Ghost in the Machine: Regarding Avengers - Age of Ultron

There are some people that fucking HATE on this movie like it personally destroyed their families and brought shame upon the Shaolin temple. Joss Whedon's follow-up to his own blockbuster film is at once a more personal and studio compromised effort; the producers predictably wanted to go bigger and more bombastic whereas the writer/director wanted to go darker and stranger remarking during post-production that Ultron was a character that he identified the most with making me wonder if we all need to send Edible Arrangements to Joss. To that end, I like Age of Ultron when it focuses on going deeper rather than bigger in its narrative; The Avengers is about an unlikely family coming together, its sequel is about the team actually getting to know each other in uncomfortable detail.

Cinematically, it's the hangover after the party.

What lies at the heart of Age of Ultron is pain and fear which is weird for a Disney summer blockbuster and flagship title for their biggest franchise but it fits: Tony Stark's anxieties that he thought he had conquered in finale to Iron Man 3 come to a full boil after Age of Ultron's prologue when he realizes he can possibly combat a threat beyond the team by crafting an artificial intelligence, the former arms manufacturer crafting the ultimate weapon. Again. Because he can't help himself. Tony has seen foes and realms beyond comprehension and it's what kept him up at night all through his last solo outing. His hubris won't allow for the possibility for defeat, roping in Bruce Banner as a willing accomplice, the two scientists of the team accidentally create an entity that possesses all of Tony's negative qualities: His feelings of superiority, his frustrations that humanity can't seem to keep up or appreciate his genius. And when you watch the film, Tony never apologizes for creating Ultron even as he's repeatedly called out; the most insecure people never own up to their mistakes and we finally see that Tony's bravado is all a big show for someone living with so much anger and fear.

"We still follow this guy for some reason."

With everyone paying for Tony (and, to be fair, Bruce's) mistakes, the band runs into some deep-seated friction with multiple Avengers coming to blows with each other with the movie's real standout sequence actually being the mid-film brawl between a Hulkbuster-suited Iron Man and an out of control Hulk with a generic sub-Saharan African city as their battlefield. We already know about what agonizes Captain America and Hulk in their quiet moments (Thor is actually pretty copacetic?) but we get glimpses of Black Widow's painful history and the surprise that Hawkeye is the most balanced and seemingly healthy of all the Avengers. Everyone's hang-ups and commitments keep them from settling down and having that happy home life (Hell, that's all Iron Man 3 and The Winter Soldier are about, in a way). Not Clint Barton. The most head-scratching [by his own admission] Avenger is the one that is the most comfortable with himself.

Any good reason why the robot has lips and eyelids?

And then, there's our villains including the title character himself. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch follow Ultron because they've each felt wronged personally by Tony Stark in a way; for Ultron, it's weird robot daddy issues with shades of Frankenstein's monster resenting his creator, for the twins, Stark's weapons just happened to kill off the rest of their family. Of course, the Maximoff twins change sides conveniently going into the final act when they learn Ultron's extinction endgame but their issues with Tony himself are never really resolved. Also, when Quicksilver dies saving Hawkeye and an innocent bystander smirking "Didn't see that coming?" with his final breath the answer is no, we didn't see that coming because it was a pretty stupid fucking decision; the character was just introduced and usually presented as an impatient antagonist so we don't really care too much that he just died?

"I...regret...Kick-Ass 2..."

James Spader as Ultron is more laughable than menacing and while he's more charismatic than most MCU villains that's really just given the virtue it's James Spader doing the voice and motion capture; we never take him too seriously. The climactic bout is fine but ultimately paint-by-numbers: You're swapping out CGI aliens for CGI robots though I do like that Joss is sure to give everyone their moment to shine which is especially impressive considering the increased roster size this time around. What this movie does add to the mix is the serenely portrayed Vision by Paul Bettany. Ultron is an Old Testament kill'em-all robot, Vision is the New Testament humanity-is-awesome-but-I-can-still-kick-the-shit-out-of-you upgrade.

At the end of the day, Age of Ultron is a fine if somewhat divided by behind-the-scenes tension flick that is definitely better than some of the lesser installments of the MCU but doesn't quite knock it out of the park. The action is pretty good but the real highlight is the character interactions from a party at Avengers Tower to commemorate the elimination of a major HYDRA stronghold to the difference in how Captain America and Iron Man face certain defeat/mortality. And what it truly does is set something up a couple films down the line that will split the team right down the middle.