Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) - Review

As Avengers: Infinity War premieres TONIGHT in LA, it's time to continue are trip through the MCU before IW drops worldwide on Thursday. Up next, the team re-assembles to close off Phase 2.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avengers come together again to battle a HYDRA remnant. In an effort to better protect mankind, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner develop a defence algorithm named Ultron. When Ultron becomes sentient and recruits two super-powered twins (Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch), the team is pushed to greater limits than ever before.

Age of Ultron did not land as well as Marvel's The Avengers. Coming off the heels of the grand-slams that were Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, audiences had high hopes for the next big team-up. While it does not deliver nearly as well as the 2012 offering, where Age of Ultron really succeeds is the furthering of storylines and the deepening of character for our heroes that carries on throughout the rest of the series.

My absolute favourite part of AoU is the character moments. Where the first Avengers film showed the team coming together, it is this film in which the team actually feels like a team. The banter between them during both he opening raid on Strucker's fortress, and the excellent party scene establishes that the individual heroes are now truly part of a collective. Captain America and Iron Man's friendship/rivalry is further explored, paving the way for the excellent pay-off in Captain America: Civil War.

The movie really hits the peak for me when the team is forced to retreat to safe house: the home of Hawkeye, including his wife and 2 children. Hawkeye was infamously underutilized in the first run of MCU films, and in Age of Ultron, writer/director Joss Whedon rectifies this. Perhaps the weakest in terms of ability, Hawkeye is shown to be the lynchpin of The Avengers for his leadership and heart. This serves as a nice reminder that you do not have to be super strong or own an iron suit to make a difference, a message which can get lost in the midst of fantastical action and adventure.

The unlikely but well done romance between Black Widow and Bruce Banner is also a refreshing new addition to the lore. Mark Ruffalo ditches the nervous anger for a steadier, frightened performance. While his feelings for Black Widow are real, his fear of hurting her as the Hulk is a new wrinkle to the tortured soul that is Banner. Black Widow's arc is also continued, with a Scarlet Witch-induced nightmare giving us a glimpse at Romanoff's training, including sterilization...Quite the heavy subject for a Disney-backed comic book film. It is precisely this layering of backstory and motivations that makes Age of Ultron work for me.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the eponymous villain. Ultron (voiced by the excellent James Spader) is wonderfully maniacal, mixing dark humour with terrifying rage. Sadly, Ultron is not given all that much to do, and once the film shifts to the final act, the movie starts to come apart and Ultron is left as an afterthought.

Where Avengers 2 fails is in its attempt to do too much. Similar to Iron Man 2 before it, AoU is tasked with not only standing on its own, it also has to balance more characters than ever before, introduce 3 new Avengers (the Maximoff twins and Vision), introduce a future MCU villain (the terrific Klaue, played by Andy Serkis), AND establish plot lines to be followed up on in the rest of the Phase 3 films. The hints at what's to come down the road work, and Scarlet Witch is set up to be a major player in the future. Where the film fails is at the introduction of Vision and the resolution of Ultron.

The third act devolves into another battle versus an army of indistinguishable baddies (Ultron-bots instead of Chitauri), and while it is again fun to see our heroes team up in a series of glory shots, it feels like a retread of what we saw 3 years prior. Ultron is left in the background, and while he enjoyed a strong introduction, his defeat is decidedly flat and uninspired.

As always, let's briefly take a look at how Age of Ultron fits into Infinity War. The Infinity Stones are featured more than ever, with Thor explaining that the 6 stones can rule the galaxy. Thanos has his best cameo to date, vowing to take on The Avengers himself, Infinity Gauntlet and all. On a final note, it appears that the storylines started here (Widow and Banner's relationship, Cap and Tony's fractured friendship, and Thor's investigation into the Infinity Stones) will all be resolved in Infinity War.

Age of Ultron is a prime example of why the MCU is a success. Despite having flaws, namely being overstuffed to the point of exhaustion, Ag of Ultron continues the long form storytelling that makes the MCU work. That really is the genius of what Marvel and Kevin Feige have done. Even if one film is weaker than the rest, it is the universe building done in each and every film, impacting each and every film that makes watching all of them a delight. Despite the bland back half of the film, the excellent first half and the seeds planted for future blooming is enough to warrant a FULL PRICE viewing.