Avengers: Age of Ultron

This was not a bad movie. Compared to some of the other Marvel movies, it was not a great movie, but that's a pretty high bar.

Spoilers will abound in this review--the problem is, though the movie overall was all right, lots of little things bugged me, and those little things added up to detract from my enjoyment of the movie as a whole. Therefore, I can't talk about it without talking specifics. And so, SPOILER ALERT!

Age of Ultron begins fairly promisingly. The team is back together, bringing down a Hydra base where Loki's staff is being kept. The first few minutes really made me appreciate the value of a "cinematic universe" like Marvel has been building. We have half a dozen major characters who need no introduction. The goal can be stated very simply: Get Loki's staff from the Hydra base. The viewers already know what all of these things mean. We can jump right in to the action, which, let's be honest, is the reason we're all here.

After the staff is retrieved, Tony Stark discovers that it contains some sort of artificial intelligence. (Later, this turns out to be an infinity stone. Seems like the Asgardians would have known that Loki had that, but okay. Loki is a master of deception, so I'll let it slide.) Anyway, Stark decides to use that artificial intelligence to create a sentient robot programmed to protect Earth, and he gets Bruce Banner to help him, because apparently neither of them have seen I, Robot.

The viewer can see from a mile away that this isn't going to end well, but, to be fair, Stark and Banner are both doing and saying things that are totally in character and the whole setup is reasonably plausible, as far as superhero movies go, and then...

"Peace in our time."

Wait! What? Did Tony Stark seriously just quote Neville Chamberlain?? This is Iron Man we're talking about. This is a man who made a fortune selling weapons, and, when he got out of the weapons business, it was not because he became a pacifist, but because he realized his weapons were falling into the wrong hands. In his post-weapons-magnate career, he has become a warrior, single-handedly (or with the help of a few friends) taking on the forces of evil whenever the situation calls for it. He is, in that very moment, discussing building a weapon of such power that it would deter all threats to the entire earth. Why is he quoting history's most famous appeaser?

Are we to assume he doesn't know where that phrase comes from? You don't have to be a genius (which he is) or have close friends who fought in WWII (which he does) to be aware of that. Do the scriptwriters assume the audience won't know the context? That's kind of insulting. Do the scriptwriters themselves not know the context? Say it ain't so--I really want to believe better of them.

And yet the question remains: Why did Tony Stark just quote Neville Chamberlain? That this is the phrase Ultron initially latches on to only highlights the problem. A little thing, but it got under my skin (as you can tell).

Then, after the creepiest rendition of "No Strings on Me" ever imagined, the questions just multiply. What advantage does Ultron see in a biological/vibranium body over a pure vibranium one? Why is Romanov the only Avenger who does not have some sort of supernatural (or technologically advanced to the point of being supernatural) enhancement or weapon? And why does her suit glow in the dark? Don't get me wrong--it looks cool, but isn't she supposed to be a stealthy assassin? What's up with Thor's visions? (I'm hoping they come back to this in a later movie.) While we're on the topic, where is Loki? Not that this is a plot hole, but he is just about my favorite villain ever, so I'm always hoping he's going to show up. Also, where is Falcon? I would like him to get more screen time.

When did Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver get over their issues with Tony Stark? I could almost let this slide, except that Fury explicitly said something like "Ultron having an enemy is not the same as us having a friend." Sure, they can work with Steve Rogers, but anyone who's not a total villain can work with him. There is nothing objectionable whatsoever about that guy. Stark? Different story. The twins do have something like a legitimate grievance with him, and it just kind of...goes away.

What exactly are The Vision's powers? Ultron, Stark, Banner, and Thor all had a hand in his creation, and Loki's infinity stone is in his forehead, so he can lift Mjolnir, fly, and mind meld with the internet?

On a side note, I did think the whole hammer thing was pretty well played. That first scene where they're all trying to lift it seems just to be fun filler while we wait for Ultron to show up, and having Steve able to shift it was a nice touch. (I've since been told that, in the comics, he can actually wield it, so some people where disappointed that he couldn't lift it here. I took it for granted that no puny mortal would be able to make it budge, so I was pretty impressed with even that small movement.) Then the whole thing ends up being quite significant down the road. Nicely done, there.

And now you see the real problem: I've spent this whole review focused on tiny things. A line here, a scene there, even a costume choice. I haven't talked about the plot or the themes or the character development. The movie contained plenty of all of the above, but I just lost the forest for the trees with all the little things that went wrong.

I guess I will address the big ideas just briefly. This is a movie that is, once you strip away all the extraneous trappings, fundamentally, at its core, about why Pepper Pots can never go on vacation. Think about it: If she had been there, none of this would have happened. She would probably have been with Stark when he was forming the idea (and, if not, she almost certainly would have realized that he was up to something before Ultron was finally formed) and she could possibly have talked him out of it. If not him, then probably Banner, and, if not Banner, she could have gotten the rest of the team to put a stop to it, because she's a sane person like that.

Okay. Got all of that out of my system. END SPOILER.

Again, none of these problems was terribly significant on their own, and overall it was a fun action flick. Also, we have to give Marvel credit: Is there any other series whose eleventh installment has still been pretty decent? I am very much looking forward to the twelfth.