Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is directed by Joss Whedon and features the talents of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansen, Jeremy Renner, and Chris Hemsworth.  The plot of the film surrounds the idea that the world will always need protecting and The Avengers may not always be there.  The solution that Tony Stark decides is that there should be an army of helpful robots used across the globe as The Avengers work to stop the last of Hydra’s forces.  While at the Hydra outpost, Stark discovers Loki’s scepter and uses it to power artificial intelligence for the global defense force he has created with Bruce Banner.  Unfortunately, giving the new AI intelligence causes it to think that because of earth’s history with war the planet cannot be saved and must be eradicated.  It’s up to The Avengers to stop the rogue A.I. named Ultron from destroying the planet.

The thing about Marvel Entertainment that makes their cinematic efforts so enjoyable is that all of the characters in their cinematic universe demonstrate humanity in some form.  Captain America even though he is patriotic knows and lives by understanding the difference between right and wrong.  Black Widow understands how to turn weaknesses into strengths.  Iron Man for all of his intelligence knows how to look at the future while still living in the present.  All of the team have those innate characters present in them but the problem is none of those characteristics are fully utilized in the film.  What the film provides audiences instead is Stark being arrogant about future catastrophes as a result of being manipulated by new character Scarlet Witch.  As a result, the film becomes a giant blame game throughout because of how Scarlet Witch meddled with each Avengers mind.

I feel like the scale of this film was increased significantly by Whedon and while that is superb I feel like the director forgot to make sure that each character grew and changed by the end of the film.  There’s no growth by any of the film’s characters with exception being taken for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.  The one person who gets a unique and moving backstory is Hawkeye.  While I can’t give away what audiences learn I will say his story arc is surprisingly emotional and the real heart of the film.

The action set pieces while fun don’t really make the overall film more remarkable.  In the previous Avengers film the set pieces added to characters we already knew about whereas in this film anytime a set piece occurred it felt a distraction from a not properly fleshed out story.  I would have loved to see a film from Whedon and company that honored what we knew about the characters but also gave us something new.

The other big surprise of the film was James Spader’s performance as Ultron.  He’s smarmy and sophisticated but also incredibly smug.  Spader’s performance really hams up how much Ultron feels like he’s doing the right thing in terms of destroying the earth.  The problem is that much like the heroes the story’s villain only evolves through mechanical engineering rather than personality.

This epic had so much going for it but it falters hard because only one character from the film grows overall.  There are no unique surprises.  Every character I liked has become bland and stale.  The film need more story and a stronger sense of fun.  When the Avengers assemble again let’s hope a better film comes with them.