Oh, Tony, you crack me up!
Plot
It’s humans against AI; the zenith of all superhero film plotlines. When Tony Stark attempts to shield the world from future attacks by building a peacekeeping program powered by AI, he begins the most dangerous war of them all. In the second edition of the Avengers, our peculiar bunch of superheroes are pitted against technology gone wrong; Ultron, the machine with the rage of a man.
Marvel staples
You’ll have to duck down and move over, as in classic Marvel style, timed comic one-liners come swooping at you in the midst of intense be-all end-all action sequences.
If you’re an Avengers fan, this film packed it in – the end to end fluid camera movements, the trademark synergy of larger than life superheroes coming together, and, of course, complementary booming music.
More Marvel, less marveling
In Avengers I, Joss Whedon, director and writer, brought this team of then-awkward heroes to the screen to make them pop and work with dynamic chemistry. For Age of Ultron, you have to give it to him for managing multiple character lines in conjunction [but that’s about it].
This time around, Whedon evidently wrestled with keeping the Marvel/Disney hallmarks in place, using the same formulaic up-down-victory script [Yes, yes, sequels are hard].
The repetitive CGI with obligatory epic music in the backdrop only works to impress the first 4 times around. We were expecting character development in this film, and we got a highly sobering underdeveloped storyline.
While entertaining, the film lacked imagination and certainly did not succeed in surpassing its predecessors’ legacy.
Acting it out
Tony Stark, played by the ever-so-charming Robert Downey Jr., played his arrogant yet endearing part well. Chris Evans (Captain America), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) stayed true to their iconic characters, with amusing comic variations [those classic one-liners].
Mark Rufallo did a stand-out job as Hulk, but then again Ruffalo has always been a brilliant actor. New additions Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver) and Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch) did justice to the star cast. No complains here.
Put it on your must-watch list because
Let’s face it.. You’re not going to not watch this film if you’re a Marvel fan [Double negative, yay]. Humans love certainty and this film is like settling into a familiar chair.
All in all:
It is everything you’d expect; a rise, a bump, a fall and about 40 face-offs. You’ll chuckle a little, but you won’t gasp.