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Synopsis
The film opens with The Avengers raiding a HYDRA base in Sokovia to retrieve the mind control staff Loki wielded. Once they’ve retrieved it, Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Banner (Mark Ruffalo) discover an artificial intelligence living inside the staff. They decide to use it as the base of their “Ultron” program, which would be a global defense network. Unfortunately, Ultron becomes sentient, nearly wipes out JARVIS, and spread his mind across the globe to achieve peace through destruction. With a new form, Ultron (James Spader) recruits Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for his plan. With Pietro’s superspeed and Wanda’s telekinesis, they manage to disband the Avengers, but soon learn of Ultron’s true intention: extinction. The Maximoffs helps The Avengers retrieve an artificial body Ultron had to create Vision (Paul Bettany) using JARVIS’ programming. With their new comrades, The Avengers must stop Ultron from wiping out humanity.
Review
While The Avengers was tons of fun and a big Hollywood blockbuster done right, this one is a step down. When the action gets going, there is fun to be had, but it lacks the same punch as the original. The returning cast all do their jobs well, and there is some decent character development going on. Probably the biggest surprise here is just how amazing the villain is, largely thanks to James Spader’s performance. His charisma and chilling voice make for a very sinister and memorable villain, one of the MCU’s best yet. Unfortunately, the rest of the film falls slightly flat, though it’s not a completely worthless film. After the first 30-40 minutes, the film comes to a near dead halt with almost nothing substantial happening. Newcomers Johnson and Olsen do a decent job as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, though they’re not given much development.
Also, Whedon’s direction is fine, but watching this gives one the impression that he’s gotten tired by this point. With an almost two-and-a-half hour runtime and so much excess, it feels slightly overblown and needed to be dialed back. Given the budget, you can see the money on screen, but sometimes less is more, and that’s the case here. There’s some interesting character moments when Scarlet Witch manipulates the minds of The Avengers, but much of it is setup. So many moments here are devoted to setting up future movies rather than just being a good standalone movie. That said, the movie does pick up in the third act, with all The Avengers teaming up to fight Ultron. That’s the best way to sum this up: a largely underwhelming experience with some fun moments. Overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron has decent qualities, but is somewhat disappointing compared to the first.
Buy Avengers: Age of Ultron from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lHlBeS.
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