'Avengers: Age of Ultron' is semi-enjoyable but not as good as the first
鈥淭he Avengers鈥� was the third-highest-grossing film of all time, and I聽don鈥檛 doubt that 鈥淎vengers: Age of Ultron,鈥� which is semi-enjoyable but聽not as good, will also ascend the higher reaches of moola. Such is the聽megapopularity of this Marvel superhero franchise that the filmmakers聽could have featured the clan playing dodgeball and achieved a similar聽success.
There鈥檚 quite a bit more than dodgeball going on in 鈥淯ltron," to the聽point of literal overkill. All the stalwarts, looking as fit as usual, are back:聽Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert聽Downey, Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce聽Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha/Black Widow (Scarlett聽Johansson), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Their nemesis is Ultron (voiced聽with snide amusement by James Spader), a state-of-the-art humanoid who,聽of course, wants to take over the world and unload a new race of mass-produced android soldiers.聽
Writer-director Joss Whedon attempts to inject just enough human聽drama into these noisy proceedings to keep it from turning into a聽鈥淭ransformers鈥�-style crashathon. (Best subplot: Black Widow and The聽Hulk get closer, but no smooches.) The action sequences aren鈥檛 especially聽well designed, and the plot, such as it is, is essentially one catastrophe聽after another. The Avengers鈥� attempts at smarty-pants wisecracks aren鈥檛聽all that smart. And yet none of this probably matters to the film鈥檚 geekish聽fan base, who are already slavering for sequels. Grade:聽B- (Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence and destruction, and for some suggestive comments.)
