Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon
Screenplay: Joss Whedon (based on the comic book created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
Stars: Robert Downey Jr. (TonyStark / Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Banner / Hulk), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), James Spader (Ultron), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes / War Machine), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Paul Bettany (Jarvis / Vision), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Falcon), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Linda Cardellini (Laura Barton), Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig), Claudia Kim (Dr. Helen Cho), Thomas Kretschmann (Strucker), Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue), Julie Delpy (Madame B)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Year of Release: 2015
Country: U.S.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu-ray
Avengers: Age of UltronNow that we are more than a decade into the full-on dominance of CGI-fueled, comic-book-inspired superheroics at the multiplex—with the months between May and August all but conquered by the supernaturally talented in spandex, iron suits, and form-fitting leather—it shouldn’t be too surprising that Avengers: Age of Ultron is more familiar than eye-popping—or perhaps I should say familiarly eye-popping. Joss Whedon’s sequel (although “sequel” doesn’t feel like the right word to describe the latest entry in an intricately planned multi-modal franchise-to-end-all-franchises) to his 2012 megahit, which brought together a team of Marvel superheroes, has everything you would expect it to have, which is precisely the point.

This is a film that aims to please, and despite its huge budget and attendant need to make hundreds of millions at the box office, it is not aimed to please everyone. Instead, it is focused on those who have put in the time and money by watching all the previous films, building a knowledge base that is essential to anything approaching maximum enjoyment. That is not to say that those who have not seen the previous Avengers movie, three Iron Man movies, two Thor movies, and two Captain America movies won’t enjoy Age of Ultron, but it will be at a fundamentally different level than the one enjoyed by those who can immediately and easily recall plot clues and characters backstories from all those previous films. Thirty years ago, each Rocky movie felt the need to replay the big fight from the previous movie just to remind us what had happened only a few years earlier (some slasher movie series, like Friday the 13th, did the same thing). Avengers: Age of Ultron begins in the middle of an all-out action sequence without any build-up or explanation, thus establishing from the outset what is expected of the audience.

Having said all that, I must admit that Age of Ultron is an improvement over the first Avengers; everything feels smoother, the pacing is a bit better, and the overall plot is more intriguing. While the first half of the previous movie was spent having the Avengers fight and squabble amongst themselves before finally coming together to ward off yet another doomsday scenario, now we start the movie with the team in place, which Whedon visualizes rather laboriously in a slow-motion action shot of them all hyperbolically running into the frame, self-consciously posing like a panel from a comic book. There is still plenty of disagreement to go around, but some of the edges have softened. Robert Downey Jr.’s billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) is still on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from Chris Evan’s super-soldier Steve Rogers (aka Captain America), but their bickering now has a lived-in odd-couple quality (the first two lines of dialogue in the film are Iron Man cursing and Captain American chiding him for it, thus setting up a gag that plays out to the very end of the film).

Whedon, who scripted in addition to directing, also adds more depth of character, which is achieved partially by creating new relationships and dynamics that the previous film couldn’t really be bothered with. Best among these is the potential for romance between Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, who when angered morphs into the giant green Hulk, and Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow), a former Russian assassin. They make for an interesting pair because they are both running from something: Bruce is trying to escape anything that will set him off because he fears losing control and Hulking out, while Natasha is trying to get away from her dark past, which is still left hazy. There is also the amusing element of Bruce’s fundamental dorkiness being a turn-on for the sultry Natsha, whose sexuality is still foregrounded, but at least this time she emerges as something more than a fetish figure.

There is also quite a bit of depth added to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, an expert archer who had virtually no backstory in the previous installments. Here he is fully fleshed out as a character with an actual life that makes him stand out from those around him and adds a level of familial poignancy to his involvement with the Avengers. Whedon also brings in some new characters, including a pair of genetically enhanced twins (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen), one with super-speed and one with mind-control abilities, and a character played by Paul Bettany, whose previous involvement in the series was doing voice-work as Jarvis, Tony Stark’s computer and foil. New characters, of course, are the lifeblood of the series, and the final shots suggest there will be more Avengers to come, albeit with a different line-up.

The villain this time around is not an intergalactic threat, but rather one of the Avengers’ own making: the eponymous Ultron (James Spader), an artificial intelligence brought to life via Stark’s computer skills and a little supernatural something-or-other from the glowing staff of Loki, the demigod Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) brother and the previous film’s chief nemesis. Stark’s idea is to create a supercharged A.I. that will help protect the Earth from future danger, but Ultron, once fully sentient and housed in a rather demonic-looking robot body stitched together from the remains of Stark’s decimated army of iron men, decides that the only way to keep Earth safe is to wipe out its biggest threat: humanity. On a thematic level, Ultron is quite fascinating, especially in his assessment of the human race and how its biggest problem is nothing less than itself (a theme that has been interwoven into numerous sci-fi films in the past, ranging from Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, to James Cameron’s The Abyss). James Spader is also excellent in conveying Ultron’s dripping condescension and sense of superiority, a trait he shares with Loki (the workmanlike nature of the Avengers seems to demand a villain who exudes superior status of some kind).

Unfortunately, by the time all is said and done and lots of stuff has blown up, Ultron ends up being just another global threat, and the Avengers must take care of business before he destroys the planet and kills everyone on it, which is pretty much the same thing they dealt with three years ago (I will say that Whedon, perhaps after reading the criticism of both the first Avengers and Zack Snyder’s disappointing Man of Steel, has made a studious effort to make it clear that the heroes’ first order of business is, you know, actually saving lives, rather than just duking it out with the baddie while collateral damage accumulates all around them). The problem is that these massive scenarios of worldwide destruction start to feel a bit tiresome and repetitive; it evinces a sameness that the series needs to get away from, lest the films themselves turn into their own perpetual motion machine. We see this also in the patterns that emerge in the action sequences (of which there are about two too many), which alternate violent hyperbole with witty quips, a staple of the genre that nevertheless becomes too obvious as the film pushes past the two-hour mark. One of Whedon’s best assets as a writer is dialogue, and he pens some real zingers, some of which are just fun and some of which actually reveal things about the characters that have meaning beneath the quick laugh. But still, Avengers: Age of Ultron has a bit too much of everything that is good, which shouldn’t be surprising from the follow-up to a movie that had been half-a-decade and five other movies in the making. Bigger is bigger is better is better, and one can only speculate about when the point of diminishing returns will be reached.

Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu-ray
Avengers: Age of Ultron is also available in a Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack.
Aspect Ratio2.40:1
Audio
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround
  • French-Canadian Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
  • Latin Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
  • SubtitlesEnglish, Spanish, French
    Supplements
  • Audio commentary by writer/director Joss Whedon
  • “From the Inside Out: Making of Avengers: Age of Ultron” featurette
  • “The Infinite Six” featurette
  • “Global Adventure” featurette
  • Deleted and extended scenes (with optional commentary by Whedon)
  • Gag reel
  • DistributorWalt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
    SRP$32.99
    Release DateOctober 2, 2015

    VIDEO & AUDIO
    I don’t think anyone will be shocked that Avengers: Age of Ultron looks and sounds pretty fantastic on Blu-ray. The 1080p/AVC-encoded image looks top-notch, with excellent color, contrast, and detail. The film was shot with a wide array of digital cameras, and while the overall look of the film is very “digital,” that look is somewhat offset and softened by the generally muted color palette. Black levels look very good, and the darker sequences benefit from excellent shadow detail and contrast. There has been some complaining about the quality of the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround soundtrack, mainly that the overall volume is too low and the LFE lacks heft. The soundtrack worked fine for me, especially in terms of nuance and sonic detail. The surround channels are lively and effective, and while the bass may not be quite as room-rattling as some might prefer, I did not find it to be in any way lacking or ineffectual.

    The film is also available on Blu-ray 3D, but I did not have access to a 3D review screener, so I cannot comment on the quality of the 3D transfer.

    SUPPLEMENTS
    For such a mammoth, technically involved production with such an enormous following, I was a bit surprised at how light the supplements were on the Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu-ray. Granted, there is an excellent audio commentary by writer/director Joss Whedon, who jokes up front that those who enjoy listening to him “babble” are in for a “real treat.” His babbling is quite informative, and I learned a lot about the production listening to its mastermind talk for nearly two and a half hours. The rest of the supplements are pretty negligible. “From the Inside Out: Making of Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a 20-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that hits all the high points and includes sound bites from the primary contributors to the film (including all the stars), but doesn’t offer much depth or detail. “The Infinite Six” is an 8-minute featurette that connects the dots of the “infinity stones” featured in all the Marvel films, while “Global Adventure” is a 3-minute featurette that emphasizes how much of the film was shot on location (at least half of it recycled from “From the Inside Out”). There are also four deleted and extended scenes (running about 12 minutes total) with optional commentary by Whedon and a gag reel.

    Copyright ©2015 James Kendrick

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    All images copyright © Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Home Entertainment


    Overall Rating: (3)




    James Kendrick

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