First, let me just say this: When I say “All the Spoilers!”,
I mean it. Sorry!
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| Don't let this be you! If you don't want spoilers, STOP READING NOW. |
I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron last night, and I must say, I
quite enjoyed it. Not like the first
Avengers – I adored the first Avengers movie.
Adored it. I actually skipped my
Master’s degree graduation ceremony to go see it alone, and I have never once
regretted it.
Age of Ultron was good, but it wasn’t the first Avengers
movie. It wasn’t that new, and it wasn’t
just on the cusp of the American obsession with superheroes that helped make it
so unique and awesome. It was still,
however, a Joss Whedon film, and it kept the cast that really made the first Avengers movie, and thus
it was pretty incredible.
The plot is pretty much what you get from the trailer: Tony
Stark, in an attempt to bring world peace, builds Ultron, a functional AI. Like every other peace-keeping AI in any
sci-fi movie ever, Ultron comes to the conclusion that in order for humanity to
have peace, they must be destroyed. (If
this sounds familiar, it is because this was the same conclusion drawn by the
giant face-robot who led the army of glowing red Alan Tudyk machines in I,
Robot about ten years ago.) Unlike other movies with this same
destruction-robot idea, Age of Ultron throws in a twist: Ultron fixates on the
Avengers themselves as the source of most of the violence on Earth and sets out
to destroy them. They quickly realize
they are horribly outmatched against Ultron, who has joined forces with the
never-named-due-to-copyright-issues Scarlet Witch and her twin, the
again-never-named Quiksilver.
Thus, violence ensues.
The movie skitters all over the globe trying to find and stop Ultron,
including visits to Seoul, South Korea, somewhere in South Africa, and their
characteristic New York City, all before ending up for the final show-down in Sovokia. There, in a recovering Soviet backwater,
apparently Ultron has decided that no one will notice when he lifts several square
miles worth of earth into the sky to use as an impromptu meteor, big enough to
trigger a global extinction. The Avengers notice, of course, but no one
else – no militaries around the world, no emergency systems, nothing. You can imagine the CGI-destruction that
extends from this point until the end of the movie.
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| Ultron and his minions. I told you. |
Frankly, the plot is the weakest point of Age of
Ultron. The robot-destruction is eerily
reminiscent of I, Robot, and the whole “Avengers must fight an army of minions”
is basically just a re-hash of the Chitauri battle in the first movie, just in
Eurasia instead of New York City. As
soon as I opened my mouth to point that out, Bishop reminded me that that’s
basically the plot of, like, every superhero movie. I guess I don’t care – part of what I liked
about the first movie is that the plot felt original, not yet overdone. Here, it feels a little stale.
It also opens very much en
media res (literature term for “in the middle of the action”), which was a little
confusing. It assumes that you’ve seen
the first Avengers, that you’ve seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron
Man 3, all the superhero movies in the same universe since at least 2012. That’s a little confusing, even if you’re
like me and you HAVE seen all those movies.
That’s a lot of information to keep sorted as they descend onto a Hydra
base in the first few minutes. Thoughts
included “Wait… what’s Hydra again?” and then “Really? Hydra again?” You’d think that, since the
1940s/the first Captain America movie, somebody really would have just whacked
them off the face of the planet.
Apparently not.
Some of the emotional build-up in the first twenty minutes
appears to have taken place outside the movie itself as well. The hint of romance between Natasha Romanov
and Bruce Banner, for example, seems to have sparked sometime between The
Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, which is both confusing and
disappointing. Their romance is sweet;
why deprive audiences of that? The movie
would have benefited from about 10 more minutes of expose at the beginning, all
in all, and really, what’s 10 more minutes in a movie that’s already 2.5 hours
long?
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| I don't have a good pic to illustrate this, so here's Chris Hemsworth being pretty as Thor. Also Capt. America and Iron Man for good measure. |
I also had some unfortunately adult concerns over the
collateral damage left behind from the Avengers’ actions. There’s a moment when the Hulk and Iron Man
are fighting and Iron Man literally throws Hulk through a building, top to
bottom, with the building plunging down around him. And in the moment when I should have been
staring with child-like wonder at how fucking awesome the action was, all I
could think about was September 11th. (Depressing, isn’t that?) When the Towers
fell, thousands of tons of dust and debris went up into the air, and NYC
citizens by the millions inhaled it unwittingly; much scientific discussion has
occurred over the unseen health detriments that affected these people. I’ve read some of their essays: it’s a
horrible tragedy that’s gone very widely unreported, the effects of breathing
in the dust of concrete and glass and ash and (most disturbingly) death. So
when Iron Man brought down the tower here, that’s all I could think of – what
will happen to the citizens who have to breathe that shit in?
Sometimes it’s sucky to be an adult.
I realize all I’ve written here suggests that, really, I
didn’t like this movie much, but that’s not true. Plots in superhero movies aren’t expected to
be wholly original and fresh anymore; that’s simply not possible. What makes superhero movies great are the
characters, and character development has always been where Joss Whedon excels
anyway.
Age of Ultron is no exception.
The ensemble cast shines, and the screenwriting is stuffed
filled with one-liners and ridiculous running jokes that bring the movie to
life. A moment in the opening scene
where the Captain chides Stark on his bad language comes back again and again,
each time more clever than the last.
When Nick Fury shows up (because duh) and is already in on the joke, I
couldn’t resist the laugh. And Jeremy
Renner, whose Hawkeye was underutilized (read: a joke) in the first movie,
shines here as one of the quickest characters, with some of the best lines in
the entire movie. When he must rally the rest of the team, when his quick shots
are the last line of defense, Hawkeye proves to be an actual superhero, which
is a nice change. And my god, his lines!
I’ve always like Renner as an actor, regardless of his role, and here his
comedic abilities are a gem of a discovery amidst an already quick-witted cast. I tried so hard to find some examples, but a)
the movie just came out this weekend so IMDB isn’t updated yet, and b)
apparently so far, no one finds him as amusing as I did. No matter: Hawkeye alone is worth the price
of admission.
Robert Downey Jr. lives up to his set character as the
snarky, brilliant Tony Stark, which should surprise no one. He is perhaps the best, most consistently
written character, and fans love Iron Man for that. Captain America, however, is more akin to his
bumbling, stick-up-his-ass character from the first Avengers movie, the growth
and easing of character that happened in Winter Soldier forgotten. I was a little bummed about that – I didn’t
like the first Capt. America movie, but I really enjoyed Winter Soldier, so
that’s what I’d been hoping for. Chris
Evans is still sexy though, so … *shrugs* Romanov and Banner both have their
share of great moments and lines, as do the host of side characters like
Rhodey/Warmachine, Falcon, and others briefly along for the ride.
Clearly, character development and story is far more
important than plot in the Avengers movies, and so that skyrockets this movie
from an average superhero tale to a great one.
There are a couple of truly exceptional scenes throughout,
and for that discussion, I must again call Spoiler Alert! Not all are
plot-specific, but they are certainly worth seeing in film before I pick them
apart here. You’ve been warned.
My favorite scene happened early, maybe half an hour in,
once the group has settled into their headquarters to celebrate their victory
over Hydra. The party’s been ongoing,
with a variety of fun scenes (including Thor getting Stan Lee exceptionally
drunk on Asgardian ale!) to keep it fresh.
Eventually though, the party winds down and as the Avengers are left
alone to just chill, the question of how to lift Thor’s hammer comes up. What ensues is a thing of beauty: a hilarious
montage of each of the Avengers trying to lift it without success. Stark of course must try, then adding his
suit’s arm, then adding Rhodey with his
suit’s arm, to a resounding failure.
(There’s an absolutely horrific moment where, when Thor assures Stark
that he indeed gets to rule Asgard if he can lift it, Stark announces that he
will be reinstituting Prima Nocta, which made me sad since that’s essentially
Whedon including a historical rape joke. Anyway.)
Hawkeye tries, more tipsy than he should be, and then
declares it a “trick,” and Romanov laughs that she doesn’t need that question
answered. Rogers is up next, and there’s
this perfect acting moment from Chris Hemsworth as he makes his attempt. Thor has been sitting to the side, laughing
with that easy smile on his face as each member tries. And since his mantra has been that no one can
pick it up because “they aren’t worthy,” he’s not expecting anything. But Rogers is by far the most ‘pure of heart’
of the Avengers, and the hammer wiggles, just a tiny bit, and as it does,
Hemsworth’s face falls, perfectly, beautifully, just for a second. Relief comes soon as the hammer does no more
than that, and his smile is right back up – but I was just so impressed with
him for that tiny moment of fear breaking through.
And not long after, the first bodily iteration of Ultron staggers
up the stairs for his debut, and the plot zooms off from there. That scene is so perfect -- those character
interactions, that at ease feeling they all give off, just the Avengers hanging
out together, getting drunk and joking around.
The peek into their relationships when they aren't saving the world
elevates both the movie and its writing to new heights.
(Later, after Vision is unleashed, they're back in this
moment in their Avengers Headquarters, all hesitant and unsure about what they
do next. As they start to come to their senses about taking down Ultron and how
they'll do it, it's obvious they aren't sure what to do with Vision, whose AI
is creeping most of them out just a little bit.
And right at that moment when he has to step up and pull them together,
right when they could band together or break apart, Vision picks up the hammer
and unceremoniously hands it to Thor. The
ENTIRE THEATRE gasped when this happened, and the best part was, that gasp was
on the face of every Avenger present.
Perfection.)
The other most powerful scene in the movie happens between
Banner and Romanov, a quiet, tense romance scene that illuminates their
relationship. I mentioned that I almost
felt cheated before, like their romance sparked somewhere between the last few
movies instead of on-screen, and while I still think I'd like to see that
locked-eyes, we're-attracted-to-each-other moment, this scene in Ultron starts
to make up for up.
The team is hidden away, gone to ground to recover from
their first full-out battle with Ultron -- which they spectacularly lost, by
the way. Spoilers - I warned you. Banner is shaving, and as he finishes and
steps out, he finds Romanov sitting in his room in a robe, waiting to use the
bathroom. As he opens the door, she
jokes that she was going to join but decided against it; he mentions there's no
hot water, and she repeats that she should have joined, to awkward,
not-sure-if-you're-kidding smiles all around.
It's a rough start.
But from there, the scene is intense,
no other word to describe it, as they reveal secrets and desires and fears, as
they in turn step into each other's arms and then pull away. I've always liked Mark Ruffalo, especially as
Bruce Banner, so I wasn't surprised to find that his anguish in being unable to
have a family, in being unsure about his future, and his fear all feel so real
here. I've also always been equally unsure
about Scarlett Johansson, whom I like as Black Widow but was never really
impressed by. She brings this scene to
life, giving just as much back to Ruffalo as he's bringing to her, and I can
feel their suffering, their struggle to be better people, to fight against
themselves. It's almost heartbreaking to
watch, and beautiful.
These great scenes aren't to suggest
that the whole movie is like this -- there's a moment when they're fighting a
giant army of minions, just the Avengers, and I turned and went, "Wouldn't
the Rock with that gatling gun from Furious 7 be helpful here??" -- but
they are representative of the writing skill that went into Age of Ultron.
I would highly recommend this film. If you like superhero movies, if you like
action movies -- hell, if you just like great characters -- you will have the
time of your life.
The Age of Ultron is Now.
