The Avengers have reassembled to take down a tyrannical wise-cracking robot named Ultron who wants to bring peace to the world by destroying it because that’s apparently how robots always try to achieve peace — through destruction. I swear, it’s like Dick Cheney in a metal body only with more humanity.
That’s right, kiddos, the unstoppable juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe is ready to make you love it again. Age of Ultron may lack a touch of the fun that the first Avengers outing brought with it, but what it does offer is an epic – and I do mean epic – action movie that is so full of character and spectacle that I would almost call the thing exhausting in the most positive way that I can. Age of Ultron is a lot of fun, it’s funny when it needs to be, and it’s just what we needed to kick the Summer off.
In fact, if I could come up with a number one gripe about the movie, it’s that it wallows in superhero self pity as though having superpowers, metal flying suits, and the ability to kick the butt of anyone around you is somehow the worst thing to ever happen to you.
Smile, you mopey dudes, you’re the Earth’s mightiest heroes!
So yeah, you have that angst that is, let me tell you, soooo much fun to watch but then you also have Hulk smashing things which actually is fun to watch and I mean that without the sarcasm that was dripping from the thing I said about the angst.
Angst aside, though, Age of Ultron is a heck of a movie. Even beyond the action, you’ve got this great collection of characters that we have come to love over the years (even if they do act like teenagers throughout some of it), some new equally interesting heroes that don’t steal the spotlight from the old heroes, and probably one of the most fun bad guys I have seen in a movie in a long time. Perhaps it was just my attitudes towards robots, but I wasn’t expecting Ultron to have the personality that he did. James Spader brought a singular sarcastic wit to the metal monster that actually had me enjoy Ultron’s scenes every bit as much as I did the Avengers’.
To be honest, it’s hard to hate a movie like this unless you choked the life out of your inner child some years ago. As a sequel, it works because it allows characters to grow and change and allows the team to grow and change. I can say this without much spoilage: This movie does not exactly put it’s toys back when its done playing with them.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t point out that the last fifteen minutes of Age of Ultron was nothing but a prolonged tease for future Marvel movies and, sadly, after the second or third tease, it starts to get old. I swear, this movie seemed like it was starting to rival The Return of the King for the number of endings it had. Yes, we get it… we know that you’re going to please us with more movies in the future. Move on already!
I know that Marvel has an amazing cinematic universe in play right now, but it almost seems like it’s starting to get a little too proud of itself and, if it’s not careful, it’s not going to attract the viewers that were born after Iron Man came out because the universe will start making itself inaccessible.
But, what do I know?
I know this actually: Avengers: Age of Ultron is just what a superhero movie should be: Fun, big, loud, with heroes you can root for. In that regard, even though I feel like it’s a slight level below the first movie, Age of Ultron is a screaming success.
Jason Gaston 