The Creation Station

*Starring Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Chris Hemsworth | Written & Directed by Joss Whedon

//This post contains content that may be seen to be spoilers//

Avengers: Age of Ultron, the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest film of 2015 so far. With the familiar characters the team of superheroes join forces in order to neutralise the threat presented by the artificially intelligent program Ultron, a character set to give Jarvis a run for his money. With the Ultron Program being “only an idea” for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Junior) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) before they retrieve the sceptre the two characters were on a mission for “peace in our time” that turns out horrifically. The presentation of Ultron whilst without body is a true work of ingenuity, perfectly capturing the fact that Ultron is in fact not tied to any physical being and is just a program, his 'battle' with Jarvis is also well visualised and shown to that audience aiding our understanding of the two as warring computer programs instead of characters themselves.

Ultron's Physical Body

The plot of Marvel’s cinematic masterpiece is filled with fast paced action, impassioned romance and quick-witted humour. These key components work together to evoke an array of emotions in the film’s audience. The narrative of the film opens with an in media res sequence that is shot continuously which provides a seamless link between all of the characters. This increases our understanding of them as a team from the first Avengers film, additionally the journey for peace through violence is an ironic statement only to be repeated by Ultron’s deluded character later in the film. The action sequences throughout the film provide increased tension with Ultron presented as a catalyst for violence, murder and betrayal at each situation for which he is present, the well written combat scenes work with the camera-work in each of them to provide an immersive experience for the audience whilst they are also provided with comic relief from each major action sequence, for example whilst in Wakanda Quicksilver’s attempt to grab hold of Mjolnir caused a ripple of laughter across the audience in the cinema. The final climax’s cinematography is a marvel in itself, the seen is flawlessly constructed moving between all of the heroes as they defend the Vibranium core from Ultron in slow motion with the music truly giving the scene the expected feel of heroism expected from a major Marvel studios blockbuster such as Age Of Ultron.

Furthermore the romance in the film is used to provide an alternate subplot for the audience to follow giving the film depth and realism, despite Natasha Romanoff’s affection for a “big green rage monster”. Their light flirtation, presented in typical film noir bar-counter style, begins at one of Stark’s parties, but by the main climax of the film it is clearly a fully fledged romance with Romanoff’s low-key declaration of her feelings for Banner “I adore you”, a clever use of script writing by Whedon considering her character’s previous statement “love is for children”. However their on-screen relationship is not the typical ‘love-interest-in-an-action-film’ cliche, this pretense is broken during an emotionally charged sequence between the two when Romanoff recalls her time in the red room where she “was trained- where [she] was raised” and describes to Banner the graduation ceremony she had to undergo whilst Banner makes it implicitly clear that he too is infertile. The two characters’ tragic backstories provide them both with a bond of mutual understanding which gives their relationship substance, a sub-plot that is definitely required in the film in order to give it the depth that many felt that the 2012 Avengers film was lacking.

Throughout the film the threat of Ultron’s actions are aided by Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, “two of Strucker’s brightest pupils” who come to our screens as the two ‘enhanced’ humans: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The addition of Scarlet Witch allows the audience to see the development of a true hero from the beginning of the film to the end, this provides the audience with a great deal of empathy for her character, her situation and also admiration for what she has overcome during the course of the film all of which comes to a crescendo by the film’s end. Her true change of heart takes place in the midst of the action at one the most intense moments, but her dialogue with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) provides comic relief for the pre-climax of the film. These two characters are key to the film and provide a fresh lease of life to the team from Avengers: Assemble (2012). Despite the change of casting from X-Men: Days Of Future Past the portrayal is not at all a hinderance for the audience’s experience of the film with Aaron Taylor-Johnson providing a high bar for Evan Peters to meet if his character is to appear in any future X-Men films.

Taylor-Johnson (Left)
Peters (Right)