With the benefit of hindsight, it’s strange to recall that at one point Marvel’s “Avengers” was a huge risk. Looking at it now yeah it’s impossible to think of “The Avengers” as anything other than the single most successful film in history, but maybe a decade ago, it isn’t hard to picture a group of people over large oval table at Marvel studios arguing over the simple question “will this thing work?” The thing in question was this “can we build a series of comic book films over the course of several years that eventually result in the coming together of all those interlocking complex stories to form a grand finale?” The answer to the question was a large obvious, yes.. “The Avengers” was a damn fire works display, a gross celebration of itself that existed for it’s own sake and it was a success, a beautiful multi billion dollar success. Now a few years down the line and a few more films in the cannon can a sequel to such a strange experiment be just as big of a success as it’s predecessor?
As it turns out, kind of. “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” isn’t the subtly brilliant high wire act disguised as the world’s largest summer blockbuster like the first one was. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a blast to watch. “Age of Ultron” has a bizarrely relaxed atmosphere to it, and perhaps its only my interpretation that forces me to view the film in this way, but “The Avengers” is just as much about the people behind the scenes juggling these impossible stories, lore, and characters as it is the super heroes onscreen. How do we take decades of comic material and several years of character development spread out of several films, and place them into one cohesive package that will appeal at once to comic nerds and the casual viewer? The answer in the case of the first “Avengers” was to simply bring the characters and their individual personality to the forefront, to force their characters into every single line of dialogue possible. This has largely been kept the same. For example everything we need to know about Captain America is delivered in his first line of dialogue, “watch your language.” Cap’s old outdated but still charming sense of morality is defined with that simple line.
With that being said, the drama and meta-text that allowed us to examine the first film as being more than just a summer blockbuster just isn’t there. The genius that lied in the first film was entirely on the shoulders of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury wondering if he had the ability to bring the bizarre cast of characters that is The Avengers together in order for them to team up and save the world. The underlying message here being can Marvel Studios bring these stories and characters together to make them to work together, and there is the drama, there’s the stakes. Without that Age of Ultron lacks urgency. It’s difficult to feel tension for any of the characters knowing that Captain America 3 is in the works, or the fact that Avengers 3 is starting in its production. Oh sure, its still fun to watch. The performances are all there, Robert Downey Jr’s continually guilt stricken but wise cracking Tony Stark is as always the most enjoyable thing to watch on the screen, while Chris Hemsworth continues to provide a surprising amount of comic depth to an Aztec God. Joss Whedon once again in the writing and directors chair continues to prove that he is really probably the only one on earth short of Steven Spielberg who knows how to make a film this fun to watch while simultaneously juggling each character's individual personality. But Empire Strikes Back this is not, and the lack of urgency drains a good summer popcorn film of the ability to be a great and curious example of what happens when you bring together all the money in the world and unite them with Earth’s mightiest heroes.
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