Method in madness

Ervell E. Menezes

These days sequels follow parent films like love and marriage did in old times, and Avengers: Age of Ultron 3D is the sequel to the original 2012 box-office hit Avengers and is aiming for similar success.
With S.H.I.E.L.D.S. now history, they need a hiatus from their normal practice of stopping threats. But co-leader and playboy Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) jump-starts a dormant peacekeeping unit Ultron (James Spader), who has many aliases but is basically a self-aware, self-teaching artificial intelligence.
But the plan backfires and Ultron decides the humans are the enemy and wants to eradicate them from Earth, leaning on support from Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor/Hulk (Chris Hemmsworth). There are others also thrown in like cute Natasha Romanoff/
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch to queer the pitch. So, it’s fun and games and fireworks galore to pick up from where the Avengers left off and director Josh Whedon has his plate full with FX teams working overtime but for me it is scriptwriter Whedon who wins the day with smirks and irreverence delivered with panache. There is a line ‘and upon this rock I shall build my Church’ or ‘breeding like Catholic rabbits.’
But it isn’t only the Catholic Church that is under attack but the virtual system and as one wades through the rather unimpressive opening shots, one is happy to find method in the madness with the disparate players quite happy to join in the mayhem with Robert Downey Jr, now pleased, now brow-beaten, Chris Hemmsworth sincere, Mark Ruffalo happy and Scarlett Johansson sexy as usual. When all is said and done (which could have been 20 minutes less) Avengers: Age of Ultron is worth a watch.
P.S. The credits roll on for over two minutes with the various teams of technicians mentioned quite meticulously, a real labour of art and love.