MCU Sunday #11: The Avengers: Age of Ultron

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the eleventh installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

 

 

The newest Marvel Cinematic Universe film delves into some issues that I find very uncomfortable.  For one thing I have a very "worst case scenario" mind; I look at what is coming and immediately extrapolate how this could become a bad thing.  One of the biggest bugaboos in my mind is that AI is not necessarily always a good thing.  Call it my The Terminator mentality.  What if AI became so self aware that it could use it's own technology to take over.  (This is a rather pessimistic viewpoint, but then I've always been a freewill type.  The classic quote, attributed to, I think, Benjamin Franklin, has always been one of mantras: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety").

 

 

 

 The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015):

The Avengers are raiding a fortress held by Hydra under the command of Baron Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann).  Strucker has possession of Loki's scepter which he has been using to implement his experiments.  The experiment he has been working on at the time is human enhancement, which has helped him create "The Twins",  two young people who have their own newfound abilities.

Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has become a boy who has superhuman speed (think The Flash from the D.C. comics universe). His sister, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) is able to manipulate minds as well as use telekinesis. These two present some trouble for the Avengers but they still manage to defeat the Hydra forces and take the scepter.

Back at headquarters, Tony Stark uses his AI to investigate the scepter before letting Thor take it back to Asgard.  In the process, he uses it to enhance his Ultron program, which is a program designed to help make the world safe.  But ultimately Ultron becomes self-aware (see I told you...)

Where is Stan Lee? At a party held by Stark, Stan is a guest talking with Thor. Thor has a drink that he claims is not for normal mortal men, but Stan scoffs.  So Thor gives him a shot.  Which puts him in an inebriated state with just that one shot.  Oops.

At the party a fun sequence (and the last fun time the Avengers are going to have for a while) occurs in which everyone tries to prove their worth by trying to pick up Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, off the table.  (But of course we all know only Thor can do it. It's why he's THOR...)

Ultron (James Spader) makes his first presence known, although, as he states he is still hampered by strings.  The Avengers, with a little trouble, do manage to defeat this first incarnation of Ultron, but Ultron says, after defeat of his first body that now he is "free from the strings".  (You didn't think it was going to be THAT easy, did you...?)

Ulton expresses a desire to make the Avengers "extinct".  It's the first step in his goal to secure the security of humanity.  And to do that he need Loki's scepter, which he takes with him.  Ultimately, the Avengers learn that what motivated Tony to create Ultron was the desire to protect humanity from outside forces (such as those seen in the first The Avengers film.)

Ultron kills off Strucker and eliminates all the computerized data that Strucker had.  Fortunately for the Avengers they still have some data 9the old-fashioned printout kind, stored in cardboard boxes. (Ye gods, primitives...) They find a known arms dealer operating out of Wakanda, the source of the strongest metal on Earth (yes Cap's shield). Note: Wakanda also has another resource, but that's for a future installment.

Ultron and the twins go to seek out this weapons dealer, Ulysses (Andy Serkis, whom, after seeing him only as a voice and motion capture creation; Gollum from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and as Caesar in the current spate of Planet of the Apes films I finally got to see what he actually looks like in the flesh) But the Avengers also show up and another battle ensues, at least until Wanda manages to use her special power to warp the minds of the heroes, making them see visions of being else where.

This in effect makes just Iron Man and Hulk available.  And we all know how undependable Hulk can be. But Banner (Hulk) has been warped by the mind efforts of Wanda, too. So that makes him entirely undependable, not just a little bit. The damage that Hulk (and Iron Man) inflicts cause a backlash and the Avengers are forced to hide out.

The Avengers have to figure what the dreams they were given by Wanda mean.  Thor heads out to confer with Dr Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) about his own vision of Armageddon.  meanwhile Tony's old boss, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) puts in an appearance to try to get the rest of the Avengers back on track.  And reveals that Ultron's ultimate goal is total destruction of the Earth.  As Ultron tells the twins, the earth will have to evolve. Like the dinosaurs, so to speak. Not exactly saving the Earth for a better future, if you ask me,

But once the Twins learn that Ultron's ultimate goal is destruction of the Earth, they have a change of heart in their loyalties so the Avengers get a couple of new allis.  But since Ultron himself is evolving into a more powerful entity, even their help may not be quite enough...

So what is the ultimate plan?  Why, a meteor somewhat akin to the one that supposedly destroyed the dinosaurs would do the same for civilization.  Except, who knows when a meteor might be coming by at the right moment? But Ultron has a plan.  Turn a portion of a city into a meteor.  Get that portion up high enough and drop it and the effect would be close to the same,

Now the Avengers have their mission: prevent this catastrophe.  But Ultron is not exactly alone.  He has an entire army of androids that he has created to keep the Avengers busy while he performs his geological trick.

After saving the Earth and defeating Ultron, it turns out that Vision is now in possession of the Mind Stone (one of the Infinity Stones) and the Avengers believe it is probably in the best hands.

And the Credits Roll: After the initial credits we see Thanos getting a gauntlet and saying "Fine. I'll do it myself." (What "it" is is coming to a theater near you soon...)

Age of Ultron really starts the ball rolling in the drive towards what is the best Phase of the MCU (Phase 3), although there still remains to be one more hero to introduce before we can get there (see next week's entry).

Despite the general consensus that Age is one of the lesser entries in the MCU cycle, I personally liked it, even though, as I said in the beginning of this post, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable in terms of the potential of AI.  (And maybe that's why most people dislike it. Maybe they are nervous about the pessimistic feelings it brings on.)

Well, folks, next week's adventure is cued up so it's time to warm up the old Plymouth for the trip.  Drive safely.

Quiggy