Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie Review

Three years ago, the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe came to a head with The Avengers, resulting in huge critical and commercial success. After a few side stories featuring its most popular heroes, the second phase of Marvel’s timeline is nearing its conclusion; the result is Avengers: Age of Ultron, easily one of the best, if not the best offering from the studio so far.

Avengers: Age of Ultron picks up some time after Captain America: The Winter Soldier; with SHIELD abolished, the Avengers now run their base of operations from Tony Stark’s new and improved tower in New York. Everything is seemingly fine and dandy until Stark discovers an artificial intelligence inside Loki’s sceptre used in the previous Avengers film. He activates the AI to form a “suit of armour” around the world, only for it to go rogue, becoming the robotic supervillain Ultron. With an army of synthetics at his back, Ultron is bent on human extinction and the Avengers must put a stop to his diabolical plan. Kicking off with the action straight away, Avengers: Age of Ultron wastes little in upping the ante from the its predecessor; it’s leaner and meaner than the previous film, with much more at stake thanks to Ultron’s plan to destroy humanity. You feel as if the heroes really are being pushed to their limits and yet despite the darker tone, there’s still plenty of entertainment to be found in the comedic moments that break up the regular action. In addition, Age of Ultron adds other characters to the roster such as War Machine (Don Cheadle) and The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), providing useful expansions for future films. Above all else it feels that Age of Ultron succeeds at giving more of what we loved in the original, which is precisely what a great sequel needs to do.

Of course Marvel wouldn’t have its strong reputation in film without giving time for the characters to develop and Age of Ultron certainly delivers in this regard. There’s a really natural progression that has taken place through the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the chemistry between them is as strong as it’s ever been. The banter between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark has lost none of its dramatic flair. The bonds between Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and the brother and sister duo of Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are particular high points in terms of emotion and even Hawkeye gets much more material to work with this time around. Rounding out the film’s cast is James Spader as Ultron and though his intentions may be nefarious in nature, the filmmakers still sought to get some comedy out of him, striking a neat balance against his evil plans. Just as the plot of Avengers: Age of Ultron ups the action and comedy, so too does the cast swell in size and scope; add to that a strong progression in character arcs and you have some of the best handled characters in superhero movie history. I hope that it continues to climb higher.

The original Avengers set the bar pretty high for smack-downs featuring numerous superheroes at once, so how can Age of Ultron hope to rise above it? The simple answer is just like the plot and characterisation; up the ante in every respect and Age of Ultron is just as keen to please when it comes to the action. With a darker tone in it’s pocket, the film conveys this with significantly more gruffness while also giving the various heroes more chances to show off their abilities. Some of the new set piece moments are simply awesome, especially the gargantuan Hulkbuster suit being called in to get an indoctrinated Hulk back under control. The action is just as fast and fluid as it was before, with a wide range of camera angles ensuring that the audience never loses track of the absolute madness that often unfolds on-screen. The music also compliments the film’s tone, with a dark ambience that sweeps in when the heroes find themselves outmatched by the enemy. The technical presentation of Age of Ultron is certainly not content with sitting below the plot and actin; instead it stands alongside them to push the film’s quality even further beyond every other Marvel film before it.

Just when you think a series like the Marvel Cinematic Universe couldn’t get any better, along comes a film that pushes it over the top, ranking it amongst the very best of superhero films. If you liked the first Avengers then everything you loved is still here; if you’re expecting better things from the sequel then Age of Ultron will no doubt deliver in spades.

Rating: 5/5 Stars