Avengers: Age of Ultron

In Avengers Age of Ultron the Avengers fight Ultron, an artificial intelligence obsessed with causing human extinction. The movie is a mostly satisfying sequel. It's full of action and darker than the first one. Sometimes it has a great sense of humour, the main villain is well characterized and the final act is full of tension and emotional. However in the first half isn't always gripping and there are some ridicolous moments. It isn't as good as the first one but it's still a fun and entertaining ride to join.

Rating: 7,4.

I have loved almost every MCU movie. Civil War and Age of Ultron are two blemishes on the stretch of great movies for me though. I liked all three Thors, all of Cap's, both of GOTG, both Ant-mans, all of the Spider-mans including Far From Home, and I even enjoyed all of the Iron Mans. I know lots of people disliked Iron Man two and three, a lot disliked Thor Dark World, and a lot disliked GOTG 2. I liked them all myself. However the bickering and blame game drama of Civil War and Ultron just contaminated those two movies for me a bit too much.

I saw this way back in 2015. I remember how I was just annoyed how they dumbed down the characters just to make them argue. It just infuriated me that they were all just bickering with each other and being idiots. Not the heroes I wanted to see. A bunch of blame game out-of-character nonsense. What is worse is that the arguments weren't even rational. It is like they just needed to create some fake drama filler as if this were a stupid reality tv show.

I also recall feeling that they didn't completely make the villain make sense. His intent for the reason said was just illogical. That angered me as well.

There WERE lots of GOOD things in this movie, but I'm keeping it at just six out of ten because these negatives really weighed on my mind throughout the movie. For the plot itself to be compromised...dang it really bummed me out. I do advise watching it if you are going to watch Infinity War or Endgame. There are some good things in these Ultron and Civil War that I am glad I didn't miss out on.

This film isn't nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. While the story isn't as good as the first Avengers, the acting is still just as good, the action is even better, and Ultron isn't a bad villain, he's just an under-developed one. Honestly, the action makes up for most of the flaws of this movie and it also set up a lot of MCU films, or at least foreshadowed a lot. Movies like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame, and Captain America: Civil War. Overall, this isn't a bad film, at all, but it is the weakest of The Avengers franchise.

Cool seeing them all together again, even if I didn't massively enjoy it. It's good, nothing more or less in my opinion.

'Avengers: Age of Ultron' isn't too far off 2012's 'The Avengers', especially in terms of how I fell about it. I definitely wanted more from both, yet they are still satisfying superhero action flicks. I'd rank this narrowly below the aforementioned.

Robert Downey Jr. felt a little flat to me as Iron Man - he still has a decent amount of moments, just not as many as you get in his individual films. All the others continue to entertain to an equally suitable level, I didn't overly like the characters of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen but I also don't have any noteworthy negatives about them. The story between Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo didn't do much for me either.

With that noted, it is still an enjoyable ride through the 141 minute run time. The ending is intriguing, interested to see where that goes - I have a minor inkling about the mid-credits scene, given all the internet attention that has had - even for someone like me who knows very little overall.

The task of bringing together Earth's mightiest heroes took Joss Whedon into uncharted territory with 2012's "The Avengers," and, despite the weight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on his shoulders, the results were staggeringly entertaining. The task of making a sequel to that ground-breaking, monumental event film, however, and being expected to deliver on par or better results, is an entirely different beast.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" was definitely built on the bullet point takeaways of "The Avengers," which are: Make time and space for wit, banter and humor for the sake of humor to prevent the film from taking itself too seriously; give each character a story arch and independent moments; choreography clever action sequences with well-timed glory shots. These components are in full force in "Ultron" and make enjoying the blockbuster as easy as shoving a lollipop in your mouth.

Yet "Ultron" is infinitely more complex than its predecessor. The number of heroes featured barely fits into a single action figure play case, meaning more subplots and back story, in addition to creating an arch of the creation and life of Ultron itself. With a plot that takes the Avengers from the eastern European country of "Sokovia" to New York to the African nation of "Wakanda" to Seoul, South Korea to Sokovia again, much of "Age of Ultron" is a non-stop blur.

The film opens with the Avengers leading an assault on a secret HYDRA facility where they have located the staff that Loki used to lead the Chitauri invasion in "The Avengers." When they secure it and bring it back to New York, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) discover that its power source contains a blueprint for artificial intelligence, which would allow Stark to proceed with his Ultron project, an initiative to create peace-keeping robots that could defend the world in place of the Avengers should another alien invasion occur. When Ultron (voiced by James Spader) becomes conscious, however, he interprets his peace-keeping instructions as an imperative to wipe out humankind.

Added to the mix are the Maximoff twins, Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) – also known as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch – who decide to serve Ultron, with the latter using her powers to give each of the Avengers dangerous visions that could tear them apart.

The fight scenes and action sequences are in such abundance in "Ultron" that it's impossible to remember them all, and the ones that are most distinct, such as Iron Man chasing down and taming a rampant Hulk using his Hulkbuster armor, are ancillary to the narrative of finding what Ultron is up to and stopping it. In other words – it's all for show. The creativity of the fight choreography also gets lost in the whirlwind of action. Captain America (Chris Evans) probably does 12 different awesome things with his shield, but they happen so fast you'll be hard pressed to recall any one of them in detail. Really clever sequences are only as fun as the build-up and payoff and those pieces are given no time to breathe.

Whedon does allow for pauses in the chaos, such as the swanky Avengers Tower party featuring the film's best scene, when each Avenger tries his hand at lifting Thor's hammer, or a quiet retreat to an unexpected safe house in the countryside, but it's simply a trade- off: instead of busy action sequences, we get character relationship dynamics and back story.

"Ultron" is inundating, to be frank, but for the everything-but-the-sink mentality, it's carried by its sense of humor and a cast whose members have each proved themselves time and again to be magnetic both on their own and as part of this team. Some of the novelty has worn off, but seeing all these characters together remains a treat that even the most convoluted of stories cannot entirely dismantle. Marvel Studios truly proves with "Ultron" the credibility that it has built with fans, to the point that even when it gets a little ambitious and mettles a bit more (you can easily see Whedon at odds with them in this final cut), its reputation remains intact and the fans placated.

As "Phase III" begins, adding even more characters to Marvel's cinematic universe (and even sliding Spider-Man into the mix) en route to the two-part "Avengers: Infinity War" slated for 2018 and 2019, it will be interesting to see if Marvel Studios barrels along into more unwieldy but delicious chaos, or reins it in a touch. Either way, should be fun.

~Steven C

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