Movie Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Movie Review

Movie: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Rated: M

Rating: 8/10

The concept of artificial intelligence has been around for decades and the idea, as explored in cinema, has often been positive.

What happens if it all goes wrong is depicted in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the latest instalment of the multi-billion-dollar-grossing Marvel franchise.

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffallo) use villain Loki's sceptre to create an AI robot with a mind of its own and one mission - to protect the world.

The AI program Ultron thinks, though, the Avengers are the problem with the world and, after assessing humanity, decides it needs a clean-out and to restart the human race.

The AI antagonist is created on Stark's severe paranoia and anxiety that he won't be able to save the world (following on from the first Avengers film as well as Iron Man 3).

More than the good-versus-evil tirade, this is the central plot - Stark's problems seeping into all the other Avengers' lives.

Captain America (Chris Evans) struggles to find his place in the new world and begins to build tension with Stark (feeding in to Captain America: The Civil War), while Banner continues to struggle with the fear of losing control and hurting people with his powerful alter ego, and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) begins to fear there is trouble on his home planet of Asgard.

Even the smaller Avengers, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), have their issues - the Widow struggling with her naughty past and Hawkeye juggling a secret family and putting his life on the line to save the world.

These developments allow for more than just a simple 'bad guy dominates and good guys rally to save the world', with the clear plan for Ultron not revealed until the end - but making sense once shown.

All in all, if you like a bit of fun and some witty one-liners, this is the movie for you.