Director Report Card: Joss Whedon (2015)

4. Avengers: Age of Ultron

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe being a sprawling enterprise, currently numbering 23 films and ten TV series, some entries have emerged as winners and some as losers. Regardless of what I think, “Thor: The Dark World” and “The Inhumans” are always going to be near the bottom of any fan's list. And “Avengers: Age of Ultron” seems to be considered divisive, if not outright bad. This seemed somewhat inevitable. “The Avengers” became one of the biggest movies of all time, destined to be an era-defining nerd favorite. Inevitably, the follow-up is widely regarded as disappointing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I like this movie a lot. Not that a billion-dollar grossing giant blockbuster needs my help but, here, let me offer up a defense of “Age of Ultron” anyway.

Since the desolation of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers have been traveling the globe and crushing every Hydra sect they come upon. They are seeking Loki's scepter, currently in the possession of Baron von Strucker. Strucker used the scepter's powers to gift the Maximoff twins with extraordinary powers. After recovering the scepter, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner use the magical stone inside to design an artificial intelligence. This is Ultron, which Tony envisions as a guardian of the entire globe. Instead, Ultron – quickly building himself a body – comes to believe that destroying humanity is the only way to save the world. He's also obsessed with humiliating and destroying his creators and the other Avengers. Earth's Mightiest Heroes will face their greatest challenges as they take on this new foe.

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a movie with a lot of stuff in it. There are six Avengers, to start, and each deserves screen time. The film has to introduce three new Avengers, in the form of Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and the Vision. Ultron has an origin and scheme to unfold as well. Whedon and the studio had pressure on them to include new sights, like a much requested fight scene between the Hulkbuster Armor and Bruce Banner's raging alter-ego, or an action packed climax even bigger than the first movie. There's so much stuff in “Age of Ultron,” that the reveal that all the world's internet passes through a central hub in Oslo rates as only a minor plot point. Yet, as overstuffed as “Age of Ultron” undeniably is, that feels like part of the appeal to me. The second “Avengers” movie is, certainly, one of the most comic-book-y comic book movies ever made. It is overflowing with ideas.

Part of why “Age of Ultron” is swollen with concepts and narrative is because it's not just a movie. It's part of a massive corporate franchise with hundreds of moving parts and certain duties to fulfill. Least we forget Quicksilver and his sister ended up in this movie as some sort of weird, legal “fuck you” to Fox. The film had to introduce Wakanda and Ulysses Klaue, all foreshadowing for the then-upcoming “Black Panther” movie. Perhaps most controversially, an extended sequence – which has very little to do with the rest of the plot – has Thor receiving visions of the Infinity Stones, further set-up for the coming of Thanos and his Gauntlet. Not all of this is equally compelling and “Age of Ultron” would almost certainly be better without these corporately mandated appearances. Yet, in a way, it's all part of the fun too.

Yet as filled with robot fights and urban destruction as the film is, “Age of Ultron” perhaps proves most effective when simply focusing on its characters. After its opening action sequence, we are greeted to a delightful scene of our heroes... Just hanging out. They trade war stories, rather literally in the case of some old veterans. They flirt and banter among themselves. Maybe the most delightful moment has the team messing around with Thor's hammer. It's a Marvel hang-out movie and, honestly, I'd watch a whole film of it. A cast this winning and lovable, especially when playing characters they've lived with for a while, absolutely deserves a chance to just bounce off each other for a bit.

As much fun as “Party at Avengers Tower” would've been, we would have missed out on a pretty great villain. Ultron is a classic Marvel Comics villain and the cinematic version greatly revises his origins. Hank Pym hadn't even been introduced by this point, so they had to. A constantly rebuilding super-kill-bot with a Oedipus Complex becomes a mentally scrambled A.I. determined to cleanse the Earth. (And, okay, he's got some Daddy issues too.) What makes this CGI murder machine, with his weirdly animated eyelids, so compelling is James Spader's vocal performance and Whedon's script. Spader's natural gift for playing conceited and neurotic have rarely been better served. Ultron is still a child, with a fractured mind that forgets things. Yet he's absolutely convinced he knows everything. When given Whedon's lovably circular dialogue to play with, Spader has a field day.

Massive blockbusters like this do come with certain expectations. That is, we expect lots of action, special effects, and shit blowing up. “Age of Ultron” certainly delivers on that. The opening sequence has the camera easily gliding between the different heroes, as they pose and fight in a snow-covered battlefield. Probably my favorite moments has Thor clearing a path with a shock wave or Hulk tearing through a bunker with ease. The Hulkbuster sequence is, indeed, a showstopper. Close-ups on a screaming face as the Hulk lifts up there is a cool moment. So are the various shots of Tony combating his out-of-control friend, involving a jack-hammer like fist or a swinging elevator. A car chase through Korea is not as memorable, though a couple of stunts involving Black Widow on a motorcycle are neat.

No matter how extensive the sequences of urban destruction gets, “Age of Ultron” has a specific consideration in mind. The “Avengers” movie came out two years after “Man of Steel.” Even that soon afterwards, the DC Comics adaptation was already notorious for its extensive devastation and casual disregard for human life. It's a movie “Age of Ultron” is deliberately in dialogue with. Throughout the film, the Avengers always take pains to rescue people, to make sure the path is clear of civilians. Tony makes sure a building is empty before collapsing it. Innocent bystanders are pulled from cars and carried to safety in a bathtub. Every single person is gotten out of the city before the film's biggest explosion. It seems Whedon and Marvel were determined, more than ever, to emphasize that saving lives and protecting innocents are what heroes are all about.

In the first “Avengers,” I highlighted Joss Whedon's gift for catchy, catty dialogue as a strength. “Age of Ultron” is right about when the constant quips start to become distracting, not endearing. During the opening raid, bad guys are shooting at the Avengers but they crack jokes and effortlessly chit-chat among themselves. They never seem in that much danger. Even as the stakes become higher, the jokes and one-liners don't stop coming. Hawkeye makes jokey asides, strictly for the audience's benefit. It's not that the quips are bad. A reoccurring joke about Captain America's dislike of profanity is mildly amusing. It just starts to feel out-of-place immediately, draining tension from action scenes and seeming forced in.

“Age of Ultron” also struggles with another unavoidable factoid that the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe has faced. Namely, everything is Tony Stark's fault. In all three of the “Iron Man” movies, Tony created his own enemies through his past misdeeds, inconsiderate nature, or imperialistic actions. In “Age of Ultron,” he directly creates the titular villain by rushing into something without considering all the consequences. I think Marvel is hoping to paint Stark's desire to protect the world – put a suit of armor around the globe, as he puts it – as a tragic heroic flaw. Instead, it's becoming increasingly clear that his blatant disregard for the consequences of his own actions creates more monsters than it defeats. “Age of Ultron,” like every other film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is completely disinterested in confronting this uncomfortable truth.

Still, none of the above flaws were the biggest controversy that “Age of Ultron” faced. Completely randomly, for seemingly no reason at all, Joss Whedon decides Black Widow and Bruce Banner have a budding romance. The characters have had exactly one private moment together before, when they first met. This is the foundation for a romance so deep and intense, they risk each other's lives for it? They consider walking away from every thing for it? It simply doesn't wash, even if Scarlett Johannson and Mark Ruffalo try their damndest to form some meaningful chemistry. Even that is derailed by the utterly awkward “monsters” conversation. I don't think Joss Whedon was implying that Black Widow is a monster because she's sterile. The character was probably referring to her years working as an international assassin. Yet it's still a horribly uncomfortable moment.

Still, not all of the character decisions made throughout the sequel are faulty. Chris Evans is still excellent as Captain America, the character remaining ever-true as always. Chris Hemsworth's natural ability for goofy comedy gets a little exercise this time. Most surprisingly of all, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye gets some touching character development. A reveal half-way through the film, that Hawkeye has a close-knit and loving family, is a delightful surprise. This seems to emphasize that Clint Barton – whose superpower, we must never forget, is being really good at archery – is utterly out-of-place among gods. This actually adds a touch of humanity to “Age of Ultron's” pyrotechnics. Moreover, it ends up justifying Hawkeye's presence on the team. That a relatively normal guy suits up to go into battle against killer robots and space aliens somehow seems more honorable then an indestructible rage monster or a billionaire in the world's coolest WMD going into combat.

“Age of Ultron” sees the considerably large “Avengers” ensemble growing even larger, which is partly why the movie has so many bumpy sections. It's sort of amazing the movie can find room for Nick Fury and Maria Hill at all. Still, some of the new additions are welcome. Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda is a likable addition. It seems her superhero name of Scarlet Witch is off-limits - though I'm still going to call her that – which is probably fitting, seeing as all of her comic book back story had to be discarded because of legal shenanigans. Nevertheless, the vulnerability and emotion Olsen shows is fantastic. Integrating Paul Bettany's Jarvis, a part of the MCU from the beginning, and Vision was a fantastic idea. The introduction of Vision, one of the sequel's biggest digressions, concludes wonderfully with the simple, direct way it establishes that everyone can trust him. Bettany has a wonderful lightness to his delivery.

Sadly, as has become a bad habit of Marvel's, the film ends up throwing away almost as many characters as it introduces. Baron von Strucker is an iconic villain in the comics. Thomas Kretschmann was ideally cast in the role. After a handful of scenes, the sequel tosses the character away without a thought. Quicksilver is another Marvel icon with a long history. In the movie, Aaron Taylor-Johnson grimaces and blusters his way without really establishing the character's identity. He then gets killed, the sacrifice not meaning much since we barely got to know him. In moments like this, the Marvel movies resemble comic book crossover events a little too much. I'd like to give the movie the benefit of the doubt and assume the introduction of Helen Cho is setting up future events. But who knows when Disney/Marvel will get back around to ever utilizing that character, assuming they don't forget about her wholesale.

In conclusion, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a bit of a mess but I like it anyway. There are little moments of grace throughout the film: Vision and Ultron's final conversation, Cap and Tony arguing over firewood, everything to do with Hawkeye's kids. That helps patch over the convoluted plot, rushed character arcs, or awkward world building. The cast is still an utter delight. The action is still fantastic. It's clear that the Marvel team has gotten extremely good at pulling together massive movies like this. While there are plenty of grievances to have with “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” I'm still far too entertained by this movie to give it anything but a positive score. [Grade: B+]

Joss Whedon has been pretty open about how the process of making “Avengers: Age of Ultron” broke him. The pressures of making an enormous sequel, while trying to maintain a personal vision and capitulate to studio demands, left him “beaten.” He swore off big studio movies just to get sucked into the “Justice League” reshoots quagmire, which even he seems to agree was a bad idea.

Since then, there have been a number of projects Whedon has been attached to. It seems he'll probably be going back to television next. An HBO series called “The Nevers” is in active production. (Along with a possible reboot of “Buffy,” though how much involvement Joss will actually have with that remains to be seen.) With the weird balance of respect and controversy Whedon carries with him, it's hard to know what announced projects of his will come to be and what will end up in the unrealized pile with “Goners,” “Batgirl,” “Wastelanders,” a “Doctor Horrible” sequel and half a dozen proposed “Buffy” spin-offs.

Come back tomorrow as I wade my way through the last few Marvel Cinematic Universe movies I haven't reviewed yet.