Frankenstein's Avengers

This sequel, "Avengers: Age of Ultron," is surely flawed, but it's an interesting mixture of two popular movie genres: the relatively new comic-book superhero one, which has only recently emerged to dominate the box office in this age of Hollywood franchises, and the older genre of the horror film. Both may've been originally (or still) sneered at by many--perhaps, even for good reason, including repetitious and superficial fan servicing--but they've been extraordinarily popular. Last year, during the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein," I reviewed a bunch of related films in relation to that book, as well as seeing how such shockers became a Hollywood staple. For some reason, I neglected two superhero pictures that are partly based on "Frankenstein." Both are in part made by Joss Whedon, who had already mixed pulpy vampirism with teen drama for TV with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and he was behind the meta-horror of "The Cabin in the Woods" (2011). So why not rework Shelley's creation for comic-book characters, which he's done here and did again, later, with "Justice League" (2017).

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has unleashed a whole new monster of franchise building; one need not look far for its imitators to see that it's become the envy of the motion-picture world, but even if one traces the superhero franchise back to the Christopher Reeve Superman films and the Tim Burton Batmans, this genre is relatively young. Going any further back, comic-book film adaptations become the pure kiddie stuff of cartoons and serials. The Hollywood horror film, on the other hand, dates back to 1931 when Universal released "Dracula" and, soon thereafter, "Frankenstein." Both based on 19th-century Gothic horror novels, although more so their theatrical iterations over the years. Both were box-office successes, too, but they also received harsher criticism than any recent superhero movie has; they were censored, and the genre was de-facto banned for a few years. Later, these monsters launched the first shared cinematic universe beginning with "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" (1943). Now, they're considered classics, and although "Age of Ultron" may never be considered that, "The Dark Knight" (2008), say, or "Logan" (2017) already are. All of which is to say that these two types of cinemas seem a natural fit. Moreover, Gothic horror such as "Dracula," "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," in particular, are about science and modernity, alter egos and supernatural abilities.

"Age of Ultron" hints at its scary-movie roots from the start with the Avengers attacking what is essentially a haunted house on a hill. Just look at the way Scarlet Witch (apt name there, too) floats backwards through a door that seemingly closes on its own, as though she were Dracula. Heck, she even has mesmerizing powers to read others' minds and trick them into dreams. The faux Eastern European accent only completes the Bela Lugosi imitation--you know, except she blasts red magic energy from her hands and body. The haunted house also features a mad doctor's dream laboratory where artificial intelligence was being mined from one of those supernatural infinity stones. The two mad doctors of the Avengers, Tony Stark/Iron Man and Bruce Banner/Hulk (the latter of whom has always essentially been a derivative of Jekyll/Hyde, except with smashing replacing Robert Louis Stevenson's original drug abuse and sexual promiscuity), then, take this magical tech back to their lair's lab to, basically, inadvertently unleash a Frankenstein monster, Ultron, with also a bit of "Pinocchio" "no strings" reference. This robot creature even stumbles into the Avengers party like he were Boris Karloff freshly reanimated and just learning how to walk and what to think. The Avengers will teach him that "fire bad"--or at least that laser things shot out of superheroes bad for robots--soon enough, too.

Furthermore, Captain America reminds us that he was the experiment of a German scientist and was reanimated from a frozen state. Likewise, Black Widow's flashback dream includes remembering that her body was altered, too, to create the weapon that she is today (for feminist critics of this storyline, this is why it exists). The reason Hawkeye is the "heart" or "soul" of the team this episode is probably because he's the only one who doesn't think of himself as something of an engineered or otherwise supernatural monster. Iron Man has an electrical plant for a heart and is a man dressing as a robot. Hulk is inching closer to Mr. Hyde entirely out of the control of Dr. Jekyll. The Witch and her speedy brother were also made in a lab. Even Fury is missing an eye. And Thor is an alien god running around with a magic hammer on Earth, for crying out loud.

Thus, we have a cast of characters who are something of Frankensteins themselves, who then go on to more blatantly reference the 1931 "Frankenstein" film is giving life to another AI robot (whether with synthetic skin or vibranium what have you or not), Vision. The god of thunder even comes back from his vision quest in a magical pool to provide the lightning bolt of a spark of life to the creature. Indeed, the Vision body was originally planned as the creation of Ultron, who brain washed his own mad scientist for the purpose. So, there is quite a bit of Frankenstein creating going on here. As Tony tells Bruce, "We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. You've got to own it."

I enjoy this stitched-together from various genre and technical body parts aspect even if does lead to an imbalance of dark lighting and production design for talking scenes out of a horror movie conflicting with action sequences shot in daylight complete with interruptions of slow-motion superhero poses and bad one-line jokes. (Cap's aversion to cursing especially pisses me off. He was reanimated from fighting super-Nazis, not from "Leave It to Beaver;" he should act like it, dammit.) Plus, there's the usual modern-movie dichotomy of live action mixed with CGI animation, which continues to improve. Some of the picture is blandly unimaginative, though. There's too much set-up for future franchise installments. A fight sequence on a runaway train seems particularly to be a rip-off of the better scene from "Spider-Man 2" (2004). Although James Spader provides an amusingly chatty voice for a robot, the character is very reminiscent of "The Terminator" franchise; AI awakes, gets into the interweb, manufactures an army of mechanical clones, seeks to destroy mankind--we've seen it before. And the Quicksilver character pales in comparison to the version from the prior "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014).

The apology theme for the Avengers' military adventurism is lackluster, as well. It worked better in "Iron Man" (2008) as a reflection of the War on Terror. And, really, do they have to make up places--"Sokovia?" I'll accept "Wakanda," but what precisely is the political point they're dancing around to try not to offend anyone with this vaguely Eastern European country? I sense this militarism of the Avengers, read (Captain) America, should be another Frankenstein monster here, but it's too muddled. Much of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is alive, but some of the body is dead parts.

(Included on my list of 50--and counting--Frankenstein films and in my ranking of Pinocchio movies.)