part of the team and one of my favorite Avengers because of how supportive he is and how he’s a normal guy making a difference alongside a green monster and a thunder god.
Using Hulkbuster armor, Iron Man takes on The Hulk in a stunning action sequence.
While Loki, for a long time, was the gold standard for Marvel movie villains, Ultron is a solid villain. While he does have the basic goal of killing humanity, James Spader just conveys an incredible presence with his cool voice and great dialogue. But while he’s the villain, the film slightly blurs the lines between good and evil by having Ultron being made by some of The Avengers, planting the seeds for films like “Captain America: Civil War.”
Joining the massive roster of superheroes are siblings Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) who were experimented on by HYDRA, resulting in Pietro having superspeed and Wanda specializing in hypnosis and telekinesis. Due to their hatred for Tony Stark, whose weapons killed their parents years ago, they join up with Ultron before switching to The Avengers after Ultron’s true intentions are revealed.
The roster of superheroes only continues to grow with past supporting characters like James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) joining the team and a superpowered android called Vision (Paul Bettany) taking the side of The Avengers, despite being made by Ultron. Not only are these heroes great to see in a full-fledged “Avengers” film, but their addition continues to build up the MCU. In less than ten years, we’ve come a long way since 2008’s “Iron Man.”
But while “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is better than the first, it just doesn’t have the same “wow” factor which was inevitable. This is most apparent in the action. While the final fight, on a floating Eastern European city which can collide with the Earth and destroy humanity is a lot of fun, it’s just hard to compete with the original New York City fight but this film tries its best.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” is not quite as fun as the original but it’s definitely more memorable. When we discuss the best films of the MCU, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” deserves to be brought up more in the conversation. But the post-credits sequence would reveal something truly big on the horizon. We see Thanos (Josh Brolin) put on the Infinity Gauntlet and say “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” And just like that, the next “Avengers” film promised to be something truly remarkable.
