Avengers: Age of Ultron

Robots and Revolution

Director: Josh Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olson, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgaard, Thomas Kretschmann, Andy Serkis and Stan Lee

Review by James Colt Harrison

With a cast larger than the population of Rhode Island, madcap director Josh Whedon’s bloated sci-fi adventure Avengers: Age of Ultron,---out of the pages of Marvel comics--- is out to set all sort of records at the box office this summer. How can it miss? It has almost every star in Hollywood (that’s an exaggeration, just like the film), the guidance of comic book guru Stan Lee (with fellow comic book creator Jack Kirby), the wild imaginations of Whedon, and the backings of the two greatest animation studios of the current creators working today. Throw in the dazzling camera work of Ben Davis, the Erector Set stylings of costume designer Alexandra Byrne, and the startling and stunning music by tunesmiths Danny Efman and BrianTyler, you can’t miss.

Starting with Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) trying to salvage the peacekeeping talks that previously went awry, the only way to save the world is for all the Super Heroes to band together as a team. Iron Man (Downey, Jr.), Thor (Hemsworth), Captain America (Evans), Black Widow (Johansson), The Incredible Hulk (Ruffalo), Hawkye (Renner) and War Machine (Cheadle) see the sense in that to combat the evil Ultron (voice of James Spader) and prevent him from destroying all humans as well as the earth. The team of heroes must stop Ultron in his tracks before he institutes his dastardly plans. Ultron turns out to be a very clever robot, much in the vein of HAL in Stanley Kubrick’s science-fiction classic 2001. Just as HAL’s voice was chilling in that long-ago film, Spader grabs the part by the throat and runs chills up and down your ultimately shivered spine. He steals the film without ever appearing in it!

The film is Whedon’s usual revved-up, hyper-active romp that will never make you take No-Doze to keep awake. The decibel level alone will shatter your eardrums as well as the batteries in your hearing aids if you wear them. Seemingly, the entire reason for this picture is action, action, action.  With apparently not much of an excuse, the heroes launch from one fight scene to another, each one more bone-crunching than the next. It’s a good thing they are Super Heroes or they would be demolished in a second if mere mortals. The ladies may find Hemsworth and Evans as chili-peppered catnip when they show off bodies that apparently were chiseled from some old Michelangelo statues in Carrere marble.

With some amusing wisecracks on the lips of the cast, we are projected across the world in a 3D tour of Africa and Asia. Yes, there are some funny lines as per the previous outings of this gang of do-gooders. And the spectacular scenery captured by Ben Davis’s cameras is eye-popping. The 3D process is unobtrusive, yet brings alive the three-dimensional objects the human eye sees naturally. It adds tremendously to the enjoyment of the picture.

The stars of the film are really the special effects people. Without them there would be no film to get excited about. Too numerous to mention, the various CGI companies and motion-capture people have outdone themselves on this bombastic film. The kids will love this movie and so will some of the big kids. There is not too much plot to confuse us, but there is plenty of action and explosions to distract us. It’s a wild ride through space and beyond!

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