Movie Review: Avengers – Age Of Ultron

Well this is it folks. This is the moment that we’ve all been waiting for. The Avengers have reunited once again to save the world from global catastrophe – this time in the shape of a genocidal robot with the wit of Tony Stark and the motivations of the most generic villain of all time. Unlike its game-changing predecessor, Avengers: Age Of Ultron is yet another formulaic but entertaining Marvel film that fails to live up to the hype. A stark reminder of how mechanical the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be.

Like the first film, Avengers: Age Of Ultron gets off to a rocky start. It puts you in the middle of the action with lots of exposition and minimal momentum. The good thing about this sequence is that we finally get to see The Avengers in their prime, taking down their opponents with the brutal efficiency of the Monstars.

The bad thing about this sequence is the horrible use of CGI. This is so much so that it makes the latest Transformers movie look ‘grounded’ in comparison. Even worse, it’s a problem that persists throughout the film. The majority of action scenes in Age of Ultron move far too quickly and, soon enough, become an incomprehensible blur altogether. They are so poorly shot and edited that any ‘wow’ factor in them instantly falls to the cutting room floor. The only exception to this being the fantastic brawl between Iron Man and the Hulk in South Africa.

Thankfully, we still have the joy of a Joss Whedon script. As expected, Whedon’s dialogue is as sharp as ever and his little touches of extra character development are much appreciated. This is especially the case with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Whedon shows us exactly where Hawkeye fits in with a team full of geniuses, gods and superhuman lab experiments. Coupled with Renner’s natural charisma and comedic timing, it is safe to say that Hawkeye is undoubtedly the highlight of this film.

Nonetheless, Avengers: Age Of Ultron is ultimately a paint-by-numbers Marvel movie. Like Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age Of Ultron is a classic case of Marvel on autopilot. It has the typical amount of jokes, the typical amount of easter eggs/comic book references and the typical anti-climatic third act.

Prior to the official announcement of Marvel Phase Three, Avengers: Age Of Ultron was meant to be an event film that brought the team back together for a darker chapter in their story. Instead, the end result is a meaningless chess piece in a grand scheme that won’t be revealed until May 2018. This kind of sequel-baiting wouldn’t be so infuriating if not for the pure fact that the endgame Marvel is constantly building up to has only proven interesting so far for those who have read the comics.

Unfortunately, every time Joss Whedon has the opportunity to dig deeper and make Age Of Ultron more than a stepping stone towards Avengers: Infinity War, he stops, makes a joke and quickly moves on to the next plot point. If this is an indication of what is to come from future Marvel films then I officially check out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Once again, the most annoying thing about Avengers: Age Of Ultron is that it is a good movie that misses every opportunity to be great and I’m tired of saying that about Marvel movies. At this point, Marvel has definitely found a formula that works and they have no incentive to change. It seems that the studio will never be as great as I desperately want it to be and it’s time for me to move on to something else.

Maybe, by fluke, they’ll make something as good as Captain America: The Winter Soldier or the first Iron Man film but Avengers: Age Of Ultron has confirmed that these Marvel movies are just not meant for me. They are either meant for comic book nerds that finally have the chance to see their favourite characters on-screen or for a new generation of kids/teenagers that will cherish these films as much as I cherished the first two Spider-Man films growing up.

With what should have been one of the biggest films of all time, Marvel effectively gave us the cinematic equivalent of a lacklustre mid-season TV finale. Avengers: Age Of Ultron is Marvel playing things safe and so long as their hot streak of high-grossing, critically well-received movies continues then this is the calibre of filmmaking that we should expect from the studio for now on: enjoyable, formulaic and utterly uninspiring.

Rating – 3/5

Most Valuable Player – Jeremy Renner