Avengers: Age of Ultron

I think it's safe to say the superhero genre is reaching critical mass. Not only is the cinema docket saturated with superheroes (and looks to be that way for years to come), but now individual movies appear to be packing in as many heroes as they can. As if the initial Avenger lineup wasn’t enough already, Age of Ultron adds several new faces to the mix while expanding on the stories of the returning players. And remarkably, the film pulls it off at least as well as the first Avengers, maybe even better. It’s an entry that succeeds in both the macro and the micro, continuing Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s work of clearing the way for a new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while also working solidly as a standalone picture.

With the world still reeling from the events of Winter Soldier, the film opens with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes raiding a leftover Hydra/S.H.I.E.L.D. compound to retrieve a powerful amulet left over from the Battle of New York three years prior. Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Hulk alter-ego Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) attempt to harness that power to initiate their secret project: Ultron (James Spader), a peacekeeping artificial intelligence program. Unfortunately, the new program breaks free, and its definition of a peaceful world is one without humans. So it’s up to the Avengers to stop him, as well as face two new Hydra-engineered enemies: super-speedster Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and psychic Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

The picture brings back everything we loved about the first Avengers, turned up a notch or two. The action and special effects are bigger, more intense, and frankly crazier (the street fight between the Hulk and Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor may be the best Hulk fight on the big screen so far). Also back is its sense of humor. For a film based on such a dark comic arc and advertised as being so dark, it might be the funniest Marvel movie. More than just keeping the expository scenes going, the comedy also meshes well with some dramatic parts and complements the action scenes, especially the near-slow-mo ones involving Quicksilver. And when it appears Ultron is going to be one of those cold, stoic philosophizing villains, Spader turns on the smarm and attitude to great effect. It almost hurts his standing as the bad guy because it’s so much fun when he’s onscreen.

But for all the elements that make it a fun summer blockbuster, it’s the slower, smaller scenes, the ones that instill these characters with humanity, where the film shines. Namely, all the characters without their own individual franchise get a moment to evolve. We finally learn a little more about Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and that they’re not just emotionless killers. Even better is Banner’s subplot, as his surprisingly sad and moving struggle to control the monster inside him is easily the strongest Hulk story yet (between this and the aforementioned fight with Iron Man, I think it’s safe to say another Hulk film might finally be warranted). And the visions put into the team’s heads by Scarlett Witch, exposing each one’s fears and desires, are a nice, dark touch.

I really enjoyed Age of Ultron, but I’m not sure how well it bodes for Marvel going forward. It succeeds only a hair away from failure; it’s one character cameo away from overload, one convenient save-the-day moment away from losing all tension, one impossible stunt away from crossing the line into sheer ridiculousness. The movie manages to shoulder the whole load but leaves so little room for error, or much else.

I can see why they cut the next Avengers in two.