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Based upon the Marvel Comics series created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
What hath Tony Stark wrought?
"Avengers: Age Of Ultron," Writer/Director Joss Whedon's sequel to his stupendously entertaining "The Avengers" (2012), as well as the latest installment in the ever expanding Marvel Comics film universe, falls just a hair from the astoundingly great heights set by the first film. But that being said, Whedon also plunges provocatively deeper than before, thus making for a film that is indeed more soulful, humane and even as bombastic as it often is, the film is unquestionably a decidedly more intimate affair than its predecessor.
Yes, I have often lamented about the excessive presence of superhero/comic book themed extravaganzas at the expense of other types of films being made quite often. But, as I have to admit to myself, I am part of the "problem" as I still continue to head out to the theaters to see these films, thus doing my part to increase the hefty box office spoils which only ensures that more comic book movies will be made.
Aside from perhaps Director Alan Taylor's lackluster, assembly line styled "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) and Writer/Director James Gunn's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" (2014), which I still contend was not as clever as it thought it was, I have to also admit that I have been more than pleased with how well this cinematic universe is being constructed and executed. Alongside Director Jon Favreau's inaugural "Iron Man" (2008) and Directors Joe and Anthony Russo's superior "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014), Joss Whedon has truly found a remarkably impressive sweet spot in bringing these colorful characters to rich, vivid life from the page to the silver screen as he seems to be less concerned with costumes, powers and special effects and more concerned with the people behind the masks. And trust me, dear readers, we are all the better for it as "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" possesses a most inventive brain, a depth of soul and a strong, beating heart, while not diminishing the fire and brimstone for even a moment.
Like the movies of James Bond and Indiana Jones, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" opens with Earth's Mightiest Heroes at the climax of their latest adventure. Their mission is to infiltrate a HYDRA outpost in the Eastern European locale of Sokovia and intercept the evil Loki's scepter, gone missing after the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D.
During the melee with Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and his minions, the Avengers encounter Pietro and Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen), fraternal twins who became the Baron's unwilling science experiments and are now adorned with the powers of super-speed and telekinesis, respectively. While the scepter is apprehended, Wanda, who also possesses the ability to create vividly nightmarish hallucinations, afflicts our very own Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) with an apocalyptic vision that serves as the catalyst for the Avengers' most crucial excursion to date.
Back at the Avengers home base, and utilizing artificial intelligence discovered inside the scepter's Infinity Stone, Stark, with assistance from Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), continues to covertly complete his new global defense system entitled "Ultron," Unfortunately, unexpectedly, and unbeknownst to Tony Stark--always as these things go in the Marvel universe--Ultron is a sentient being who emerges to full three dimensional life (as voiced and performed through motion capture technology by James Spader) with the intent to "evolve" the planet Earth through the annihilation of all human life.
Scaling the globe from Africa, to Seoul and a return to Sokovia for the literally sky-high and earth shattering climax, it is up to the Avengers to save the world once again. That is, if they do not fall apart in the process.
If Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" represented the Marvel Cinematic Universe at its highest peak, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" comes pretty damn close. After 11 Marvel films (with "Ant-Man," the 12th, arriving this July) in a rapid seven years, there is now more than enough of a familiarity to the overall Marvel experience as all of the films essentially follow the same arc: heroes (either singular or within a group) battle against some force intent on world domination or destruction and emerge victorious only to face a greater threat next time. We have seen it all before and then some. But, what made "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" a special experience was the purely magic touch that Whedon has brought to the table.
As with the first film (and for me, above all of the other solo Marvel films), Joss Whedon somehow possesses this uncanny ability to render his filmmaking vision in such a tremendously and lovingly fluid fashion. From a visual standpoint, and especially with the massive amount of CGI special effects on display, he has proven himself to be one of the few filmmakers currently applying the technology with a sense of wonderment, inventiveness and with such a vibrant seamlessness that the film's many action sequences truly look and feel like the images that flew through my brain as I read the comic books featuring these very same superheroes so long ago.
Take the film's opening set piece as the heroes battle the forces of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Echoing one spectacular sequence from the first film, I absolutely loved how Whedon breathlessly follows the Avengers in full tilt, his camera resting upon one hero caught in the throes of the fight before panning over to a teammate involved within their own particular skirmish and then, panning to yet another and another Avenger combating and vanquishing one foe after another. For me, it is a terrific way to tone down the rampant ADD editing that has typically plagued most action films while discovering new and often exhilarating ways to present the stories contained within the fight sequences, all the while keeping us on the edges of our theater seats in the process.
But fancy cinematography and copious special effects would mean absolutely nothing without having a story to tell and having a team of fine actors to bring the material to life. As I stated within my assessment of the first film, it would have been so easy (and therefore, lazy) to allow Robert Downey Jr. to just walk off with the film, reducing everyone else within this large and increasing cast of characters to be nothing more than supporting players. Here is another area where Joss Whedon does not fall into the same traps as most filmmakers. Whedon realizes that if he is fortunate enough to have the cast that he has, then he needs to give each and every one of them something of value to do. Somehow, he has again discovered ways to deliver the material to his actors (and these world class superheroes) in spades.
As I ruminate over "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," I am still shaking my head in amazement with how Joss Whedon has been able to keep so many spinning plates in the air, from those aforementioned action sequences to the variety of characters upon display. I cannot express enough to you that what Whedon has achieved is no easy feat and is precisely the element that has undone many superhero films that have arrived before, most notably Director Bryan Singer's hugely disappointing "X-Men" (2000/2003) films (sorry not a fan at all), Director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" (2007) and possibly the very bottom of the barrel, Director Joel Schumacher's horrendous "Batman And Robin" (1997). Unlike those films, in which the plethora of characters were just shuffled from one end of the screen to another willy nilly, Whedon assures that every single character has their specific moment to play within the fullness of their specific arc, regardless if the characters are major or supporting. For as much time that is devoted on the front-lines of the film to the likes of Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and The Hulk, and their respective story lines, the tapestry that Whedon weaves is that much richer by the inclusion of additional stories that occur on the fringes, for example, the bitter rivalry that exists between Quicksilver and the archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and how that plays out over the course of the film.
Furthermore, with "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," it feels as if Whedon has slightly shifted Robert Downey Jr. from being the film's anchor and tilted it a bit more towards Chris Evans, who continues to impress in his reprisal of the ultimate "man out of time" Steve Rogers/Captain America. For that matter, Scarlett Johansson, grows even further into her role as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, and so successfully that she undoubtedly makes a great case for her character to have her own damn movie! Lucratively, expanding the focus of Evans and Johansson's characters is of course, designed to set up not only "Captain America: Civil War" (arriving May 2016) plus "Avengers: Infinity War" parts 1 and 2 (arriving in 2018 and 2019). But to save the entire enterprise from solely existing as a soulless money grab, Whedon again proves himself to be a masterful storyteller who ensures all of the pieces fit together conceptually as this specialized brand of serialized films continues to increase.
If the first batch (oh, excuse me, Phase 1) of the Marvel films were all stepping stones to the first Avengers movie, then Phase 2, has been leading up to breaking the band apart. While The Avengers has been a tenuous team at best, all societal misfits or outcasts (mostly) blessed/cursed with superhuman abilities and simultaneously afflicted with all manner of psychological traumas merged with hefty clashing egos providing the ever present friction, Whedon utilizes this second film to bring the team to its breaking point, essentially having them save the world despite themselves. And here is where the richness of Whedon's writing comes into play.
For all of the cataclysm that encapsulates "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," Whedon always adheres to the overall humanity of the piece, the very thing that completely eluded Director Zack Snyder's pummeling "Man Of Steel" (2013), which was completely undone by its callous usage of constant carnage. Whedon knows that if those of us in the audience are to give a whit about anything that occurs in his film, he understands that what will move us are the motivations, and most importantly, the consequences of all of the characters' actions.
What else is "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" but an exploration of Tony Stark's bottomless hubris? While his inventive genius is relentless, Whedon utilizes this film as the unleashing of Stark's darkest impulses and fears, despite the purity of his intentions. Up until this point, Stark's demons have been largely internalized, from his fears of mortality in "Iron Man 2" (2010) to his PTSD combined with his increasing feelings of guilt and responsibility as depicted in "Iron Man 3" (2013). By the events of this new film, Tony Stark's demons have become more externalized as all of his inner struggles have boiled over into what could potentially become a self-fulfilled prophecy of the world's apocalypse, as enacted by Ultron.
Thankfully, the presence of Ultron made for a much more interesting and compelling villain than the bland mustache twirlers seen in "Thor: The Dark World" and especially in "Guardians Of The Galaxy." James Spader, an actor who I have always felt holds one of the best and most unique speaking voices in the movies, brings this attribute front and center and to an extremely impressive effect. Spader has been able to take what could have been standard dialogue about the world's destruction and has infused it with layers that twist and curl with the affectations of his voice making the character of Ultron a figure that is simultaneously petulant, philosophical, and psychotic.
Again Whedon utilizes the character to dig even deeper as Ultron is essentially nothing more than an extension of Tony Stark himself--basically, Stark's darkest side. Additionally, the army of Stark's robots that Ultron eventually controls could also be viewed as representations of Tony Stark's ego run destructively amok forcing our hero to continuously fight variations of himself plus his legacy and his teammates are also forced to fight with and against him while dealing with their own anxieties that have also been unearthed throughout the course of the film,
The extended climax war sequence is truly notable not solely for the spectacle but also for the humanity Whedon has executed throughout. Defeating Ultron and the robots is paramount but not at the expense of the civilians (take that, "Man Of Steel"). Whole sub-sections of this sequence are focused not just on the fighting but the logistics in figuring out how to save innocent people from...well, themselves. I appreciated this approach (as well as another when Iron Man and Hulk duke it out in Africa, all the while trying to bring Hulk's rage away from innocent people) especially as I have grown so exhausted by the waves of CGI death and destruction that permeate these sorts of films. It was refreshing to actually make the consequences of their actions exist and work as crucial parts of the story itself and I would love to shake Whedon's hand for doing so.
But with all of the psychological drama and tormented superheroes running around, will assure you that Marvel has not descended into Christopher Nolan territory. "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" remains a living comic book that delivers tremendous bang for your buck but does indeed appreciate giving audiences so much more to chew on. Joss Whedon is a filmmaker who feels is necessary to give us the time to devote to a longing romance between Hulk and Black Widow, which gave the film an honestly touching "Beauty and The Beast" poignancy. Whedon felt is necessary to give the film many quiet sequences allowing us to get to know these characters in more personable fashion. I loved the back stories of Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, especially a sequence set in Hawkeye's tranquil life away from the front lines.
And yes, Whedon also finds many opportunities to infuse a relaxed, wise and sharply witty sense of humor throughout--I loved an early sequence where The Avengers, all in celebratory mode, each take a crack a attempting to lift Thor's Asgardian hammer, for example.
By the inclusion of these elements, what we have with "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" is a comic book film that is also about families, fractured or otherwise. From parents and children (Tony Stark and Ultron) to variations of siblings (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Black Widow, Stark and Bruce Banner, etc...), Whedon gives us families that love and hate, fight and renew, are pushed to their limits, implode and re-structure, all the while giving us characters that we can care about because they care about each other.
Even with all of this praise, I do think that it is a good thing to know when to walk away as Joss Whedon has announced during the film's press tour that this film will be his last for the Marvel franchise. Where the first film was so wondrously light on its feet, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" contains a certain heaviness. Yes, it is appropriate for the story (or stories) that it is trying to tell but also because I think the strain of holding a gargantuan amount of characters and material aloft was indeed showing. Better to know when to quit than to stick around and make a messy movie. So, I bid the best of luck to Joe and Anthony Russo who have decided to take the reins for the next Captain America and Avengers films, fr if they are up to the challenge, then I think they can make those films soar highly.
But, how great it was to have had Joss Whedon for as long as we did as he has indeed helmed two of the finest films this genre has had to offer. Films of great excitement but also of great empathy, style and class. When it comes to making movies, to accomplish those feats is heroic to me!
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