Movie Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
The 2015 summer movie season officially kicks off with Avengers: Age of Ultron. Needless to say that the bar has been set pretty damn high here. The prior installment, The Avengers (2012), was a well-received film that also had the third highest gross in history with $1.5 billion in ticket sales. That doesn’t even count all the 
merchandise the film sold. When critics and fans like your work, then you know the job has been done right. Now, the trick is to pull it off again.
Avengers: Age of Ultron was directed by Joss Whedon, who also directed the prior film. It has already been announced that Whedon will not direct the next film in the series and after the success and time expenditure, roughly half a decade, one can certainly understand that decision. He has already hit the pinnacle by going from fan-boy and cult favorite to the writer/director of one the most successful films ever made.
This film was also written by Whedon as well, as was its predecessor. The character credits go to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of Marvel Comics fame. This film is basically Whedon’s attempt to top himself as no movie series, much less a series in the comic-book genre, ever aims to do less action or fewer amazing set pieces. At the same time, we don’t want to go all Spider-Man 3 (2007) and have big action with a suspect story and goofiness galore. So it goes without saying that the bar is set pretty damn high. Did I say that before already? Good. It bears repeating.
This film reunites all the main characters from the previous film and adds some new faces too. The cast includes our Avengers as follows: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), and Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye). Additionally, some old friends that return this time out include: Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig), Don Cheadle (Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), and Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter). We also have some new blood in the mix, including: Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver), and Paul Bettany (Jarvis/The Vision). Of course, you cannot have a film without antagonists. Our villains du jour include: James Spader (Ultron), Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Wolfgang von Strucker), Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Zrinka), and Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaw).
Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” © 2014 – Marvel.
The film opens with a battle scene. The Avengers are on the trial of Hydra and are seeking the spear/staff of Loki as it was clearly a powerful and potent item in the last film. This leads to a fork in the road, now that you have the weapon of Loki, what do you do with it? As you might guess Stark wants to experiment with it a bit before putting it in Asgardian lockdown. That might be a good thing except that it isn’t. Naturally, the end result is Ultron, due to the law of unintended consequences. Ultron proceeds to crash the Avengers’ victory party and declare war on his creator, along with the rest of the team.
The heroes must now hunt down the remaining elements, other Ultrons that is, of the opposition as replication is in its nature. While doing so, Ultron is trying to gather what he needs to build his next vessel and is gathering resources to do so.
These two groups inevitably collide and things get really interesting. The mind mojo that Scarlet Witch hexes the team with shows them all visions that disorient them so much that the bad guys get away and the entire team is haunted by these memories throughout the rest of the film. Each vision is a very personal experience for each character and serves as a warning of what is to come, a reminder of their greatest fears and an insight into their personal struggles. Good writing here by Joss. There are great scenes here that showcase some good background on each character. The team fractures a bit as a result of the hexing they endure. During a respite, we start to see the B-storylines pop up. They include the rise of Ban-Nasha (Banner and Natasha), a surprise regarding Hawkeye, and 
the glimmerings of the growing discord between Stark and Captain America (see Civil War storyline from the comics – and the upcoming third Captain America film).
After a few more skirmishes, the team reaches a decision – and this is really the only major plot-hole objection I have. After experimenting with new and alien tech, taken from Hydra, the team is faced with what to do once Ultron’s new vessel comes into their possession. That anyone on the team, even Stark, thinks experimenting some more is an option makes little sense to me. He has just created an extinction level event in Ultron. So how is “more” of that sort of thinking even believable much less a valid as a course of action?
That objection aside, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is a rollicking ride that all will certainly enjoy. Having really good actors involved in genre fare truly makes all the difference in the world. They all rock here. The spectacle that you seek in a summer film is absolutely here in addition to the humor that is trademark Whedon. There are some scenes that feel right out of a comic book in terms of action and ridiculously amazing stunts/effects. Whedon has managed to top himself.
Steven Gahm
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