Official Synopsis
Marvel Studios unleashes the next global phenomenon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. Good intentions wreak havoc when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) unwittingly creates Ultron (James Spader), a terrifying A.I. monster who vows to achieve “world peace” via mass extinction. Now, Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)—alongside Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) —must reassemble to defeat Ultron and save mankind… if they can!
When you’re creating an action story, and Joss Whedon knows this, you have to balance your acts, create strong bridges between plot points and don’t throw too much at your audience in terms of details because they want to sit back and enjoy the film, not study it. For the most part, Avengers: Age of Ultron does this without a hitch and in classic Whedon fashion by mixing humor and bridging its plot points from act-to-act. But, all is not well with the flow. While I’m not sure whether there was some bickering (rumored) going on between director and whoever behind the scenes or whatever the case might be (I honestly don’t care), it affected some of the film and you can tell. Whatever happened, it’s a shame because Age of Ultron had a lot of amazing moving parts and could have been the sequel that trumps its original — and those are rarity these days.
Anyway, let’s break this down.
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The first act of the Avengers: Age of Ultron is great. It’s a continuation from Winter Soldier where HYDRA was re-introduced into the mix, which caused the gang to get back together in attempts to wipe out HYDRA off the face of the earth. Assumed in the story is that the gang has followed the trail of HYDRA to a nice European town where Baron Von Strucker (Thomas Krestchmann), the puppet master of the evil plans and the creator of two new Inhumans (aka mutants — c’mon, Fox, just give them permission), has holed up with some additional HYDRA technology. Even though the battle against the Avengers is lost, Von Strucker has other plans in motion that hopefully will mean the end of the Avengers, as well as billions of lives. The plan is to leave behind an alien artificial intelligence for Tony Stark to find. Strucker’s plan works, Tony finds the AAI, and takes it back to his New York City lab to study. From that point on, the AAI goes haywire and casualties quickly begin to pile up.
Whedon did a helluva job with the opening act and the initial setup for the rest of the film. It was comic book-esque, it churned out a good balance of witty dialogue and kick-ass action, and even slyly introduced two new characters into the mix, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), that are fantastic, as well as relevant to the impending Marvel movies. The first act is perfect and gave confidence that Whedon was in fine form.
The second act begins with the introduction of Ultron, who lays out his plans for the group through a giant firefight in the Avengers’ tower. The entire team begins to unravel and the movie actually starts to foreshadow the beginnings of Captain America 3: Civil War, of course it doesn’t completely show those cards yet. Anyway, as the concern for Ultron is established, the team gathers together, even in its dysfunctional form due to Stark accidentally releasing the monster into the wild (similar to Frankenstein), and prepare to go to battle. The team tracks down Ultron in East Africa, where we’re introduced to yet another character in the Marvel Universe, Ulysses Klaue (I am sure we’ll be seeing more of him in the Black Panther film) and the second act shifts quickly through periods of high-sensation/intense action sequences, crescendo-ing with a fight between the Hulk and Iron Man. The story dips shortly after and slides slowly into act three through the random introduction of Hawkeye’s life.
When I say ‘random’, I mean it doesn’t fit the film’s already established story or its pace. It acts as a rest stop, where the story details look like they need to be sorted out, but does nothing beyond that to add or expand upon the situation. It’s an out of place piece that certainly tries to add a human component to the superhero film, and dimension to Hawkeye, back into the story’s mix, but honestly it just slows it all down. What bothers me the most about this particular point in the story is that it kills the momentum, even though a stop was required in some form to develop a new plan of attack. It also cheats a bit, as it can get away with concluding plot points through dialogue and resetting everything, and the relationships between everyone, so that the story can be manipulated to fit act three. I don’t mean to be negative about this endearing moment that Whedon put together, but it’s just out of place in comparison to rest of the story. Up to this point, Age of Ultron looked like it was on a firm track to keep the action going, even with some down time, but the flow was derailed heading into act three.
As act three starts up the action engine again, Ultron’s plan becomes clear and the team becomes focused, as does the movie. While I won’t give any specifics away with act three, just not that type of reviewer, I will say that it ends well and on a high note. There are some characters lost along the way, but the final conclusion of the film, even though it’s a bit long in the tooth (the third act is the longest of the bunch), is worth the wait and opens the door to other Marvel films. Captain America 3: Civil War is the most set up by this movie. For critics saying that this movie is just another bridge to more movies, they’re not giving credit where credit is due.
Overall, I think Whedon did a good job, though couldn’t replicate the flow, excitement and strong story as the original Avengers. His road bumps along the production road are pretty obvious, though I won’t point them out because it would be a discredit to the rest of the movie, but they’re certainly there and you’ll see them pretty clearly. At the end of the day, though, Avengers: Age of Ultron is still a great film. It does a lot of things right, doesn’t do a lot wrong and it creates a great antagonist, who should go beyond the confines of this film. Could it have been better? Yes, but it fits fine within the overall Marvel movie universe and sets up some healthy connections to other films that have yet to be released or made.
On the Blu-ray side of things — perfection. No flaws, no issues, no problems. It’s a perfect HD transfer.
In terms of special features, here’s what you’re getting:
– Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes (with or without commentary from Whedon)
– Making-of Featurettes
– From the Inside Out – Making of Avengers: Age of Ultron
– The Infinite Six
– Global Adventure
– Gag Reel
– Audio Commentary
The deleted scenes were soooooo good. I understand that you can’t make a three hour Avengers film, though it was close (if you round up), but Whedon had some good elements left out that would have added some much needed details to characters and story. For example, there is a long, wonderful, sort of sad scene between Black Widow and Hulk, which provide a bit more emotion and complication between the two. If it were added, and granted it would have made my big complaint in act two longer, it might have brought the characters a little bit closer to the ground (maybe even darkened them up a bit). Regardless, the deleted scenes could have made this movie much better, though economically I understand the need to cut them.
The gag reel is hilarious. Special kudos needs to go Stellan Skarsgård for creepiest, yet funniest outtake.
As for the big beef here, the making-of featurettes are damn good. Definitely a huge plus and added value to the overall package.
Onto the summary!