I know that Age of Ultron (2015) is the least popular of the Avengers’ movies and isn’t supremely popular in general, but let’s give it some love for the things it did well. James Spader’s performance as Ultron was a lot of fun. While the character’s motivations make absolutely no sense, Ultron is intriguing to follow around. He’s like an infant with a vendetta against Tony Stark (there’s a trend here). The film also introduces three new characters: Pietro and Wanda Maximoff and the Vision. The latter two end up playing significant roles in the franchise.
The biggest issue with Ultron is that the rules of science aren’t explained. The science doesn’t have to make sense, but the rules have to be clear. For example, the time travel stuff in Endgame (2019) is explained extremely well. Does it make sense? Who cares!? We understand enough for the sake of the movie. The mind stone creates Wanda and Pietro’s abilities, Ultron, and Vision. It is also capable of mind control as well as blasting people.
Then, Ultron is apparently going to make humankind evolve by killing them? That makes no sense. His plot is nearly identical to Loki’s plot in The Avengers (2012) except that he has no personal vendetta, relationship to the other characters, or backstory. Ultron just shows up and decides it’s time for everyone to die. I not only understand Whedon’s idea of the Avengers being monsters but I like it. Ultron just fails in its attempt to make the existence of the Avengers a complex idea. Civil War (2016) succeeds in this fashion by creating a story-based conflict to hash out the question. Ultron makes a more metaphorical point by making the Avengers monsters and mad scientists.
Enough negativity! Ultron brings the audience some of the coolest fight sequences to date. Whedon is unparalleled in his ability to create a group shot of the Avengers. The opening fight leading into the shot of the Avengers all in a line fighting is iconic. Then, the Hulk versus Hulk-Buster fight is still one of the most fun hero-versus-hero fights I’ve ever seen. The fly-around fight at the end of the movie is also extremely fun and different. Whedon steps up his game by trying something a little different in the fight scenes.
I personally like the scenes on the farm. The smaller scenes are always fun to watch, but they don’t seem to really fit into the movie. We get some character development outside of the plot of the movie. Some of these storylines could have been fit into the course of the movie rather than stopping the plot to tidy some things up. For example, revealing the conflicts inside the characters by giving them “visions” or “nightmares” accelerates the plot and provides character development.
Quick Hits
Stan Lee’s cameo is a WW2 vet that tries to drink Thor’s special liquor. He is later carried out of the party saying his iconic, “Excelsior.”
I won’t go over the Bruce/Nat stuff. The internet has talked it to death.
Black Panther Easter Egg.
Thor’s storyline in the first to Avengers’ movies are trash. The character is written off as muscle. He is in much better hands with Waititi and the Russo Brothers.
I should have been doing an update on the location of the Infinity Stones before but I’ll update it here.
Mind stone – With Vision
Power stone – On Xandar
Space stone – On Asgard
Reality stone – With the Collector
Overall, Age of Ultron is not the best MCU flick. There’s plenty to enjoy in it, but it doesn’t hold the same magical effect that all of the other Avengers’ films have. I think it suffers from being an Avengers’ film. It seems like a placeholder in the storyline considering nothing important happens. Other films have gone back and fixed all the plot issues from Ultron. Still, James Spader’s performance, the Hulk Versus Hulk-Buster fight, and the team-up scenes make Ultron enjoyable. It just suffers from the immediate comparison to the other three Avengers’ adventures.