The latest chapter of Avengers, “Age of Ultron” wasn’t exactly my choice, but what the heck. You might guess that it’s fast and loud. I don’t think any cut in the movie lasts more than 10 seconds and no sentence is longer than 5 words. So what happens? In this one, Tony Stark is working with artificial intelligence and accidentally creates one that gets loose. Yet another variation on the Frankenstein theme, a reminder of Ex Machina, only with superheros instead of thought process. The action epic was written and directed by Joss Whedon, an admitted serious workaholic. My last experience with Whedon was his delightful Much Ado About Nothing, a low-budget, black and white adaptation of The Bard, filmed in his house. Nothing could possibly be more different than Ultron.
I don’t know that you exactly need a plot synopsis, but suffice to say, Ultron is a huge threat, wants to cleanse the world of its humans. The task of stopping Ultron rests with the Avengers, who spend the next two hours, smashing up stuff, fighting Ultron and eventually saving the world. Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) but no Loki, are a precarious team, especially considering that it was Tony Stark that started this whole mess. In this episode we see more of Hawkeye than in the past and find out a little about his other life, but otherwise, there’s not much development of the characters, not that I would actually expect that. We also see a new candidate for Avenger, Elizabeth Olson, who is Scarlet Witch, who can warp reality with a red mist and who sorta joins the team after the death of her brother. There are also small roles for Don Cheadle and Sam Jackson (returning as Nick Fury) and the inevitable cameo for Stan Lee.
So, having gone in unenthusiastic, did I like it? The answer is a qualified yes. There’s not much sense in expecting character, dialog or plot development in a movie that’s mainly about shooting up stuff with big weapons, smashing buildings and engaging in superhero combat, so that’s off the list of considerations. As for acting, in a movie that’s mainly composed of digital action, punctuated by quick quips (the sort of thing that Robert Downey usually considers acting), there’s not much sense in thinking about that. Actually, my favorite performance was the actor you never see, James Spader, whose voice and motion capture are digitized as Ultron. So, having dispensed with acting, that leaves the action and the special effects. They were quite good, with good imagery, smooth motion. Joss Whedon must be some sort of maniac, to have directed and assembled so many short cuts into a movie that makes at least some sense. As I mentioned, he’s a serious workaholic and his attention to detail is apparent in the fact that all of this action, smashing and crashing has any coherence at all. If you’re 13, this stuff is probably just about right. Being a few years past that, I did appreciate all the work that went into making the movie work. When the credits roll, if you watch, you see the names of about a thousand digital FX people and they seem to be the other stars of this movie. Every 5 seconds of action, every explosion, every passing hovercraft and every single move of Ultron had to be painstakingly animated by people using software to render the director’s intentions into a tiny piece of action that pleases this movie’s fans. It’s much more of a techie achievement than a cinematic one, but it’s OK….good entertainment if you’re in the right mood.
