14 DAY TRIAL // In 2012, writer-director Joss Whedon delivered for Marvel’s first, insanely successful “Avengers” film, considered to this day the “perfect” superhero film ever made, a combination of wit, humor, substance and style that had no rival until that point.
Don’t look at this year’s sequel, “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” for that.
“Ultron” is bigger, more explosive and action-packed, louder and more dangerous than the original, but it’s also narrower in reach, less inviting and considerably more taxing on the audience it aims to entertain. It’s popcorn entertainment in its purest form, if popcorn entertainment had downed 5 strong coffees and 10 Red Bulls at once.
Avengers, Ultron, Vision and a battle to save our planet
The first “Avengers” movie saw the biggest superheroes in the Marvel comic-book universe finally make their way on the big screen, assembled to fight the battles man could not on his own.
In “Age of Ultron,” we meet them again, and the film wastes absolutely no time in bringing the viewer smack in the middle of the action. Whedon, who returns as screenwriter and director for one last time, ditches traditional storytelling conventions and literally starts the movie in the middle of a fight scene. It almost feels like being yanked by The Hulk and dragged across the pavement, not understanding what’s going on.
So The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are attacking a secret base where some bad guy is keeping Loki’s scepter hidden.
Oh, if you’re a newbie to the Marvel cinematic universe, good luck with keeping up with this installment: many of the jokes and even important plot elements only make sense if you’re familiar with events from the previous Marvel films, including “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
The Avengers manage to retrieve the scepter with the Infinity Stone, but Tony Stark / Iron Man, being the inquisitive mind that he is, believes it would serve a much better purpose if he used it to create an AI that would protect the world against future alien attacks, thus rendering the Avengers obsolete.
Ultron (James Spader), a sentient AI, is born, but he’s not willing to play by Stark’s rules. If anything, he would rather he did the exact contrary of everything Stark believes in, starting with the need to kill the Avengers and replace the entire human population with his own kind: robots.
Along the way, he recruits twins Wanda and Pietro, aka Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson), two orphans who had been subjected to testing that gave them superpowers. They’re obviously OK with using said superpowers for evil, as long as that means getting even with Stark. It’s complicated story, really.
In the end, it all boils down to this: Ultron and his army of little Ultrons want to destroy our planet and the Avengers are trying to stop him, even if that means they die in the attempt. At this point, given how badly Stark messed up in creating Ultron, they don’t have much of a choice.
A tale of Michael Bay proportions
Whatever was special about the first “Avengers” is gone in this sequel: where that one was praised for being the perfect mix of style and substance, in “Ultron,” the scales tip dangerously towards the former.
The film begins with an epic battle scene and ends with another. In between these two, there’s also a battle scene at Stark’s headquarters, in a South African town, on a highway, in a train, and in a town in a remote country. Whedon picks up the pace of the story alright, but he does it at the expense of the simple story that made the first film so amazing: the relationship between the Avengers.
It’s true, there’s still some banter and many hilarious one-liners, with a touch of romance and a little more backstory for Hawkeye in there, but it all feels drowned in the noise of all the fighting and the explosions.
“Age of Ultron” comes dangerously close to Michael Bay’s “Transformers” without the robots and without actually falling in that trap where all storytelling is limited to throwing fast cuts of fight scenes at the bewildered viewer. Still, it’s dangerously tip-toeing on the abyss.
It still has a soul and a good story (and solid character definition), but they feel muffled by all that CGI (which leaves something to be desired in the opening shot) and the images of utter destruction. At one point, it becomes difficult to keep track of the story or to make sense of what’s happening. Or to care.
A soul-crushing, awe-inspiring experience
When you walk out of “Age of Ultron,” you feel exhausted. It’s not that it’s not an enjoyable experience, because it is, but rather that it’s so enjoyable that it becomes taxing.
Whedon, either because he wanted to make his last hurrah more memorable or because of pressure from Marvel higher-ups, throws all caution out the window and “runs with it,” as Black Widow would say. In the creation of “Ultron,” he’s like a kid who has these amazing toys in the Avengers and he plays with them by banging them against the walls and each other.
It’s a fun but taxing thing to experience.
Since “Age of Ultron” plays out like the middle chapter of a bigger story (we still have “Infinity War Part I” and “Part II” to look forward to in 2018 and 2019, respectively), it begs the question of what will happen now that Whedon won’t return as writer / director. It would be a shame if Marvel continued on this streak of overwhelming the viewer with… pretty much everything.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” runs for 141 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence and destruction, and for some suggestive comments. It is now running in select theaters around the world and will open wide in most territories on May 1, 2015.
Unlike all other comic book-based movies from Marvel, it doesn’t include a post-credits scene, so there’s no sense in waiting in the theater for it. Look, however, for an Easter Egg halfway through the end credits.
The Good
CGI is good and the choreography of the fight scenes is impressive. The strongest link remains, however, the witty dialog, which only leaves you wishing there were more of it.
The Bad
“Ultron” is a bigger, bolder effort than its predecessor, and this comes at the cost of a better story, better storytelling and the simplicity of said predecessor.
The Truth
It’s a must-see for fans, but those movie buffs not familiar with Marvel superheroes will find little to enjoy about it.
