If Marvel’s The Avengers was about bringing together a new team of superheroes, Age of Ultron wastes no time and jumps straight into action with said team having worked together for some time now. In the opening sequence the Avengers are after Loki’s sceptre which they’ve tracked to Baron von Strucker’s hidden Hydra base in Sokovia. But to get through the base defences, they’ll need to cause some damage, and they’re quite good at that. Iron Man is flying around liaising with Jarvis as he takes out the enemies and gauges the situation further; Captain America on a motorcycle being the super soldier that he is. Thor wielding Mjolnir and doing the things Thor does with said Mjolnir; Hulk roaming around the winter-y forest tracking down the enemy and smashing them; Black Widow and Hawkeye taking out the enemies with pinpoint precision as she drives one of the Jeeps and he’s perched up on the back firing arrow after arrow. It is a high-octane treat as the audience sees all of the Avengers assembled as of the last movie, doing what they do best – kicking ass as a team whilst exchanging witty banter amongst each other in true comic book fashion.
The opening scenes definitely leave the audience curious for what else is to come, and they won’t be disappointed with Avengers: Age of Ultron. “When Tony Stark jumpstarts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as they battle to save the planet from destruction at the hands of the villainous Ultron.” But there’s so much more happening than just what the synopsis provides. It’s likely you’ve seen at least one of the trailers or TV spots floating around the Internet (or in cinemas) at this stage, and given how much has been released, some fans are wondering if there’s anything left in the film to explore? Rest assured, there’s plenty of meat left on the bones of Avengers: Age of Ultron as things play out. There are several major scale battles where the entire team is working together, and they’re working together very well with each team member having a key part to play as they hunt for Ultron. There’s more than a few moments where the audience easily breaks out into laughter, fist-bumps and cheers depending on which characters they enjoy most and what just happened. There’s also a share of subtle blink-and-you’ll-miss it moments between various characters; it may be a look, a smirk, few words, a sudden action or an action in the background as other characters interact in the foreground, but these all show little insights into the team dynamics and individual characters which is always nice to see.
We also see the Avengers interact with one another outside of the battle ground; mostly witty banter and the like as they rib on each other and play a game of “Who Can Lift Mjolnir?” at a party, but it’s not all fun and games for the team. The science bros – Tony and Bruce have been busy tinkering in the lab with things they shouldn’t be tinkering, perhaps not much of a revelation or a surprise there. It’s good to see their banter as they work together and sometimes butt heads on things whilst keeping certain things a secret from the rest of the team. There’s a few interesting revelations about some of the other Avengers too, Hawkeye in particular has an arc that shows a surprising side of him outside being just a guy with a bow and arrow and one of the only two non-super-powered humans to fill the ranks of the Avengers team.
The other non-super-powered human on the team, Black Widow still kicks ass in the field, but when outside of it, there are times The Hulk Whisperer is almost reduced to a desperate, lovesick puppy, even to the point of being an actual damsel in distress who gets rescued by her knight in shining armour in the film. It’s never explained in the film how Natasha went from the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier, to building enough of a relationship with Bruce Banner to be able to communicate and calm down the Hulk. What happened to Banner having control of his anger issues like he did in the first Avengers film? For that matter, didn’t Tony Stark destroy all his suits at the end of Iron Man 3? How/when/why did he get back into a suit again? These are just some of the questions that can pop up through the movie. but face it, when going to see a movie based on a comic book universe, strong plot doesn’t necessarily have to be at the centre of the thing, you just kind of have to go with the flow. There’s quite a few Hulk-sized plot holes throughout the movie, however these may be able to be filled in with another hour or so of footage that’s been cut from the theatrical cut, but the existing cut doesn’t necessarily detract from enjoyment of the film. Quite the opposite, it leaves the audience wishing the film was longer, which is rare when it comes to films like that. Also to consider, Age of Ultron is part of a ‘bigger picture’ that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, surely down the line things will click into place more as other movies are released in the future.
Age of Ultron focuses more on the characters who don’t have stand alone movies in the MCU (i.e. not Captain America, Thor and Iron Man); most of the focus is on the twins, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye. For the sake of spoilers, some of the key points will be discussed at a later time in forthcoming posts, but let’s just say there’s a few nice revelations all throughout and we get more of a glimpse into Black Widow (sorry, nothing on what happened in Budapest). Hawkeye gets more to do this time around without the whole mind-control thing; and we actually get to see who Clint Barton is as a person, not just a guy with a bow and a set of trick arrows. He has some notable moments and delivers what’s arguably one (if not several) of the best lines in the film.
The Maximoff twins have an interesting backstory that doesn’t use their comic-book mutant origins due to legal restrictions, yet the origin story works very well in the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself. It’s good to have Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch aboard this round, since their powers are different to those of the core Avengers. Pietro/Quicksilver runs fairly quickly, whilst Wanda is able to mess with people’s minds and thensome. “He’s fast, she’s weird” says Maria Hill at one point when the team are looking into the two ‘enhanced’ humans. Both Wanda and Pietro lend themselves very well to great visual effects and powerful scenes throughout the movie making them a great addition to the cinematic universe all throughout.
James Spader makes for a very decent villain in Ultron, an operating system/artificial intelligence gone bad, but with a sense of humour taken straight out of Tony Stark’s books and somewhat reminiscent of Portal‘s GLaDOS. Spader’s voice is eerie in parts, menacing, witty and the robotic visage he keeps upgrading can indeed be scary for some (some kids were heard crying in the audience when Ultron popped up multiple times, maybe it’s the teeth?) Ultron is definitely an entertaining villain for the movie; his plan and reasons behind said plan make sense in the bigger picture of things and that sets him as a worthy adversary for the Avengers even without the help of Maximoff twins.
And of course there’s The Vision, no spoilers for his origin story, but it’s one that makes perfect sense in the scope of things. He’s not given much time to develop as a character, but all in due time as there’s no doubt he’ll be making more appearances across the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future. He does have a few juicy moments in the film, not to mention some memorable lines.
For comic book fans, this movie is a treat, there’s plenty of Easter eggs and bits that make one tingle with excitement of anticipation for what’s to come in the future movies. There’s quite a number of “Oh s***!” moments throughout the film and plenty of one-liners and bits that are straight out of comic books. There’s some great camera work in the film, including some angles that feel very comic book-y, which is a great thing. Non-comic book fans don’t fret, Age of Ultron is a fun ride regardless, albeit probably less enjoyable.
The stunts are equally impressive as we see the likes of Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, the Hulk, Ultron and co dangle, leap around, flip, fly, somersault over objects and a host of other things comic book characters are well known for. The 3D effects were okay, however it’s curious to see how the Age of Ultron IMAX experience is going to be like as the CGI effects are stellar to say the least. Music-wise, the soundtrack feels less majestic than the original Avengers score by Alan Silvestri, and indeed the music that adds a heightened sense of excitement to certain scenes are Silvestri’s re-used scores, the rest is more muted and darker, perhaps on purpose given the film is certainly darker than the original.
Over all, the movie feels a bit too rushed in parts (such as Ultron’s creation as well as his motives), slow in others, forced in yet other parts, but the balance is not that bad all things considering. Regardless of that and the sheer number of characters running around vying for screen time, the action scenes alone are worth the admission price, guaranteed to keep people coming back just so they can see what they missed, if they can stand the cringe-worthy moments that seem to negate some of the stand alone films in the MCU. It’ll also help to leave the nitpicker part of the brain at home for this one and just enjoy the movie for what it is – great fun ride, Marvel-style.
Certainly Marvel Studios have another box office winner on their hands in Age of Ultron, especially considering there’ll be plenty of things viewers can miss in the first screening, as it’s hard to take everything in in just one or two viewings of the film because the movie is definitely bigger and grittier than the original.
Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in theatres across the UAE on April 30th and can be seen in IMAX, 3D, 2D and 4DX.
