Last Friday I had a wonderful girls-day with my bestie. Not only did we sing along to the 25th Anniversary stage version of The Phantom of the Opera, make friendship bracelets, and eat couscous for dinner, but we also went to see the newest Avengers movie.
My bestie and I are both big Marvel fans, though I’m the one who studies up on the whole Universe and knows a bunch of random yet still relatable facts about, well, everything and everyone. As such, this review will refer back to many things in the Marvel Universe (MU) and look forward to what’s coming next.
Translation: Spoilers Ahead.
You’ve been warned.
PLOT:
Age of Ultron is (shock and horror) about Ultron, an A.I. created by Tony Stark in an effort to keep peace worldwide. Unfortunately for everyone, Ultron sees all of the pain and evil happening because of humanity and decides that a world filled with flesh and blood people cannot ever have true, lasting peace. True peace, he believes, can only happen when humanity is dead and the world is ruled by machines.
To help him with his world domination plan, Ultron recruits the Maximoff twins: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. That plan goes awry, though, when the twins come to realize just how unjust and twisted Ultron actually is.
Alliances change, one hero dies, another hero is born, some romance-y side stories get added in, lots of robots get beaten up, and Captain America rips a log in half with his bare hands.
While the plot was ultimately pretty generic and nothing I haven’t seen fifty times before, it was quite a fun movie and definitely something I’d watch again. But while we’re here in the plot section, let me take a few minutes to discuss some specific things that stuck out to me from the movie.
First off, the foreshadowing.
Oh, goodness, the foreshadowing.
There was a lot.
Those of you who don’t study the Marvel Encyclopedia, or who haven’t kept up with the comics all these years, or who don’t have a knowledgeable friend who’s already told you everything, you probably didn’t notice all of the foreshadowing that’s been occurring in all of the Marvel movies so far. Usually it was only one or two little things that you had to really focus to notice. In Age of Ultron, practically every other scene had at least one thread of foreshadowing. I haven’t been this freaked out since The Winter Soldier, and I’ve known what’s going to happen for a long time now.
Examples.
Ultron likes to use Scarlet Witch’s abilities to show the Avengers their greatest fears. For Black Widow, it was the memory of her years as a KGB trainee and specifically the sterilization operation that was her “graduation ceremony.” For Captain America, it was coming back to an empty dance hall at the end of World War II. No foreshadowing with these, since these fears had already come to pass.
For three other Avengers, though, it’s a different story.
Let’s look at Stark’s first.
Near the beginning of the movie, the Scarlet Witch shows Stark his greatest fear: all of the Avengers laying dead at his feet and knowing that it was all his fault. It’s a pretty awful fear, I’ll give you that, but it’s also some great foreshadowing for Captain America: Civil War. No specifics here, but let’s just say that some pretty awful stuff happens and (in a way) it’s kind of Stark’s fault. Not completely, but he’s definitely not an innocent party in this one.
Next we have Thor’s.
In his nightmarish fear, Thor finds himself walking into an Asgardian feasting hall only to have Heimdall grab him by the shoulders and blame him for leading them all into a battle that ultimately resulted in a massacre. And then Thor gets electrocuted. Read: everybody dies, and it’s all Thor’s fault. That’s foreshadowing for Thor: Ragnarok. Again, no specifics will be mentioned here, but awful stuff happens and Thor’s literally the only one who can stop the awful. It will not end very happily.
Finally, we have Banner’s.
We’re never actually shown what Banner’s fear is, but his reaction kind of spells it out for us. He transforms into the Hulk and goes absolutely bonkers. Even if we never saw him rampage, we all know just from listening to his words that Banner’s greatest fear is that one day he’ll turn into the Hulk and he won’t ever revert back. That he’ll kill people – a lot of people – and that he’ll be unstoppable. He even created Victoria – a specially-built containment orbiting the earth – as a fail-safe in case he ever completely lost it. This is a set-up for World War Hulk, which I don’t think needs any explanation anyway.
After all of these fears being used as plot advancing tools (which, by the way, is a little ironic since the only fear that comes true in this movie turns out to be Scarlet Witch’s), there are a couple more instances.
Like this scene near the end of the film when the Vision saves Scarlet Witch from a falling city.
Yes, they are a thing. You’re allowed to ship this.
And then the end credits scene with Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet.
All of the Marvel films to date have been setting up for the big two-part Avengers: Infinity War that will be releasing in a few years. I just hope that they handle those two movies well; otherwise, they’ll have built it all up for nothing.
There was a lot more plot development and foreshadowing splattered here and there, but I’ll let you find the little ones yourself. Of course, I could spend time talking about Barton’s secret family and Romanoff x Banner, but that would make this an even longer post than it already is. Suffice to say, I think giving Barton a family makes perfect sense and was handled very well. Joss Whedon’s going to have to work a lot harder to sell me on Romanoff x Banner, but I can kind of see how that could work. I’m sure it won’t work long term for various reasons, but it’s an okay idea…I think…
ACTING:
What I really liked about this film – and about all Marvel movies, honestly – is that through all of the fight sequences we still get great plots and even greater character development. Whereas Avengers focused more on the development of Rogers, Stark, and Fury as leaders, Age of Ultron spent a lot of time on Banner, Romanoff, and Barton. Even the Maximoff twins got some excellent character development.
First off, Romanoff.
She’s always been cool, but this time we got to see the scared side of her. We got to look into her memories of everything she went through to become a great KGB assassin. And honestly? It was awful. Scarlett Johansson continues to do a wonderful job of letting us see a woman who is cool and confident but who is also a scared and scarred little girl deep down inside. When the Avengers went to Barton’s safe house to briefly escape from Ultron’s rage and regroup, we got to see Romanoff interacting with his kids. It was so sweet and a little sad because you know – like she does – that she can never have any biological children of her own.
Stupid KGB.
Anyway.
As I mentioned a little bit earlier, there’s also a very obvious Banner x Romanoff going on throughout this movie. It honestly feels a little contrived to me; however, the next films may put more effort into both exploring and further developing this relationship.
You’re still going to have to work extra hard to get me on board this ship, Whedon.
Next we have Dr. Banner. He actually helps Stark build Ultron (as a too-quick response to Stark’s Scarlet Witch-induced nightmare), which I found quite interesting. Banner doesn’t strike me as the type of person to help create something that would end evil before it happens. In fact, he initially doesn’t want any part in this project. Stark convinces him – albeit a little too quickly, in my opinion – and voila! Ultron.
Banner’s fears about going out of control one day are also discussed a bit more fully. In fact, we get to watch him lose control and destroy a good chunk of a South African city before Stark comes in with the Hulkbuster suit. More than anything, though, we get to see Banner when he’s himself: listening to opera to try and calm down, doing the science that brings Ultron to life, discussing his fears and his feelings with Romanoff. Banner is growing as a character, and the Hulk is, too.
I suppose I should mention that even though I’m nowhere near sold on this romance, the lullaby that Romanoff does with the Hulk to make him sane again is quite interesting and sort of cute.
“Sort of” being the keyword.
Then we have the baddie. The trailer for Age of Ultron gave me the impression that Ultron was going to be more brooding and angry than he actually was. Like an evil, robotic Batman or something.
What we got instead was a guy with a dark sense of humor who gets easily ticked off, is quite full of himself, thinks he’s always right, and isn’t afraid to do the morally ambiguous (really just downright wrong) thing to accomplish a good goal.
In other words, he’s a big, metal, conscience-less version of Stark. Ultron even beats Stark to some punchlines, which is pretty funny.
James Spader did a superb job making this baddie – like many of Marvel’s other villains – likable, understandable, and yet so obviously evil. Brilliant is really the only other adjective I have for his performance.
Scarlet Witch had some excellent character development as she went from tormenting others with their fears to ultimately facing and overcoming her own. The introduction of Barton’s secret family also gave us a new angle on Hawkeye that was quite cute and refreshing (his children are adorable, and his wife is definitely the sort of person I could look up to). While he was “born” near the end of the film, The Vision is a character that I’m definitely looking forward to seeing grow and mature throughout the next films. His relationship with the Scarlet Witch will definitely be something that I will watch with great interest. And Andy Serkis’ cameo as a wanted arms dealer was also great fun to behold (though I’m pretty sure that getting your arm ripped off by an angry robot probably hurts and bleeds a lot more than, well, the reaction we actually got).
There wasn’t a whole lot of character development for Rogers, Stark, Fury, or Thor, but they’ve already gotten quite a bit. The other characters need their fair share, too.
VISUALS:
Just how many adjectives can I use to describe Age of Ultron’s look? Not enough. The fight scenes were excellently choreographed, the cinematography was elegant yet purposeful, and the special effects were quite beautiful. The only thing that I would like to see better would have to be The Vision’s costume. I’m not really liking the suit and the cape looked much too flimsy; however, every hero gets a new outfit in every movie, so I’m sure he’ll look even better in the next one.
OVERALL:
Overall, Age of Ultron was definitely what I’ve learned to expect from Marvel and Disney. Although it had a pretty generic plot, the thread of the story was handled very well with some wonderful witty parts, sad parts, caring parts, scary parts, you name it and it was probably there. The foreshadowing throughout was excellent, and all of the subplots felt necessary rather than extra fluff or heavy enough to weigh down the main plot.
The visuals were stunning, the acting was spot-on, and the cinematography and OST really brought everything together.
Plot – 8 out of 10 (would have been a higher score if it had a less-generic plot and if I was actually sold on the Romanoff x Banner subplot)
Acting – 10 out of 10 (with 11 out of 10 for Spader as Ultron)
Visuals – 9.5 out of 10 (please, just please, give The Vision a better uniform in the next film, thanks)
Re-watchability – 10 out of 10
Overall – Definitely worth seeing in theaters and buying on Blu-ray. Parents and sensitive viewers should be aware, though, that there are some frightening images, quite a bit of language, and a whole ton of violence. If you want to know any specifics about the content, check out this article from PluggedIn.
Those of you who saw the film, what did you think of it? Was there something you loved, something you disliked, something you’re excited for, or something that you thought could have been handled better?
I, for one, am quite excited for the next Marvel films…even though I know that they’re just going to tear the heart out of me. Ah, well. At least I’ve known a lot of the big plot spoilers for a while now. It shouldn’t hurt too badly (fingers crossed).
God bless you!
– Chrisi –
Something by Chrisi 