Thematically ambitious and surprisingly dour in tone, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON generally works as a mega-tentpole middle chapter in Marvel Studios’ ongoing Infinity Gem saga. Given its narrative placement and ambiguous resolution, it’s very much their attempt at THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, with Joss Whedon turning in some of the most beautifully written scenes of the entire Marvel movie run. But there are more mouths to feed this time out, and a larger story arc that needs to be served – which hamstrings Whedon in his attempt to deliver a fully satisfying film. As a result, Whedon’s movie often feels like it’s functioning at cross purposes with Marvel’s; he’s playing setup man while bidding farewell to characters he clearly loves, and this proves a tough balance to strike.
One element the film gets resoundingly right is the opening scene, which finds the Avengers assembled and stomping HYDRA keister on their way to Baron Wolfgang von Strucker’s mountain fortress. Though the integration of CGI with practical elements continues to be a struggle for Whedon as a filmmaker, the action is so ecstatically reminiscent of the best comic book punch-ups that one easily forgives the occasionally junky f/x. This is where Marvel Studios’ casting brilliance saves the day: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner feel like old friends at this point, and their mid-battle banter keeps the sequence light and fun. But once they breech Strucker’s stronghold, the darkness that will pervade AGE OF ULTRON slowly enshrouds the group – particularly Tony Stark, who, courtesy of a Wanda Maximoff-induced hallucination, gets a glimpse of The Avengers’ destruction at the hands of someone very powerful.
Stark’s leap-first approach to technology gets the group into trouble once they return to New York City. While partying at Avengers HQ, Stark’s AI experiment, Ultron, becomes self-aware, appropriates one of Iron Man’s multitudinous armors and attempts to exterminate the entire group at first sight. Ultron fails, of course, but he escapes, which means The Avengers now have a massive clean-up job on their hands thanks to Stark’s meddling in things super-geniuses ought to leave alone (Banner also pitched in on the creation of Ultron, and his contribution is one of many burdens that makes his character a total bummer this time out). Ultron eventually hooks up with Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the metahuman badasses who gave the Avengers an abundance of trouble at von Strucker’s castle; together, they hope to divide and conquer the Avengers, whose “World’s Policemen” interference rubs the orphaned-by-war twins the wrong way.
Whedon and Marvel have set up a pretty sensational challenge for themselves: they’ve got to a) adequately deal, once again, with Stark’s daddy issues (now in armored, genocidal form), b) foment soon-to-be-violent discord between Stark and Steve Rogers, c) develop a touchingly tragic romance between Banner and Natasha, d) give Hawkeye a genuinely interesting backstory, e) pretend there’s something interesting to do with Thor, f) get the audience to give a shit about the Maximoffs, g) introduce The Vision and h) top THE AVENGERS’ finale with a set-piece that involves Ultron blasting a chunk of an Eastern European city skyward. This is some Hulk-level heavy lifting, and the weight of the task bogs the film town big-time in the second act when the group individually contends with Wanda’s mindgames, which prey on each character’s worst fears and premonitions. All of these waking nightmares draw the film away from its central narrative to plant seeds for future Marvel movies (e.g. THOR: RAGNAROK and CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR), and this kills whatever momentum Whedon had built up with the creation of Ultron. While it’s true these brand-expanding tangents have been a part of Marvel movies for years now, they’ve never been more distracting (at least, not in a good movie; the S.H.I.E.L.D. business is awful in THOR, but THOR is awful). Whedon does his best to make these distractions a part of his film’s story, but they’re mostly “To be continued” in subsequent chapters.
A little of this kind of enticement goes a very long way when one’s engaged in a movie’s A-plot, and Whedon never gets the film fully back on track for what should be a rousing third-act finale. It’s a strange stew of a movie, with certain flavors unexpectedly overpowering what should be the tastiest portions. On one hand, it’s great to see Hawkeye moving off the periphery and turning out to be a witty, likeable dude, but it shouldn’t undercut the effectiveness of the Banner/Natasha relationship. The film’s treatment of the Hulk is weird altogether; Banner is humiliated when his alter-ego turns on innocent humans, but it’s a betrayal of the character when, later, he tries to cut and run with Natasha rather than save the lives of more innocents. Banner’s often been a reticent hero in the comics, but turning him into a coward – especially given the circumstances – is all wrong. As a result, the Hulk is the least enjoyable part of the climactic set piece, which underscores what a buzzkill the movie is in general. On top of this, there’s no exhilarating payoff amid the climactic mayhem; despite some fun character beats (and one unexpected fatality), the last act feels surprisingly hollow.
Whedon’s finest writing is reserved for The Vision (Paul Bettany), the synthetic creation of Ultron that ultimately decides humanity is worth saving. His “birth” is the film’s best scene: after some requisite tussling with the Avengers in their NYC headquarters, the newborn being drifts to the high-rise window and looks out on the vibrantly lit city below. It is a moment of rare quiet in this cacophonous blockbuster, and Bettany wordlessly conveys the character’s strange curiosity. The entirety of life (and, even weirder, death) is new to him, and he is bewitched by all of it; given his ancestry (Stark begat Stark begat Ultron begat Vision), his serene disposition in the face of these contradictions is genuinely moving. It also reminds the audience that Stark’s overreaching desire for worldwide security against all threats is, at heart, an act of compassion. The Vision represents the best of Stark’s instincts, which is why the synthezoid’s final interaction with Ultron is by far the highlight of the film.
Perhaps it’s fitting that Whedon’s departure arrives at a moment of melancholy for the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; he brought them together, and hits the bricks after tearing them apart. But while the series appears to be in capable hands moving forward, one can’t help but wish Whedon would stick around to further develop his notions of mortality in a world populated by flesh-and-blood gods. Alas, this is no longer his story to tell, and this sense of partial authorship once again gets at a corporate-mandated creative compromise that, while good for shareholders, can sometimes be a lousy deal for viewers.
