Avengers: Age Of Ultron

http://marvel.com/avengers

When I took part in a film reviewers accreditation course last year, one of the things they told us was that we should never ever reveal spoilers in our reviews. Sometimes however, in order to talk about the things you enjoyed or didn't like about a movie, you kinda have to reveal certain elements of the film. Having said that, I am going to try *really* hard not to intentionally spoil anything.

Avengers Assemble was one of my favourite movies of 2012. It was the culmination of all of the individual phase 1 Marvel movies of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor. And as if that wasn't enough for me to fangirl over, it was written and directed by one of my favourite geek icons, Joss Whedon.

The three years that have followed have felt like a lifetime. I developed what I can honestly say has been a life changing crush on Jeremy Renner, the actor who plays the always on target Hawkeye. I eagerly went to see all of the phase 2 movies in the hope that Hawkeye might appear, much like Bruce Banner in Iron Man 3, or Natasha Romanoff in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But sadly, due to Renner's busy schedule, the one scene featuring Hawkeye that was written into a phase 2 movie had to be scrapped. 

And so Avengers 2 became the most anticipated phase 2 movie of all for me. Spoilers slowly started to leak as the release date got closer, and these were spoilers that gave me pause. I didn't think they could be true. And I didn't want them to be. But I wanted to give Age of Ultron the opportunity to prove me wrong. 

The film opens with a battle at a Hydra facility in the fictional eastern European town of Sokovia. The Avengers are there to find and re-claim Loki's scepter as seen in the first movie. The base is overseen by Baron Von Strucker who will be familiar to hardcore fans of the Marvel comics. He was seen at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier with gifted twins Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) in his possession. Following the battle between the Avengers and the twins, one member of the team is badly wounded and they head back to Avengers Tower. At this point it seems apparent the Black Widow Natasha Romanoff has been doing some training with The Hulk, and following their encounter in the first movie where she was attacked by him, she now seems to be the only member of the team with the power to turn him back into mild mannered scientist Bruce Banner. Interesting. 

With Loki's scepter (and the infinity gem encased in it), in their possession, the team of Banner and Stark set about creating 'a suit of armour around the world', a new kind of robot with one job built into his subconscious - to create world peace. Together, the science bros create Ultron. But Ultron has other ideas, and somehow becomes a sentient being with a mind of his own, and that mind wants anything but peace. It's up to earth's mightiest heroes to stop him, but are they up to the task when they're the ones who brought him to life in the first place?

As far as characterisation goes, most of the Avengers are spot on the money. Tony is his usual egotistical self, Thor continues to add humour to the group, Cap remains in his leadership role and tries to be a good role model at the same time, at one point telling Tony to watch his language. But I think the biggest surprise for most people (and hopefully a welcome one), will be that we get to see the real Clint Barton this time. He's sassy, funny, and definitely the heart of the movie. As a Renner fan, I certainly enjoyed his scenes and was glad that they finally made use of his character. I also thought that Ultron was a formidable villain and that the Maximoff twins were a great new addition - although the accents were a little ropey. Paul Bettany's addition to the film in a more fleshy role also contributed greatly, and one scene in particular had me, and the rest of the audience gasping. 

Sadly, the same can't be said of Banner and Romanoff. Their characterisation lacked in ways I can't really go into without adding a spoiler, although it was certainly hinted at in the trailers. This is a particular disappointment following Captain America: The Winter Soldier where I thought Natasha really grew as a character and was someone I really wanted to see more of. I heard that we would get to see some of her back story in this film, and whilst you did, it was all too brief, and the rest of the time her character was reduced to little more than a googly eyed girl. As she's the only female on the Avengers team, I find this particularly insulting writing on Joss's part. And particularly disappointing as he's so well known for writing amazingly well rounded female characters (Buffy, Willow, Faith, Echo, Zoe to name but a few). Where was that head when he was writing for Nat? Banner is also very weak character wise in this movie, and I think if they are going to make another solo Hulk movie, they need to step up his characterisation in a major way. He's great as a science bro, but he needs more backbone on his own.

My other gripe with the film was the way in which certain events unfolded without any indication that such things existed prior to this movie. There were what, four phase 2 movies prior to Age of Ultron, and not one of those movies even hinted at things that appear in this movie. Things that we're just expected to believe have been this way for a while even though this is the first we're hearing about it. A heads up would have been good. 

I can't help but feel like these events unfolded in this way, without prior warning, simply because Joss wanted it that way. I read in an interview recently that he was asked if he took into account what the fans wanted, and he point blank said he didn't, he took into account what he wanted, as he is a fan himself. I think this answer shows his complete lack of respect, not only for the fans but for the characters he's blatantly shown such disregard to in this film. They deserved much more.

My only hope is that the Russo brothers who did such a wonderful job of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, will be able to salvage Joss's wreckage for the Infinity Wars films they are taking on in 2018 and 2019. 

As for Age of Ultron, I went in with high hopes and I came out disappointed. 6 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 22nd April 2015

UK Release Date - 23rd April 2015

Cast Overview:

Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark / Iron Man

Mark Ruffalo ~ Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Scarlett Johansson ~ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner ~ Clint Barton / Hawkeye

Elizabeth Olsen ~ Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch

Aaron Taylor-Johnson ~ Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver

Paul Bettany ~ The Vision / J.A.R.V.I.S.

Don Cheadle ~ James Rhodes

Cobie Smulders ~ Maria Hill

Samuel L Jackson ~ Nick Fury

Anthony Mackie ~ Sam Wilson / Falcon

Hayley Atwell ~ Peggy Carter

Idris Elba ~ Heimdall

Stellan Skarsgård ~ Erik Selvig

James Spader ~ Ultron

Written and Directed ~ Joss Whedon