Avengers: Age of Ultron

Greetings, the Avengers: Age of Ultron is the sequel to Joss Whedon’s 2012 Avengers film in which most of the main cast reprise their previous roles. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is notably absent from the movie, replaced by a new protagonist called Ultron who is voiced by James Spader. Other Marvel characters from the earlier instalments in the franchise such as War Machine, Falcon and Nick Fury also return for smaller roles in Age of Ultron. It is the eleventh movie in the ever growing Marvel Cinematic Universe which also plans to release Ant-Man later in the year and seems to be building an overarching storyline between the films which surrounds the Infinity Stones.

The plot begins in the fictional Eastern European country of Sokovia, where the Avengers are assaulting a Hydra compound. They are searching for a sceptre that had previously belonged to Loki and is now in the possession of a Hdyra agent called Wolfgang von Strucker. Strucker had been using the sceptre on the Maximoff twins, known as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, for human experimentation. The Maximoff twins hold a grudge against the Avengers as Tony Stark’s weapons had killed their parents during Iron Man’s days as an arms dealer. Quicksilver has the superpower of rapid speed while his sister has the ability to get into people’s minds and control their thoughts. The raid is successful as the Avengers manage to retrieve the sceptre but the Maximoff twins evade capture.

Stark notices that the sceptre contains Artificial Intelligence that he and Bruce Banner use to build a global defence program named Ultron. The defensive system is kept a secret from the rest of the group until Ultron is awakened and plans to save earth. The AI becomes sentient, believing that humanity must be exterminated if he is to save the world from destruction. He, in the form of one of the Iron Men bots, turns Stark’s weapons against the Avengers and escapes with the sceptre. In his quest for human extinction, Ultron recruits the Maximoff twins who desire revenge on the superheroes. As such, it is up to the Avengers to stop the AI and his mechanical army before he can complete his vision of a human free world.

While it is entertaining to watch, it does not surpass the original’s entertainment value in my opinion as the novelty of a team up is no longer a fresh concept. I believe that Marvel films are problematic because there are no high stakes due to the genre’s nature of light-heartedness. Major characters are likely to survive the ordeals they face in order to continue with their own series and therefore it lacks a tense atmosphere. The sequel tries to strengthen the characters by expanding Hawkeye’s background as well as establishing a romantic relationship between Banner and the Black Widow. If you are a fan of the original you would probably enjoy this movie although I felt as if it had less humorous moments than the first film. I do have concerns that Marvel may be oversaturating the market with future Avengers films and standalone instalments of other characters but I will have to wait to understand if this is the case.

Plot=7/10

Characters=7/10

Special Effects=7/10

Overall=7/10

Quote of the Day

The Force is with us, Master Sidious.

Count Dooku

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