(Ah, yes, once more into the Spandex breach we go, dear friends...)
CAST: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanssen, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel Jackson, James Spader, Cobie Smulders, Claudia Kim, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hayley Atwell, Anthony Mackie.
DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon
(WARNING: Some SPOILERS and definite signs that summer is here - straight ahead...)
IT'S LIKE THIS: Ah, summer.... That lovely time of year when the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the ice cream is melting, the clothes are skimpier, and I have to make sure my medical insurance coverage is up to date because I will inevitably trip ass-over-elbows over and into a garbage can because I've been looking over my shoulder at some guy's ass/calves/deltoids. It's already happened twice and the summer has just started. Ay, papi!
Another sign that summer is here (besides my kicking legs sticking out of a huge garbage can in the street and a hot guy laughing at me) is the sharp increase of movies at the Cineplex that have budgets fifty times the GNP of your average developing nation. In other words, we ain't talking about any Merchant Ivory shit here. In fact, the catering budget alone of your typical Summer Flick is probably quadruple the entire production costs of seven Merchant Ivory flicks.
Prime example is our next review, the sequel to the 2012 blockbuster THE AVENGERS. It's called AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, and boy does it look expensive. Clearly, no cost was spared in the visual and special effects department. The script, however, is a different story. Basically, this movie owes a debt of gratitude to the TERMINATOR franchise with its premise of an initially-benign artifical intelligence that turns very, very, very naughty. In the TERMINATOR flicks, it was the Cyberdine/Skynet system which eventually led to nuclear annihilation, AKA Judgement Day.
In AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, that "AI" menace is known as, um, Ultron. Some sort of watchdog / surveillance / peacekeeper system, its makers wisely saw its potential to go bad - and understandably binned it. Unfortunately, leave it to sexy douchebag billionaire Tony Stark AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and sexy hothead Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to get it into their noggins that Ultron deserves a second chance. Big mistake, assholes.
Soon enough, Ultron has becomes self-aware and sentient and has found a nifty metal body and the voice of James Spader - and is on a quest for world domination. Or something. Hard to tell with all the explosions. Anyhow, Tony and Bruce realize too late what fucking idiots they were in reviving Ultron, and try to make things right by finding a way to defeat him. With the help of fellow-spandex wearers Natasha Romanov AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Steve Rogers AKA Captain America (Chris Evans), Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Thor AKA Thor (Chris Hemsworth), of course. Also helping is hot newcomer Dr. Helen Cho (Claudia Kim), who has serious googley eyes for Thor. Hey, smart girls can be whores, too, you know.
Will our heroes called The Avengers be able to thwart Ultron before it's too late? And what happens when Ultron recruits the help of the Russian Freakazoid Twins known as Wanda Maximoff AKA Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff AKA Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)? Will these two bizarros tip the odds in Ultron's favor? And will Dr. Helen get caught in the cross-fire between The Avengers and Ultron's posse?
Find out for yourselves. Just bring ear-plugs.
BUT SERIOUSLY: A friend of mine likes to joke that there are two eras in Modern Hollywood: pre-THE AVENGERS and post-THE AVENGERS. When that film was released in 2012 to record-breaking grosses, a sea change began. Quite simply: superhero franchises and franchise-friendly projects began even more viable and desirable. By carefully releasing individual superhero films like IRON MAN 1-3, CAPTAIN AMERICA 1 & 2, and THOR 1&2 to set up and continue the events in THE AVENGERS, Marvel Studios was creating a specific Universe that they bet audiences would invest in.
They were right. So successful was this gamble that other franchises are following suit. MAN OF STEEL will be followed by BATMAN VS SUPERMAN next year - and after that is rumored to be JUSTICE LEAGUE. Even the James Bond Franchise seems to be taking a page out of this playbook by attempting to link the upcoming SPECTRE's events with SKYFALL, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and CASINO ROYALE, as evidenced by the trailers and the appearance of Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) in them.
The unfortunate side effect of THE AVENGERS Universe's massive success, however, is that standalone projects that aren't franchise-ready will likely fall by the wayside as studios try to find the next cash cow franchise. That's what my friend meant with his comment about "Pre-and-Post Avengers Hollywood." In the Post-Avengers Hollywood era, any project without superheroes in it or franchise potential will likely have an even rougher going of it than they already do. So, maybe the sucess of the THE AVENGERS and its related films are both a blessing a bit of a curse - but that is a much longer discussion. For another time.
For now, let's just say that AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is a worthy sequel to THE AVENGERS that even manages to edge past its predecessor a little, excitement-wise. What I like about this cast of characters is how fun and humorous they are, like a group of close-knit friends who have long-since developed an affable short-hand with one another. Despite all the kinetic action scenes and whizz-bang effects, this movie is best when focusing on the interplay and dynamics of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Thor, Steve Rogers, and company. The best scene is a cocktail party and the hours right after it wherein The Avengers and their pals just hang out and riff on one another.
This is a much more enjoyable group of people to spend time with than that OTHER superhero ensemble franchise. Compare this crew with the more dour and gloomy characters of the X-MEN franchise. Sorry, but I'll take Tony, Bruce, Natshasa, Steve, et al, over Professor Xavier and his pack of Debbie Downers anyday. Just being honest.
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel Jackson are as likable as before.
They are joined this time by newcomers-to-the-franchise Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, as morally-ambiguous supertwins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Olsen holds her own against her more established stars, and Taylor-Johnson fares much better in this smaller role than he did as the main lead of GODZILLA last year. The difference is this time he's playing someone with personality. In GODZILLA, he wasn't. The beautiful Claudia Kim also gets a nice-sized role as Dr. Helen Cho, who proves to be helpful to both The Avengers and Ultron. It's nice to see an Asian character make her mark in this franchise and lend some added diversity to the cast.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON also trumps THE AVENGERS' noisy climax in New York by giving us a less frenetic, but also more suspenseful one involving an Italian city that actually detaches from the Earth and rises up into the sky - then threatening to drop from space and cause an Extinction-Level Event similar to an asteroid hitting Earth. It is the action-highlight of the film, and will be hard to top in the next film.
All in all, a very good sequel that is a bit better than the original. That's a rare thing these days...
