Movie Review: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015) – Burdened By Weight Of The MCU

‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ is the second part of Marvel’s culminating Cinematic Universe. ‘The Avengers’ sequel brings everything to the screen and does a satisfying job of blending humour, action and amazingly visual storytelling while drawing connections to the rest of the Cinematic Universe, although how successful they were in the larger scheme of things is yet another story. But despite the excitement and anticipation of Marvel’s Phase Two of films coming to fruition, there is something eerily familiar about this film, while lacking something that justifies the hype. The problem may lie directly in Marvel’s business mode, but more on that later. For now, read on for my spoiler free Movie Review of ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’.

Rating:

‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ does a great job of establishing the tone of the film from the first frame. The movie opens with an extraordinary action sequence, meant as mindless pay-off for all the fans eagerly awaiting this movie for years, and it works wonderfully! The scene pulls double duty of satiating the audience with well framed and polished shots of live action superhero cool, while displaying just how far the characters have come together as a team from the first film. Mutual respect, a fluidity in their fighting skills, as well as inside jokes within the team is meant to show their efficiency and intimacy as friends. It’s effective in setting up the fun factor that’s always associated with a Marvel Studios movie. Especially when the main threat of the film centers around something inadvertently created by Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, one that threatens to destroy the team itself by pitting ideologies against one another, as well threatening to destroy humanity as they know it. Although this element seemed a lot more forced than happening due to natural circumstances.

bring on the toys!

While entertaining and incredibly enjoyable to watch on the surface, some slight scratching reveals some very familiar plot beats, which lacks any progression of the formula originally established by the first film. The movie does, however, make some strides in terms of character growth by hitting the ground running, and not having to worry about introducing them to one another. This results in great scenes between characters who have been fighting side by side for a while now, and are very well acquainted with each other, as shown by the party scene that has been featured in the trailers. The performances also one up the previous film, while maybe not being as emotionally effective, with Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye being the exception. Mark Ruffalo expands on his tortured soul portrayal of Bruce Banner/Hulk in this instalment, while getting a great story arc with the exceptional Scarlett Johansen’s Black Widow. The three main leads of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far, Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor & Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, seem to take a back seat in this movie, allowing the other characters to shine given they didn’t get their own individual films. This is a smart move, as Marvel seems to be acknowledging the need to highlight newer characters, allowing them to establish the rotating roster of heroes as the comic version of The Avengers has always done.