26) Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

(3's out of 5)

"I once had strings, but now I'm free."

Director
Joss Whedon

Cast
Robert Downey Jr. - Tony Stark/ Ironman
Chris Hemsworth - Thor
Mark Ruffalo - Bruce Banner/ Hulk
Chris Evans - Steve Rogers/ Captain America
Scarlett Johansson - Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow
Jeremy Renner - Clint Barton/ Hawkeye
Don Cheadle - James Rhodes/ War Machine
Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Pietro Maximoff
Elizabeth Olsen - Wanda Maximoff

Paul Bettany - J.A.R.V.I.S

James Spader - Ultron

The stakes are greater, and the fight is certainly narrowed down in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," the sequel to "The Avengers" and the second movie in the Avengers line-up from Marvel. My thoughts and feelings about this movie are scattered.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" is a slightly more entertaining film than the previous movie. It's packed in with as much Marvel-ly stuff as it can hold. It also feels like it's making the plot up as it goes along. 

The movie begins as the Avengers- Iron Man, Hulk, Capt. America, Black Widow and Hawkeye- attack a Hydra facility headed up by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. The Baron had previously been conducting experiments on people with Loki's staff from the first movie. 

While raiding the joint, the Avengers find two of Wolfgang's subjects - Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), who are twins. It turns out Pietro has the ability to travel at superhuman speed. Wanda, as those who tuned into the Marvel series "WandaVision" know, possesses telekinesis. So, they're quite the brother and sister duo. 

Loki's staff contains a gem that possesses an intelligent power. Ironman/ Tony Stark (Robert Downy, Jr.) and the Hulk/ Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) use this gem to enhance Stark's global defense program named "Ultron." 

Ultron, voiced by James Spader, in "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

Well, as one would expect in a superhero movie, Ultron (James Spader) becomes self-aware and sentient, and all evil and stuff. By "evil" I mean he starts to think that he needs to eradicate all of humanity to save the earth. 

He sets his crosshairs on Tony Stark's personal AI system "J.A.R.V.I.S." So, to get to J.A.R.V.I.S. Ultron attacks the Avengers' headquarters. 

He also consistently upgrades himself while doing all this. 

J.A.R.V.I.S, meanwhile, is hiding somewhere in the deep corners of cyberspace (does anyone still call it that anymore?). 

Stark and Banner manage to secretly transfer J.A.R.V.I.S. into a synthetic body (Paul Bettany) and use that gem from Loki's staff to animate J.A.R.V.I.S.'s body. 

Somewhere around this time, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to help his fellow Avengers save Earth after he has a vision that the gem inserted onto J.A.R.V.I.S.'s forehead is one of the six infinity stones.

So, the Avengers square off with Ultron for the sake of humanity's existence. 

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" is an improvement from the first movie. There's so much packed into it that the movie doesn't waste a moment. There's certainly less in-between scenes with a lot more dialogue than anything else. Afterall, "Age of Ultron" isn't trying, or trying as much as the first, to set things up like the first film did. 

There's more substance in this sequel. That is, there's more action and, basically, stuff other than dialogue happening. 

While the movie manages to entertain, and despite how lofty a production it is with a major stellar cast returning, it's still a lot of the same as the other Marvel movies. Nothing much stands out.  

Regardless, I was much more involved and interested in this story than I was in the first movie. 

It plays out much better than before. My investment into the film didn't quite fade. 

There's some character insight as well, particularly with Hawkeye. The introduction of the Maximoff's and their turmoil with Tony Stark was also an intriguing plot point. They, along with Hawkeye, convey the most emotion and personality compared to the rest of the characters who are pretty much just as dry as they were in the first movie. Otherwise, the movie just pushes ahead. 

Aside from that, there's not much room from much character development among anyone else. 

I guess character insight was dealt with in each of the superhero's respective stand-alone movies. It's up to audiences to watch them and figure it all out themselves. 

Watching this second installment made me realize that Ultron is a much less interesting villain compared to Loki. Ultron turns out to be just another out-of-control intelligent robot that isn't intimidating nor possessing much, if any, personality. Give one point to part one for having a better villain. 

As for the overall plot, though it kept me interested, it seems like everything that happens is made up as the movie progresses. It's as though the producers were desperate to make this experience better than before and careful not to forget all the typical Marvel comic tropes. Nothing, if anything, about the movie feels fresh. There's hardly anything eye-popping. 

The fight scenes were entertaining, though. I wouldn't call it exciting, though. The movie is a service to fan as it strives to meet audience's expectations before the next movie, "Avengers: Infinity Wars" was to come out. All in all, "Age of Ultron" builds upon what the previous movie setup and manages to tell a story, leaving all the set-up to "The Avengers." That's about all this movie has going for it. It's not great, but at least it's not part one.