Still haven’t seen The Avengers: Age of Ultron? Check out this list to see what are the best and worst parts of the film.
Avengers: Age of Ultron opened to an estimated $187.7 million — because everyone knows Marvel Studios’ pockets are really hurting. It only fell short to its predecessor, which is the only film to make more than $200 million in an opening weekend.
The film sees the core team — Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye — rally once again to defeat the Tony Stark-created Ultron, an artificial intelligence set on destroying humanity. Big shocker, right? At the same time, the team meets Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), twins given superpowers from HYDRA experiments in which he has super speed and she is telekinetic. Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill succinctly describes the duo: “He’s fast and she’s weird.” And Paul Bettany finally shows up on screen as he steps out from his former voice acting only role of Jarvis and becomes the Vision.
Age of Ultron is the 11th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe plan, and audiences and critics are feeling it. The first installment opened to what seemed like overall praise, but that was five films ago. Age of Ultron received a B- from Entertainment Weekly, and generally saw a mix of praise and punches in other reviews.
Let’s break down the best and worst parts of Avengers: Age of Ultron, just in case you’re still unsure about whether or not to check it out.
Best:
James Spader
Spader’s smooth, sarcastic, yet still threatening, voice is the epitome of bad guy voiceovers. Close your eyes and listen to his scenes, and the chills are even more rampant. Seriously, record him reading the dictionary, wrap it in a box and it will certainly be a happy birthday to me this year. Spader carries the film without ever actually showing his face on screen. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been doing voiceovers for years.
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Elizabeth Olsen
Of all of the newly introduced characters, Olsen as Scarlet Witch/ Wanda Maximoff stands out as the most memorable. Sure, there’s the issue of the fact that Age of Ultron completely ignores the Maximoff twins’ mutant — aka X-Men, which also means rights battles between the competing studios — background and that the duo is only there as an additional “super” element. But while Taylor-Johnson is just cute and sarcastic, Olsen delivers a true spectacular performance. Telekinesis is always cooler than super speed, so she has a bit of an advantage, but it’s toward the end that she shows her true power: her acting. It was a heartbreaking scene. On another note, she also proved herself as a BAMF in the final big fight scene, and it was glorious. She’s a much needed female addition to the otherwise male driven franchise. Keep it coming, Marvel.
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Backstories
Director and writer Joss Whedon is all about the characters. He enjoys bringing them to rich heights and saturating them with intense backgrounds. The first Avengers had to see the team be brought together. Now, he can take the time to work on these characters and give them more depth, which honestly they oftentimes lack. Most notably, he finally gives backstories to Clint Barton/ Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who are typically known as the lesser Avengers. They never had — and will probably never get — their own films, and they’re the only two who don’t have actual superpowers and are just really good at fighting. Whedon gives them more. Barton apparently has a family — hey, Linda Cardellini! — and Natasha has a rather tragic secret. Though more time is spent on Barton’s non-superhero side than Natasha’s, it was refreshing to see emphasis placed on these two Avengers instead of the others.
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Additionally, this is where Whedon’s Quicksilver drastically differs from X-Men: Days of Future Past’s version. Days of Future Past’s Quicksilver (Evan Peters) leads the best scene of the entire film. Nothing compares to the hilarity and technicality of the “Time in a Bottle” sequence. However, that’s all Quicksilver is there for in that film. The subtle joke about his Magneto parentage is made, but nothing else is shared about his history. His twin isn’t even mentioned. On the other hand, Whedon delves quite deep into the Maximoff twins’ past. Audiences understand their motivation and can feel for it. They can also appreciate actually seeing his relationship with his sister. It’s unfair to say one Quicksilver is better than the other because they serve different functions in their respective films. Each are good on his own, but mashing the two of them together would result in the perfect Quicksilver.
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That Joss Whedon humor
Probably most obvious in the scene where everyone attempts to lift Thor’s hammer, Whedon’s comedic flair is always present. Banter is his forte. Age of Ultron didn’t feel as well-balanced as the first film, but Whedon’s sass is perfect for these films. Worry ensues at the thought that he won’t be at the helm for Infinity War. The tone is going to be terribly infringed.
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Worst:
What’s really at stake? Nothing.
As Chris Nashawaty says in his Entertainment Weekly review: “Each time out, everything is at stake and nothing is at stake. Someone wants to destroy the world, but none of our heroes is ever in any jeopardy. With sequels already lined up for the next decade, how much danger could any of them be in? They’re too valuable to the bottom line. And where’s the excitement in that?” This is the core problem with the Marvel films. In every film, the superhero(es) faces a villain that wants to vanquish humanity. Yes, this is a problem, but now it feels like it’s an everyday problem for the superhero. It’s formulaic. Nothing really seems like it matters, so why should the audience care?
On the other hand, this provides the reasoning for why other superheroes have become much better to watch. In the X-Men films, the X-Men fight for their freedom and rights to be themselves as mutants. Human rights stories are much more compelling than seeing a team of superheroes just battle a villain and destroy a city in the process. Spider-Man has interesting villains, a love interest and an incredibly complex backstory. The Avengers are just heroes who save the day, and it’s cool and maybe dizzying to watch, but the formula needs to be broken in order for these films to be truly entertaining again. The fight scenes are well done, but they’re not as intriguing when they are all aimed at the same pointless end.
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The Hulk and Black Widow
As enjoyable as it was to see Black Widow get a bit of a bigger role in the film, it came with an unforeseen love story. For any avid Tumblr users, this was a bit jarring. Entire blogs are dedicated to pairing Hawkeye and Black Widow. The whole Budapest quip sealed the deal for me. But Age of Ultron shows them as just best friends as Hawkeye has a wife — and a farm — and Black Widow gets coupled with the Hulk. Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk was one of the best outcomes of the first installment. He finally managed to add life and relatability to this character. In Age of Ultron, both the Hulk and Black Widow are shown as outsiders — him because of his “other guy” condition and her because of her past. The pairing makes sense, but it feels a bit rushed. Were this a series, this development would be great to see played out over the course of a season. It just doesn’t fully click. It’s especially odd because it comes after Black Widow’s flirting with Captain America (Chris Evans) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Johansson and Evans have great chemistry together so seeing those two opposite personalities play together was fun and exciting. Ruffalo’s Hulk and Black Widow are too much on the same level — each are too distanced from society and too stony — to the point where it makes sense that they would bond, but it isn’t an exciting chemistry that would prompt viewers to call them their new OTP.
Furthermore, if Black Widow must be paired with an Avenger, pick someone and be done. First, Iron Man flirted with her in Iron Man 2, then there was some mystery and flirting with Hawkeye in The Avengers, then there was great chemistry with Cap in The Winter Soldier and now with the Hulk in Age of Ultron. It’s ridiculous and annoying that this seems to be the only way Marvel writers seem to know to write a Black Widow storyline. She’s a BAMF and could totally take charge in her own film. More and more that Saturday Night Live parody is becoming unfortunately true.
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Forget the actual Avengers
The tried and true Avengers in the film are rather boring. Instead, the side characters and new characters provide the real reasoning to see this 11th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spader’s Ultron is a pure treat. It’s way more interesting to see Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch save people from a runaway train as they use real powers to do so instead of just strength. It’s almost laborious to watch the original Avengers team fight. Iron Man shoots his lazers; Thor punches people; Captain America throws his shield; Hawkeye shoots arrows; Black Widow punches people, and the Hulk — you guessed it — punches people. Thor can control lightning with his hammer, yet all he does is hit people with it. Get a little more creative, please. Don Cheadle as War Machine is 1,000 times more fun than Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. His snark as Stark was hilarious the first two or so times he played the character, but after the fifth time, it’s tiresome. Hence, here’s Marvel’s greatest problem with the amount of sequels and franchises. Audiences become incredibly tired of the characters they’ve seen five to six times.
On the other hand, we don’t see as often Maria Hill, War Machine, Falcon, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, the Vision and even Ultron. These are the more enticing elements of the film. This is where Age of Ultron is exciting and interesting. This is where it does best, yet Marvel is still going to stress and saturate that core team.
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Want to know why Guardians of the Galaxy is definitely the best result so far from the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Because it didn’t deal with superheroes — the main team was a ragtag group full of aliens who cared about themselves first. Its core threat wasn’t just trying to destroy humanity — he did that in addition to other things. Most importantly, no capes — specifically, no Avengers — were in sight. It was more than refreshing. It was essential.
Avengers: Age of Ultron isn't a movie to run to. It's one people are compelled to see because if they want to see the Phase Three films, they're going to have to. Audiences have to see every Marvel film in order for them to be completely coherent; that's another rant for another day. So see it for the new and side characters who deserved a little more. And definitely see it to hear how enchanting Spader is as the big bad.
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