REVIEW: Avengers- Age of Ultron

After months upon months of anticipation and an oversaturation of over-showing advertisements, the second of Marvel's Avengers team-up movies has hit US theaters in the form of Avengers: Age of Ultron. I must admit, my hype for the film had slowly diminished over time; I was shaking with anticipation upon walking out of James Gunn's phenominal Guardians of the Galaxy last summer. However, between the various trailers (which show far more than they should) and the knowledge that the next time the Avengers assemble (albeit years from now in the two-part Infinity War), the result will be bigger and better in literally every aspect, my excitement for Age of Ultron steadily decreased from "frothing at the mouth" to "just another movie I want to see". Unfortunately for the film, my expectations didn't follow such a downward slope, otherwise I probably would have appreciated what I watched more than I did. Don't misunderstand me, I didn't dislike this film; hell, I just got back from my second (and likely not last) screening. I was, however, somewhat underwhelmed. I didn't leave the theater in the same state of pupil-dilating delight that Joss Whedon's first Avengers left me in. This isn't a bad movie, but I feel as though it certainly could have (and indeed should have) been better.

For anyone who's been under a rock for the past year or so, the plot follows the Avengers (Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner) dealing with the genocidal AI known as Ultron (voiced and mo-capped by James Spader). Like many robots designed to protect humanity, Ultron sees the human race as a threat to itself and deduces that the only logical way to keep people from constantly killing each other is to wipe them all out. By his side are Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor Johnson), twins from the European nation of Sokovia who volunteered to be imbued with the powers of reality manipulation and super speed for a chance to gain revenge against one Tony Stark. As one would expect from a Marvel movie at this point, the cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury and Paul Bettany pulling double duty both as Tony Stark's AI assistant, JARVIS, and as the enigmatic Vision. New to the MCU is Andy Serkis, appearing as Ulysses Klaue, a black market arms dealer whom fans of the comics will recognize as arch-enemy of the Black Panther. With an ensemble this large and diverse, it can be difficult to ensure that everyone gets enough screentime and development; it can be a little imbalanced here and there (as one would expect, we spend much more time with Iron Man than we do with Thor or Hulk), but for the most part it's pretty even.

The alumni have all long since settled into their respective roles and play them well. Honestly, all of the performances here are great, the only issues arise from the writing. It's sharp and clever at  best, utterly cringe-inducing at the worst. Captain America went through a significant deal of development and growth in the stellar Winter Soldier; here, he is relegated to occasionally give a teamwork speech and be the butt of jokes about how he's an old-fashioned boyscout who doesn't like naughty words. Tony Stark was left in a very interesting place at the end of Iron Man 3, rethinking his philosophy and mission statement when it came to being a superhero, deciding not to rely so heavily on technology. In Age of Ultron, literally every decision he makes is a bad one (even the choices that end up working out in the end are all horribly irresponsible in context). Honestly, it's kind of shocking just how incompetent Iron Man is for the entirety of this film, in particular during the already iconic Hulkbuster fight. Instead of coming off as a well-intentioned hero who makes a mistake, he's written like a wannabe messiah with absolutely zero foresight. Granted, there IS a plot point that explains this behavior (or at least the aspects of which result in Ultron being born), but that doesn't magically turn this detail into a point in the film's favor. If the intent was to streamline the process of making him into an almost-antagonist in time for Captain America: Civil War, then mission accomplished. Thor has barely any screentime when he's not hitting things with his hammer and Hulk is now involved in an awkward and overly-forward romance with Black Widow (because if there's one thing audiences love in superhero movies, it's unnecessary romantic subplots). Bruce Banner sees himself as a monster because of the beast lurking within him, but the reason that Agent Romanoff thinks of herself as something of a "monster" is so baffling I'm honestly surprised it made it into the final cut. I honestly don't understand the logic in taking the only female Avenger to get so much screentime (a hardened secret agent with a bloody, shadowy past as an assassin) and relegate her to the role of team denmother, able to soothe the savage beast with her gentle femininity (when she's not throwing out witty quips about how she's the girl on the team of "boys"). In short, literally every main character here is better written in their own movies. Widow and Cap were better in Winter Soldier, Tony and Rhodey were better in Iron Man 3, and so on. All that said, the two characters who completely steal the show here are unquestioningly Renner's Hawkeye and Bettany as The Vision.

Hawkeye was infamously underdeveloped in the first Avengers and, in a stroke of good decision making, Whedon has remedied this by giving him entire scenes of nothing but pure character development. It's greatly appreciated and helps cement Hawkeye as something more than "that guy with the bow and arrows who's on the same team as the Mighty Thor for some reason". Renner plays the role as incredibly down-to-earth and it works perfectly; this is a normal, human guy who happens to be really good at archery and that is why he works alongside Hulk and Iron Man. As I mentioned, the other highlight was Paul Bettany as The Vision. The Vision is an intriguing character, in that he is both above and outside of humanity, yet was born of humanity. He feels no ill will towards anything, even Ultron, giving him a distinctly Christlike tone; he is the bridge between the synthetic and the organic, offering insight from both perspectives as a living being and as a machine, born in a lab. Aside from the fantastic performance by Bettany, his powerset is absolutely a blast to watch in motion, so a gold star for The Vision, the peaceful, optimistic Yang to the villainous Ultron's Yin. And speaking of Ultron, we come to my biggest gripe with the movie...

In the comics, Ultron is an advanced AI developed by Dr. Hank Pym (better known as the first Ant Man). Designed to protect the human race, Ultron deduced that the only way to save mankind from itself was to destroy all life on Earth entirely. In the source material, Ultron is a hateful, spite-filled presence and is one of the absolute greatest threats to the planet. In the movie, he is a snarky android who spouts one-liners and fails to ever come off as a genuine threat. I know it's not necessarily fair to compare the comic books to the film; these are two different interpretations through two different mediums. However, that doesn't change that the MCU portrayal of Ultron is one of the most pointless villains to exist in a modern Marvel movie. He's not quite as bad as Thor: The Dark World's Malekith the Accursed, but Loki, Kingpin, Alexander Pierce, and even Thanos (for the cumulative ten minutes of screentime he's had so far) completely blow Ultron's dumb robot eyebrows off of his oddly expressive face. All that said, no disrespect is meant to Mr. Spader; he does a bang-up job in the role and his voice sounds fantastic coming out of a robot that intends to end all life on the planet. As I mentioned, none of the problems with this movie have to do with the cast so much as they have to do with the writing. Instead of loathing humanity with a deep, painful hatred, Ultron makes sarcastic remarks. There's a half a handful of moments when he actually sounds either genuinely threatening or intriguingly vulnerable, but these interesting character moments are too few and far between to salvage this wreck of a villain. His plan is idiotic and he carries himself in a way that makes it seem like he's one musical cue away from breaking into a Disney villain song. James Spader is awesome, but Ultron is decidedly not.

For all my complaining, it probably sounds like I hated this movie; I don't. I actually quite like it. I don't love it the way I love Winter Soldier, or Guardians of the Galaxy, or even The Avengers, but that doesn't mean it's horrible. Truthfully, I was just disappointed; it feels like this movie could have been so much more. It's already long (just over two hours long, to be more specific), but an extended edition would really help patch some of those holes and add some lean meat onto this shallow summer blockbuster. I feel the same way about Avengers: Age of Ultron that I felt about Iron Man 2 when I first saw that years ago; it was an enjoyable time, I definitely recommend seeing it in a theater with a good sound system and a fun, responsive crowd. That said, it simply felt like a preamble; Iron Man 2 was nothing but build up to The Avengers, Age of Ultron was a bunch of build up to Marvel's Phase Three. It's the Avengers, so you're going to have a good time. But don't expect anything revolutionary.