The writers, directors, and producers at Marvel know quite well how to turn a comic book story into a genre film. After all, they’ve produced fantasy, science fiction, realism, and spy-thrillers to great acclaim. However, each Phase of the MCU is heavily punctuated by a film that veers away from genre trappings, and, instead, harkens back to the early aughts, when comic book movies really were live-action comic books. Both of Joss Whedon’s Avengers films are not genre films. Instead, they are true, honest-to-goodness comic book movies that star comic book heroes, are written like comic books, and are shot as pure action-entertainment.
In short, and largely thanks to writer-director Joss Whedon’s work on The Avengers and this summer’s Age of Ultron, Marvel has recaptured the essence of a comic book movie.
What then, of Age of Ultron? It is a greatly enjoyable, if sometimes hollow, excursion into a segment of the Marvel universe. With great performances, strong directing, and a gripping plot, Age of Ultron shirks off the bad blood created by early comic book movies, in order to deliver 141 minutes of pure entertainment to its audience.
Joss Whedon’s unique blend of character, story, and action allows Age of Ultron to not only punctuate the conclusion of yet another MCU Phase, but also act as a standalone film for audiences simply looking for something quick-and-easy to swallow during the summer blockbuster season. In short, it’s a really good movie.
Picking up the MCU storyline, Age of Ultron returns the attention back to this universe’s core characters: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk. All characters are reprised by their previous actors, while more attention is focussed on Hawkeye who, audiences will remember, spent the majority of The Avengers under a villainous mind-control spell. Villainy is Age of Ultron’s greatest aspects, as Ultron, an artificial intelligence, created by Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, injects the movie with a much-needed dose of vitality. Ultron’s original purpose was to serve as Earth’s preemptive security system, protecting the planet from danger well before even the Avengers could react. As all artificial intelligence’s seem to do, however, Ultron goes rogue, choosing to protect the planet from its true most dangerous threat: humans.
If there is any reason to watch this film – and there are many – it is James Spader’s performance as the malevolent Ultron. The character suffers from crippling ego and paternal attachment issues, and Spader’s physical and vocal performance is evocative of a “What if Tony Stark turned evil?” scenario. Spader presents Ultron as a perfection-obsessed narcissist whose perceived abandonment by his father informs most of his decisions to end the world.
The film’s premise is introduced quickly, and the story is better for it. Whedon has always been a writer whose focus on character is greater than his focus on story, and Age of Ultron benefits from his handling of its core characters.
There is animosity between Stark and Steve Rogers – Captain America, once again played by Chris Hemsworth. Much like opposing sides of the same coin, Stark and Rogers want to save the planet, but choose to carry out their goals in different ways. To Rogers, Stark’s actions betray the team’s trust, and the fact that Stark builds an intelligent system to protect the world from threats that have yet to happen betrays a lack of confidence in the human species. To Stark, Rogers is an idealist whose choice towards action-only-when-necessary is indicative of a bygone era, when our now interconnected world wasn’t constantly under duress.
Sadly, these complex philosophies are given little time to unpack, as more time is spent launching characters from set piece to set piece. A romance between Natasha Romanofft—Black Widow, yet again played by Scarlett Johansson in a supporting rolet—and Banner suffers from an equal lack of build-up and exposition.
Ultimately, Age of Ultron is a strong stepping stone into the larger MCU. Whedon concludes his time with Marvel with a film thatt—while certainly not perfect—is a reminder that not all comic book movies need to take themselves seriously, and not all audiences need to worry about the comic book genre growing stale.