The Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (12A)

USA 2015 141 minutes Dir: Joss Whedon Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chis Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson

A superhero drops a deadpan reference to Bristol institution Banksy. An imposing robotic villain speaks in the snarky tones of the Scooby gang from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Thunderous crashing action is interspersed with self-reflexive humour. One thing’s for sure: the latest Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron finds us squarely back in Joss Whedon territory. And as with his 2012 world-conquering smash Avengers Assemble, by and large it’s an enjoyable place to be, although this time starting to suffer from undeniable signs of franchise fatigue.

However, one thing’s for sure: the chemistry’s still there between Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chis Evans) Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). Even better is Whedon’s increased confidence at zipping between their actions in the field, the filmmaker clearly as gleeful and giddy as the audience whilst jumping between Stark’s snark, Rogers’ vibranium-infused shield, Thor’s hammer and Banner’s rampaging green id. It’s pure bubblegum action.

A lengthy, James Bond-esque opening sequence slickly reintroduces us to our fractious, bickering characters, with one glorious slo-mo group shot acting as a hit of pure unadulterated comic book adrenaline. The Avengers are out to apprehend supervillain Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), holed away in an Eastern European castle where he has been harnassing the power of the staff belonging to the previous film’s villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston, referenced but not seen here).

Having helped to complete the mission, Stark is keen to utilise the power of the staff to jumpstart his own peacekeeping program (and therefore remove the need for the Avengers), working with Banner to give life to sentient A.I. Ultron. But the plan backfires when Stark’s creation reveals himself as the proverbial Frankenstein’s monster, one adorned with the purring vocals of sleaze-meister James Spader. The latter wastes no time in recruiting orphaned superhero siblings Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to his cause, as he plans to implode the Avengers from the inside whilst also harbouring diabolical plans for mankind.

Whereas Avengers Assemble was a joyously exuberant experience, flying high as our assorted superheroes were forced to overcome their differences and save the world, Age of Ultron lacks that same sense of surprise. After all, the groundwork is now laid and in many ways we’re onto Whedon’s rhythm: quippy banter, franchise foreshadowing and massive set-pieces. Whedon has been characteristically frank about the difficulties he faced this time in meshing his own maverick vision with the increasingly expansive mythology of the Marvel Comic Universe. In many ways, a brilliant running gag in the film itself about an attempt to lift Thor’s hammer could be seen to have a double meaning: one can sense the filmmaker straining to manoeuvre key set pieces and references into place, whether it’s the brewing tension between Stark and Rogers (alluding to next year’s Captain America: Civil War) to the late-arriving appearance of a fan-favourite character played with enjoyable deadpan detachment by Paul Bettany (also the voice of Stark’s computer, Jarvis).

It’s a more oppressive experience than Assemble, franchise expectations bearing down as heavily as the aforementioned hammer does on its enemies. But when it hits the sweet spot, boy does it hit, Whedon again demonstrating his mastery at handling the film’s heavyweight ensemble. Highlights include the burgeoning chemistry between Romanoff and Banner (with one achingly stylish, flirtatious bar scene seemingly piped in from the 1940s) and a reveal of Barton’s Norman Rockwell-esque personal life, a standout sequence that does what Whedon does best: juxtapose the fantastical with the believable in wonderfully witty fashion.

Several of the new characters register strongly, with Spader’s narcissistic Ultron an amusing blend of theatrical evil and Stark’s neurotic anxiousness, and Olsen’s Scarlet Witch a key factor in driving the story, as she manipulates each of our heroes’ mindsets in turn (resulting in several visually striking vision sequences that extend the emotional impact). And even as the narrative bogs down in incoherence (a scene involving a magical pool is genuinely inexplicable to the uninitiated), the film’s good-natured sense of fun, slick effects and excellent cast keep everything ticking over. Whether the goodwill towards Marvel will last for much longer is another matter entirely. As Black Widow says: “Nothing lasts forever.”