Age of Ultron ushers in a new age of Marvel superheroes.
“Now, I’m free. There are no strings on me.”
Those were the infamous last words we heard from the first trailer for Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, spoken by the subtitle character himself. It might have made some fans groan, but hey, that’s what happens when you let Disney try to rule the cinematic world.
Luckily, Disney doesn’t hinder Marvel’s awesomeness in cinema. And Age of Ultron is the definitive proof of that.
Even from the outset, we knew that Ultron was going to be darker than its predecessor from 2012. How much darker is it? Well, the overall atmosphere didn’t do a full 180 from the first film. It’s closer to 90, but I’d put my estimate more around 75.
Anyways, the film doesn’t waste any time and thrusts us into the action right from the get-go, as the team from the last film is in the heat of battle at a remote Hydra hideout. I won’t spill the details here (their mission was supposedly top-secret), but I will say that their mission was successful. Shortly afterwards, they regroup at the Avengers Tower (formerly Stark Tower). While there, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) convinces Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to help him create a new, more powerful Artificial Intelligence than his current Jarvis. This new Intelligence he dubs “Ultron.” Their efforts are successful...to an extent. Yes, Ultron is successfully created, but that’s where success ends...and absolute insanity begins.
Ultron awakes in a manner that reminded me instantly of Mewtwo’s awakening in Mewtwo Strikes Back. (Yes, I like Pokemon. Deal with it) Only in this case, the newly awakened doesn’t waste any time getting to know his companion before taking control. He is confused and afraid. When he first confronts the Avengers as they’re having a party, he declares his intent of bringing about their “extinction.” A skirmish ensues, ending with Ultron’s body being destroyed, but by then it’s too late. Being an artificial intelligence, Ultron has access to a digital hub that no one else can get to the way he can: the internet. This allows him to continue to thrive. He creates a new body for himself: a more powerful body. And since Stark created him, he has the ability to control his Iron Man army. (except for Iron Man suit itself, as that is controlled by another intelligence Stark made, presumably as a backup in case Jarvis failed)
Ugh...why is it that every time the good guys come up with a genius idea that they never come up with in movies, the bad guys steal it?!
One thing that’s quickly noticeable in this movie is the improved CGI graphics. I know that may sound redundant, but in this case it makes sense. The one character who best exemplifies this is the Hulk. (Banner’s super-powered angry side) In the first film, we only saw Hulk in action twice. Yes, he’s a force to be reckoned with, but I never found myself put off by him. (well, he does manage to make me jump at least once every time I watch that movie; you know what I’m talking about, right?) The general reaction was probably something more along the lines of “Oh, yeah, Hulk smash!”
This time around, however, Hulk’s CGI elements have pulled a 75 right alongside the movie. When his muscles grow, the effects make it more pronounced. His facial expressions are also more twisted at times. There isn’t too much difference, but there’s enough that it’s noticeable, especially in the scene where Iron Man dons his Hulkbuster armor. Between the two films, this was easily Hulk’s most offsetting sequence.
On top of that, we also get to see Hulk do a reverse transformation back into Banner, something that we didn’t get to see onscreen in the last film. It’s easy to turn Banner into the Hulk, but turning Hulk back into Banner takes a little more work. We didn’t see too much of it onscreen this go-round, but there was enough that they used CGI to make it work. Not quite perfect, but impressive nonetheless.
That could basically be said about the film as a whole, too, although “impressive” doesn’t quite capture the quality of this movie. “Just what you’d expect” is probably a little more accurate.
The film’s darker elements come into play in strong ways. The most obvious example of this is the Disney-quoting Ultron, whose original purpose of protecting humanity is twisted into believing that their destruction is the key to the world’s salvation. He’s definitely a step out of line from Loki, who took his villainous role seriously while still having fun with it. Ultron, on the other hand, is sparing no time having fun while working to fulfill his self-given mission, and he has what it takes to do it.
Then again, if you have an Iron Man army, what can’t you do?
The stakes are also higher: not just for saving the world, but also for the Avengers themselves. While in the first film all they had to do was hold back an alien invasion while shutting down the portal that allowed said-aliens to attack, this time around, the final conflict has them holding back Ultron’s army from accessing a power source which, according to one of them, if he gets it, it’s “game over.” There was a “game over” possibility in the first film, too, but it wasn’t as straightforward: the Avengers get overwhelmed by the invasion and can’t hold it back or shut down the portal. This time around, the game is “Capture the Flag.” If they lose, it’s “game over.”
And the stakes are even higher as they come ever closer to the final conflict, as tensions within the team are building from the moment Stark begins work on Ultron. The most prominent example of this is Stark’s unbelievably relentless determination to make Ultron “work.” In this sense, Stark unintentionally makes himself a villain. And since he convinces Banner to help him out, that only makes things worse. These divisions come to an intense climax that goes way beyond any tension in the team from the last film, and it’s not in the same vein as a “who would win” scenario, either.
One of the running themes in this film also takes influence from the darker atmosphere. Just as I predicted, this movie gives more food for thought than the first film. The most thought-provoking idea that film produced was Loki’s idea that freedom as we know it is a lie, and that, deep down, we long to kneel before some higher authority. While the idea is implicitly rejected, it never truly gets challenged in and of itself, and it never comes up again once the movie passes the one-hour mark.
This time around, Ultron’s entire mission is based on the idea that human beings must be destroyed. “They are doomed,” he says, referencing humanity’s destructive tendencies. Such tendencies come into play as the film explores a theme previously explored in Captain America: The Winter Soldier: the line between good and evil gets blurred throughout the film. This puts our heroes in a pickle, forcing them to really give some serious thought to whether or not they are the good guys or the bad guys.
Newcomer twins Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his twin sister, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are working with Ultron. They hope to get revenge against Tony Stark, whose weapons killed their parents when they were ten years old, further expanding on the themes mentioned above. Later, another newcomer becomes the antithesis of this blurred line between good and evil. “I am on the side of life,” he says when he appears. And that’s the end of it. Said-character states that he does not wish to kill Ultron, but that he doesn’t have much choice. The stark contrast between this moral absolutism and the ambiguity of other characters’ alliances manages to set everyone straight...and set up one of the most hilarious moments in the movie.
Then again, maybe it was the most hilarious. After all, it was the only moment that got a round of applause from the audience. Well, applause or no applause, the darker atmosphere in this movie does not curb the high-quality humor that was one of the most appealing aspects of the first film. (and yes, there is such a thing as low-quality humor. Why do you think I don’t watch much TV?)
I only have one real complaint about this movie: they shipped. Yes, they went there and paired up Banner with Black Widow, a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). When I realized they were doing that, I did a mental facepalm. Granted, some of their interactions help to bring the aforementioned themes in the film into focus, but other than that this pairing serves no purpose in the film. It’s a gimmick.
On the upside (though it’s a dim upside, really), it’s not as bad as Kili and Tauriel in The Hobbit trilogy. And it’s still a better love story than Twilight. But I’m still gonna complain.
And what about Hawkeye x Black Widow? They teased that one in the last film, intentionally or not. Either way, the Hawk is out of the way, as Hawkeye, a.k.a. Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), reveals that he has a wife and two kids, with a third one on the way. This has “cop-out” written all over it. I guess this comes as a slap in the face for those shippers.
Nice going, Whedon.
No, really. Age of Ultron is, as I said above, not quite perfect, but it’s still just what you’d expect of a Marvel film of this magnitude. It’s darker than its predecessor, yes, but it’s still The Avengers. The biggest difference between the first and second films is that where the first film focused on the awesomeness of something unprecedented in superhero cinema history, Age of Ultron is more focused on being a Marvel film: exploring themes, telling a story, etc. And they’re both no less superb for it. Of course, the first film wasn’t quite as flawed as Ultron, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better.
Can I complain? Yeah, but I say just let it go.
…
Darn it, Disney! You’re doing it again!
4.75/5 stars
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