Avengers: Age of Ultron

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.

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.

Avengers Age Of Ultron is considered as one of the worst entries in the MCU but I think that this film is very interesting and intriguing. The film had a very cool and intelligent storyline and the chemistry between the characters was really funny.

I also liked how Joss Whedon took characters like Hawkeye and Black Widow and gave them more of a backstory which made the characters more interesting.

The only thing I don't like about this film is that Ultron didn't really have anything to be evil about but he isn't the worst villain that has been introduced into the franchise so it didn't really put me off from the film.

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.

Spoiler free review. Let me first start of by saying that I am not a Marvel ''fanboy'' or a DC nerd. The comic book genre of films have made it to my personal top 3 favourite genres in the last decade and the MCU has been a strong contributor to that rise. I hold the first Ironman, first Avengers and Captain America 1+2 in high regard. I did not like the direction they took with Iron Man 3 (more on this below) or Guardians of the Galaxy but Winter Soldier was a gem in terms of balancing solid action, drama and levity.

That being said, my initial thoughts on Age of Ultron (AoU) are quite negative. To me, its essentially a carbon copy of IM3. There are problems which strike you repeatedly as you progress throughout the film. The 2 biggest complaints I have with AoU is 1) the tone (comedy) 2) the script/writing.

So starting with the tone. I like to laugh as I'm sure most people do, but there is a time and place to exhibit your comedy writing skills in an action film. In AoU, its a constant, recurring and predictable theme. It's not limited to one character either, everyone is popping one liner jokes as if its the Expendables and yes, most are not funny. The timing of these moments of levity are horrible too, desensitising the viewer to any impending fear of death in battle. If the characters seem so relaxed in not worrying about possibly dying, then what suspense is needed to be held by the audience? This plagued IM3 in a bad way and its arguably worse here. The comic book films which achieved great success in this regard were XMen DOFP, The Avengers 1, Cap 2 even Dark Knight Rises! Can you imagine at the climax of Xmen DOFP if old Magneto and Storm and Bishop start pulling one liner jokes as the army of sentinels came charging at them? It would kill any tension! 2) The script. I won't say too much since this is a spoiler free review, but it really feels rushed and unorganised. I watched Fast 7 around 2 weeks before AoU and I got similar vibes. Again, its not the fact that the film is 2.5 hours long or has too many characters, that isn't am excuse since The Dark Knight and Xmen DOFP shows how to navigate these theatrical obstacles. There are a few completely unnecessary subplots in AoU and useless characters which do not impact the story overall. The villain himself, Ultron is another massive let-down in Marvels already growing catalogue of mishandled villains.

So as a summary, if you want mindless action and cool CGI, which this film does offer in the form of some spectacular visual fight scenes then you will like AoU. If you are after a darker, grounded and more moving story like the trailers promised, you will be severely disappointed. Final score 6/10 and I am being kind since Cap is my fav Avenger and they finally gave him some good screen time.