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"Avengers: Age of Ultron" is huge in size and destined to be an enormous,
record-breaking financial success, its $250-million price tag virtual pocket
change next to the $1.5-billion-plus it will earn at the box office. If there is
a sure thing in this world, it is this eagerly anticipated follow-up's
international domination. With that said, returning writer-director Joss Whedon
has a difficult time hiding how overwhelmed he is by the pressure of making
something bigger and better than 2012's "Marvel's The Avengers." On this latter
point, it shouldn't have been such a daunting task; as much as some viewers may
have enjoyed the prior film, there was definite room for improvement in a
picture that followed a decidedly by-the-numbers path and survived more or less
on the novelty of seeing a wide range of Marvel superheroes joining forces
onscreen for the first time. In crafting a second installment, Whedon has
succumbed to the weight of this very undertaking, tossing too much muchness in
front of the screen and crossing his fingers that it will stick. Some of it
does, some of it doesn't, and most just comes off as forced.
When the Avengers team—that is, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve
Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/The
Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett
Johansson) and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)—narrowly retrieve Loki's
powerful, much-coveted scepter from the clutches of Hydra, Tony and Bruce are
surprised to discover that it harbors an artificial intelligence inside it. No
sooner have they secretly built Tony's sentient global peace-keeping initiative,
named Ultron (James Spader), when the advanced A.I. rebels and escapes with the
scepter. Pulling two of Hydra's human experiments into his
fold—vengeance-seeking twins Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson),
lightning-fast, and telekinetic mind-shredder Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen)—Ultron
seeks to build an army of robot drones, destroy the Avengers, and ultimately lay
waste to the planet's entire human population.
Despite being convoluted and lacking in some of the hows and whys, the plot, to
Whedon's credit, is woven capably enough that it doesn't feel like simply a
142-minute exposition session. What it too often does feel like is a virtual
replay, with only changes in location and an increase in characters to separate
it from the previous entry. Title villain Ultron is well-voiced by James Spader
and gets a few wickedly cool characteristics, including his recurring "I've Got
No Strings" callback to Disney's 1940 animated feature "Pinocchio," but the
longer he is around the more glaringly one-note he becomes.
On the multi-protagonists' side, there is something oddly stale and
prefabricated about their interplay. The sly humor of "Marvel's The Avengers" pushes too
hard here, the cloying one-liners and asides more unctuous than easy-going and
amusing. With hints of a "Beauty and the Beast" vibe (minus the charm), an
out-of-nowhere romance between Natasha and Bruce is stale and unconvincing, made
all the more annoying because Natasha's much more potent chemistry
with Steve was already effectively established in "Captain America: The Winter
Soldier." Save for one fleeting exchange, however, this far more promising
relationship is tossed to the wayside. Scarlett Johansson (2014's "Under the
Skin") continues to develop Natasha into one of the more complicated and
interesting figures among all her cohorts, and she manages to do it without have
any special powers beyond her agility and wits. As Bruce, Mark Ruffalo (2014's "Foxcatcher")
has found his footing in the role and brings a softer side to his Hulk. The
problems stemming from their burgeoning misbegotten love story is no fault of
either actor, but of a script that pushes them together from the start when
there are precious few sparks between them.
Much of the overflowing ensemble are by now capably ensconced in their
respective comic-adapted personas. Chris Evans (2014's "Snowpiercer") was and
continues to be impeccably cast as Steve Rogers/Captain America, though his only
real chance to further explore his part is in his brief hallucinations of old
flame from the 1940s Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). As Thor, Chris Hemsworth
(2015's "Blackhat") wields his hammer with force—this turns out to be a small
yet notable plot point—but otherwise gets the short end of the stick with not
much of substance to do. By contrast, more is discovered about the previously
enigmatic Clint Barton/Hawkeye. Despite this, the typically magnetic Jeremy
Renner (2013's "American Hustle") appears bored and even a little aloof in
certain scenes. The eldest and arguably most
seasoned of his compatriots, Tony Stark/Iron Man has been the unofficial leader
in both "Avengers" movies, which makes Robert Downey Jr.'s (2014's "Chef") lack
of screen time a little surprising. He is around throughout, but isn't focused
on very much and frequently tends to drift out of frame.
The most eye-catching performance comes from a newcomer to the franchise. As the
mind-ripping Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Elizabeth Olsen ( 2014's "Godzilla”)
gets to join the
action in a way. Without giving too much away, Wanda starts the
film as a resident heavy, becomes a designated henchwoman to Ultron, and then
goes through another change that suddenly gives her an unexpected and welcome
depth of conscience. Olsen sells every metamorphosis and conflicted emotion of
her character, a young woman searching for her place in a life haunted by
tragedies from her past. As twin Pieter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who, oddly
enough, played her husband in "Godzilla") is only okay, serving his purpose but
not standing out. Had the bond between Pieter and Wanda been strengthened, key
scenes in the third act would have carried with them greater impact. All the
same, Olsen is a standout—and sells her Russian accent, to boot.
"You know I support your avenging," Clint's patient but concerned wife, Laura
(Linda Cardellini), tells him without a hint of tongue-in-cheek irony before
dutifully returning to raise their gaggle of children and wash the dishes. If
Laura is on hand for no reason other than to reveal that Clint has a personal
life outside of shooting arrows, that still doesn't make it right that she is
treated so thanklessly in the grander scheme of saving the world. An inferior
sequel that brings little joy to its grandiosity, "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
carries the vague aroma of uninspired, box-checking functionality. There are no
scenes that come close to the first film's crowd-pleasing spectacle of Loki
getting Hulk-smashed or that awesome, swirling unbroken shot during the climax
that observed all of the Avengers in the midst of battle. Whedon tries to
emulate something similar right at the start, but the technical coolness of a
comparable long-form shot is rendered clunky and ineffective because the viewer
has joined the characters in medias res without yet knowing who they are
fighting and why. The up-front placement of these intricate examples of empty dazzlement are, like the film itself, a miscalculation, the narrative growing in
complication as the diverting but largely unmemorable action strikes
progressively familiar beats. "Avengers: Age of Ultron" has a
been-there-done-that aura. For the upcoming two-part "Avengers: Infinity War"
films due in 2018 and 2019, the guiding motto of directors Anthony and Joe Russo
(taking over for Whedon) should be precisely the opposite: whatever has been
done before, do differently.
As for Whedon, a starkly sad profile that recently went up on BuzzFeed makes
clear his deep knowledge of and commitment to the Marvel comic book universe—and
also the grinding corporate and artistic pressures that, for now at least, have
led him to feel finished with his work at the studio. I’m glad Whedon got to
achieve his childhood dream of becoming a creative force in the Marvel comic
universe that’s long been dear to him, and I hope he socked away enough money
while doing so to pursue many more dream projects in the future. But as
Avengers: Age of Ultron lumbered toward its generic, sequel-teasing conclusion,
I wanted to cheer on its creator’s decision to flee the franchise the way one
embattled Avenger, late in the film, exhorts an imperiled Sokovian boy to make
his escape: by pointing in the direction of the rescue vessels waiting to
evacuate the city and shouting, “Run! Run!” |
