Marvel Mania 2: MCU Phase 2- Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo
Directed by: Joss Whedon


It feels good to be back and reviewing the films in the MCU. We have another film in the MCU on the horizon within the next week, so I need to tie up the loose ends heading in and review the last 2 films in Phase 2. The first one is Avengers: Age of Ultron. When the first Avengers came out, it was one of the most insane movie experiences of my life. Add on to some of the key films in Phase 2, like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, and Marvel was quickly racking up a steady momentum of churning out groundbreaking hits. And heading into this movie, they announced their Phase 3 lineup. The world was full of hype, but the problem was that they had hype from the past and hype for the future, that it left the hype for the film they were about to see up in the air. Heading into the movie, I realized that this was most likely going to be a transitional movie in the MCU and it's fine to have one of those every once in a while. Not all the movies in the MCU are going to be equally as important, but you don't exactly want an Avengers movie to be simply "good." You're looking for a little extra effort and this movie had a lot to live up to. For me, it couldn't live up to quite the level of hype I was hoping for, but it has highlights that I really do enjoy. It's a mixed bag, leaning more positive than negative, so I'm going to weigh the elements here and see what rises to the occasion and what falls short of greatness with Avengers: Age of Ultron.

One of the big issues I had with the movie was with the Avengers themselves. A lot of them felt like they were phoning in their development. With Iron Man and Captain America, we're holding off on any major development for Civil War, so their routine was pretty by the books if you've seen their other movies. Same with Thor, except he's getting ready for Ragnarok. With The Hulk and Black Widow, their development came in the form of a romance that was hit or miss for me depending on the scene. Honestly, the only original Avenger I got a kick out of in this film was Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner. He took the backseat to the other five in the last film and here, he's much more fleshed out. We learn some of his secrets, his backstory, he gets to crack a lot more jokes and take part in more action scenes, and there's a sequence in the film where he has to help get the other Avengers back on their feet, assuming a pseudo-leadership role for the time being. Not bad for the guy on the team that is "simply good with a bow and arrow."

We have some new additions to the team in the forms of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, better known as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The one major issue with their inclusion in the MCU is that they're tied down by Marvel Studios' copyright restrictions for the characters. Because they don't have the rights to X-Men, they actually can't use the phrase "mutants" to describe the twins and it can never be revealed that Magneto is their father. Stuff like that just sticks in your craw and makes you wish these studios would get on board and work together to make the most faithful product imaginable for the fans. But I digress. The twins have their hits and misses depending on which character you're talking about. Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, nearly steals the show. Her powers are really cool to see and her character is flushed out a bit more, with her being the mouthpiece for a lot of the exposition with the twins. Quicksilver, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was pretty much facing an uphill battle from the start. X-Men: Days of Future Past already had an amazing sequence with an amazing Quicksilver, meaning Marvel had to bring their A game to top that, and I really didn't think they were able to do that. Plus, while I don't think either of their accents were the greatest, it was clear that Olsen's was the most passable of the two. Taylor-Johnson's felt so out of place and was so laughably stereotypical, that it was very distracting whenever his character spoke. The inclusion of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch was welcoming, but it was clear that there was a superior performance and character between the two.

The same can be said for the characters of Ultron and Vision. They're two sides of the same coin, with similar agendas and thought processes, but one fights for good, the other for evil. Ultron, voiced by James Spader, is supposed to be this great big baddie, but Spader goes more for a humorous approach. I know I never read Ultron from the comics, but I had the idea he'd be this imposing, menacing, villain with a calm, calculating persona. Instead, he's cracking jokes that fits Tony Stark's personality, which makes sense because Tony created Ultron in the movie, but that doesn't mean I was really into that idea. The idea I DID like was the introduction of Vision, played by Paul Bettany. In this film, they use Ultron's plot to take over the world and turn it into a positive by taking the J.A.R.V.I.S. technology and put it into a body. It works really well, with Vision being the equivalent of a god based on his abilities and moral code. I also liked how they brought Bettany in to physically do the role, since he's been voicing J.A.R.V.I.S. in numerous MCU movies. This was a character I was really looking forward to seeing come to life and they pulled it off really well. Granted, he's not in the movie until the third act, but he's a highlight that comes in clutch towards the end.

When The Avengers came out, it was full of plot holes and issues that most people looked past because of how excited they were to see our favorite heroes team up for the first time. With Age of Ultron, they did so little to change up the formula that the cracks began to show. The suspension of disbelief for plot holes grew smaller and our desire to nitpick grew deeper. In many ways, it felt like a carbon copy of the first movie, but the novelty wore off. And the studio's interference to make sure this film would lead into future releases really hindered the creative process for Joss Whedon. The man is awesome at direction and storytelling, but they didn't really let him do that here. He wasn't focusing on telling a story, he was forced to focus on introductions and teases to be used for bigger, more important films down the road, while also trying to do a film that tells one of the most beloved Avengers storylines ever to film. That's a hard task for any director to do and I can easily see why Whedon was fed up by the time the film was released and won't be back to do another MCU movie. It wasn't a horrible effort, but it wasn't his actual vision for the movie and it shows.

It's time to bring back the *SPOILER* talk, as I look at the one mid-credits scene to take place in Avengers: Age of Ultron. There's not a whole lot to talk about actually, except we see the Infinity Gauntlet in all its glory. Thanos, voiced by Josh Brolin, comes into the shot, puts the glove on and says he'll "do it himself." Clearly this is the tease for all we've been waiting for in the MCU, getting to Infinity War, but I was kind of hoping we'd get something a little more exciting. This was a given, we knew we'd get some kind of scene to get us one step closer to Thanos. A post-credits scene would've been nice. Tease Black Panther, tease Doctor Strange, tease Captain Marvel, heck even give us something funny like the shawarma scene from the first Avengers film. Oh well, another minor disappointment with the film, but nothing overly devastating.


Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Watch it with the rest of the MCU, and this will feel like a letdown. Watch it on its own and you'll find a bit more entertainment value in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It adds a few more characters to the MCU and sets things up for a much bigger picture down the road in Phase 3. Although, if you expect this to be one of the great masterpieces in the MCU, you'll probably be disappointed.

Avengers: Age of Ultron and movie images are copyrighted by Marvel Studios