AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth
Directed by Joss Whedon
After toiling in television and compensating for budgetary restraints with banter and character development, perhaps no one is as adept with the dynamics of geeky ensembles as writer-director Joss Whedon. Fostering an air of camaraderie in which his legion of long underwear types feel exceedingly comfortable in their own skin-tight outfits (Robert Downey Jr. even casually tosses off a Eugene O'Neill joke for good measure), Whedon creates a viewing experience that's every bit as uncanny as watching a burly NFL linebacker run a 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds: despite its brawn and bulk, Age of Ultron proves preternaturally fleet.
Honestly, one could exhaust this capsule review's word count offering even an overview of the plot points in play here. Hell, even a simple roll call practically demands a paragraph onto its own, with the aforementioned Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, easily the standout here as a man wrestling with his all-id demon), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) reuniting to combat this week's argument against AI, Ultron (a menacing CG creation voiced by a petulant James Spader), and his super-powered underlings – the speedster Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and reality warping Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).
As one might expect, armageddon is the order of the day. Fortunately, the film dispenses with any onerous getting-the-team-back-together montages and instead deposits us in an exhilarating, everyone-accounted-for pre-title sequence that bests the original's climax in terms of both fluidity and invention. And while the breakneck pace occasionally relents as globe-hopping ensues, it only does so in the service of each member enjoying their own well-crafted arc. Ultimately, one has to marvel at a super-hero flick that manages to satisfy as both storytelling and spectacle.
