Why Joss Whedon and Marvel's 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' deserves only a shrug

There was no way that Avengers: Age of Ultron was going to be a bad movie. Unless director Joss Whedon completely screwed up, there was no way that the follow-up to 2012's The Avengers was going to be anything less than an entertaining, 140-minute romp through the Marvel universe with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Ultron has the same list of beats that all Marvel movies must hit and the film hits all of these in the perfect tone. But that doesn't mean that it's memorable or deserves anything more than a shrug.

The plot of Age of Ultron is pretty much the plot to The Avengers, except this time, the threat to humanity's survival was created by Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) instead of being external. Ultron also has the advantage of not needing to get these Marvel heroes together for the first time. None of them really trust each other though, a trait that Ultron (James Spader) takes advantage of during the film's “everything is almost lost” moment. After Ultron breaks free and causes havoc around the world (mostly offscreen and confirmed through Nick Fury-delivered exposition), it seems all hope is lost. Then they regroup and the big battle begins.

Trust me, that's not a spoiler at all. Going in, you should know that the last 30 minutes of the movie is going to an all-out slugfest, with each member of the team given their own highlight moment. It happened in the last Avengers, it happened in Guardians of the Galaxy and it even happened in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

While Whedon still can't escape the been-there, done-that quality of the structure, he still makes several admirable attempts at doing things differently. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) suddenly has a wife (Linda Cardellini – obviously that check from Netflix's Bloondlines wasn't big enough), two kids and a third on the way. We finally get to learn more of Black Widow's (Scarlett Johansson) backstory, although only because she's put under a spell by Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) – who is bizarrely the most complex character of the bunch – again faces more conflict within over the cost of his Hulk rampages. Sadly, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony don't get to change much. After all, they can do that in their own movies.

One common thread that runs through even non-Marvel blockbusters is the utter lack of care for the millions of civilians killed during the big battles. Even Man of Steel's Superman didn't seem to care about all the people left dead in Metropolis. But we finally have heroes going out of their way to keep people alive in Ultron. Right off the bat, Iron Man dispatches his drones to help people during the first big action scene. (It's interesting that, during the finale, the actual members of the Avengers are the ones helping people flee, while the robots are the ones trying to kill. Nice switcheroo, Mr. Whedon.)

But, what Age of Ultron comes down to is a stylish superhero epic that's supposed to please the widest possible audience. Whedon does his best to keep things different, thereby succeeding in keeping our eyes glued to the screen. The quieter character moments peppered throughout the film exist partly to drop hints about upcoming Marvel films or do fan service by recalling events in the previous ones. That ends up undermining Whedon's efforts. Even B-hero buddies War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) need to pop in, although they do little more than smile for the camera. It's sad, but you can't possibly expect a serious exploration of characters. If you do, there's no way you can have fun at a Marvel movie.

So, why don't we just give up trying to look at them critically? Marvel films are all about having fun and turning trips to the theater into amusement park rides. Whedon might have wanted to make some allegory about how we can't let our trust in machines run wild, but these heady ideas quickly get lost. Spader could be rambling about anything and Thor will still try to smash him with the hammer or Cap will still throw his shield.

After leaving my IMAX screening for Ultron, I could only shrug. Sure, I escaped reality for over two hours and had fun. But I'm not going to be thinking about the film or trying to dig below the surface. I have no desire to see it again soon. Why should I? I can just wait for the next Marvel movie.

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