Language!

Rating: 6/10 (12 September 2015)

Age of Ultron improves on its predecessor in a few ways - the scale and production values are noticeably better. Costumes are sleeker, more modern, the special effects budget is put to good use, and overall it just feels like a more world-ending crisis than the fight that is limited to just the island of Manhattan in Avengers 2012. It tries to convince you that the world is ending, but the problem is that it never really commits to it. That brings us to one of the key issues - the tone of the film that springboards from place to place. Whedon's dialogue is even more characteristically Whedon than ever before. One liners will chop up the action sequences and jarringly insert themselves into the scene as if we're never meant to take the whole thing too seriously. Maybe it would be bearable had it come mostly from the mouth of the egocentric and often sarcastic Tony Stark (then again, even he goes overboard, laughing in the aftermath of Ultron's reveal), but the whole cast seems to be attuned to this brand of humour. The worst moment is in the midst of the frantic and chaotic final battle scene, where Romanoff and Hawkeye discuss renovating the dining room as if they were sitting casually in a bar. But no, they are sitting in a sponsored Audi sportscar which the camera openly indulges, which is in turn in front of a green-screen which immediately takes us out of the situation.
We went from the surprisingly tender heart-to-heart with Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch to that? Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good throughout. The advertising campaign went to great lengths to portray the main villain Ultron as a menacing and destructive figure. There's literally nothing of that in the movie - Spader's voice-acting cannot save the writing of the big bad from turning into a Stark prototype with an evil moustache, beating us over the head with the Pinocchio symbolism. We've all seen how the rogue AI interprets good intentions with disastrously bad actions, but in this case it's done with terrible conviction. Ultron rages at being compared to his creator, and we think we might be getting somewhere, but then he accidentally harms a human and suddenly he turns into Stark himself, sarcastic apology and all. "Clearly you've never made an omelette", he jokes, attempting to be both humorous and menacing, and failing to be either. Nearly as bad is Quicksilver, the other Russian superhero who is given much less time than his sister. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character is given maybe a dozen lines in the entire film, and half of them are that insufferable catchphrase "You didn't see that coming?" that he starts and ends with. Are we supposed to feel something for him? Despite both having terrible costumes, Fox's version managed to be memorable. Marvel's one does not.
It's impossibly hard to juggle so many characters in a extended universe like this, but their effort is admirable. There are hints of that group dynamic; the drunken after-party games with Mjolnir inject humour in the right way and create a sense of camaraderie. What Whedon can't do is then tear them apart; I'm sure it's all being saved for Civil War, but even so the whole plot is barely fleshed out and then wraps up very neatly. Widow and Hulk's romance is surprisingly well done for something that is often shovelled into a screenplay, but then again where were these concerns in Avengers? It seems that Hulk only has trouble controlling his green persona when the plot demands it. By far the most attention is given to Hawkeye, and it's done well for such a secondary character who is often joked as being useless (he hasn't got his own movie for one). The whole mind unlocking inner fears thing is a very clever way of visualising characterisation and is amongst the better scenes; we have the post war mis-en-scene and partying of Rogers and Peggy, the slow-motion sexual decadence and terror of Valhalla, and the sped up and choppy horror aesthetic of Romanoff's training regime, which has particularly great sound design and a muted colour palette. The former two already have 2 individual movies out, so again the dilemma shows; the visions are much more effective for them than for Romanoff.
It commits much of the same errors as Avengers. The middle sequence is again a frivolous, overburdened scenario. Hulk's on the run and needs to be stopped, and sure the Hulkbuster looks cool, but Tony's serious to snark ratio is again lopsided and so we don't really think that anyone will be killed in this scene (they do kill someone, but of course they choose the easiest and least traumatic path). And again, the final fight scene is filled with fodder in the form of faceless alien/robot types, great for demonstrating the visual effects and fighting prowess of our various super-powered characters, but not so great for sustaining any tension or character interest. I mean, imagine the outrage if Hawkeye was headshotted by one of Ultron's little helpers. One great thing that comes out of all this is Vision, played by Paul Bettany. The costume and make-up that go toward his look is fantastic, and he floats and moves with such fluidity across the screen. Certainly a character that will be more important with the tools he wields (he hands Thor Mjolnir which is executed with humour and actually tells us something about the characters!).
Anyways, it looks great (that first long take is shot and choreographed excellently) and the all star cast is quite good, considering the script that they had to work with. Black Widow or Hawkeye won't get a movie, but I'm sure the two part finale of this trilogy as well as the numerous other films along the way will create some substance. And even if it doesn't, it'll still be great at the box office.