Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

At long last, the most anticipated movie of the summer, by me and pretty much everyone else, has arrived. The next chapter in the Marvel canon that sees Earth's Mightiest Heroes come together for the first time since 2012. Expectations were high for this movie. After all, it is the sequel to one of the most popular movies of all-time. And it's a Marvel movie. Fans have come to expect greatness from this franchise. But does Age of Ultron live up to the hype? Can it stand up to its predecessor?

Those are not very easy questions to answer. I'm a lifelong comic book fan, and a lifelong fan of these Marvel characters. I absolutely love superhero movies because they give me a chance to watch the heroes that I grew up loving on the pages of comic books in action on the big screen. There's something special about our day and age that we have the capabilities to make such a giant blockbuster comic book film like the Avengers movies. So, as a comic book fan, this movie gets a perfect score from me.

But, I'm also here to look at this movie on an objective level and point out the flaws that I noticed while watching it at my Friday night showing. And there were flaws. More than in the first film, I'd say. That being said, there's more to enjoy here from the standpoint of a comic book fan than maybe any superhero film that's ever been made. This is a supremely comic book film. So, Marvel fans such as myself will have a ball watching this movie. I think those who simply are thirsting for a summer blockbuster and don't have any attachment to the characters will find it a bit overstuffed and light on story.

The cast is the same wonderful ensemble from Marvel's The Avengers with a few notable additions. I don't need to list out our heroes. They're pretty famous at this point. I will just say that they all did a great job, and I thought the chemistry between them - which is part of what made the last film so awesome - was just as strong in this one. You can see the bond that these actors have formed with each other over the years. It definitely translates to the screen.

But there are some new faces I'd like to point out. James Spader provides the voice for the titular baddie, Ultron. I thought he was a really good villain, probably the best the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had since Loki. He was menacing when he needed to be, while maintaining a sharp wit.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen play the Maximoff twins, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch respectively. I was a little worried that Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver would pale in comparison to Evan Peters' interpretation of the character from last year's X-Men: Days of Future Past. While I still like the latter version better, Taylor-Johnson did a fine job, as did Olsen. That being said, there was a particular decision the writers made regarding Quicksilver that I was disappointed by. I won't spoil it, of course.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a spectacle in every sense of the word. It's giant, action-packed, and filled to the brim with mind-boggling set pieces. This is a true summer blockbuster, arguably the official commencement of summer 2015, although I think Furious 7 tried to kick it off a little early. That's one of this film's most prominent joys. It has enough blockbuster thrills to power multiple summer movies.

It's also got all the humor that the first one supplied. The interplay between the characters is so entertaining, and there are multiple laugh-out-loud moments here. Amidst all the laughter and big action set pieces, Age of Ultron manages to be one of Marvel's darkest films to date. It's not dark for the sake of being dark, though. The story itself and certain situations these characters get in are just a lot more serious than what we've seen before.

We also get to see a lot of them open up about their past and their lives away from the Avengers. The emotional core of Age of Ultron was a lot stronger than I was expecting, and it's also what elevated the last act - which is essentially one big action sequence - past what a normal summer blockbuster can do. I was fully invested in these characters and their fight against Ultron.

There is a lot of setup for future Marvel movies that sometimes stunts this film's progress. It's pretty much obligatory, though, since this universe is so episodic in nature, it needs to lead in to the next installments or the audience will be lost. The only part that was setting up for a future movie that I thought fit perfectly within this movie was the growing conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. They disagree on a number of things, and we can start to see the seeds of Civil War be planted.

Now, there are some hiccups in this movie as I previously mentioned. I think the most prominent is the fact that the story sometimes gets lost when the action gets too crazy. I think if the narrative was a little more focused, I would have liked this movie more. I also wasn't a fan of the chosen romance. Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff are the ones that get starry-eyed for each other. There were multiple opportunities for the movie to sell me on the relationship, but every time it came up, I just didn't get it. It felt so forced to me. The movie would have been absolutely fine had it been completely cut out. Those are just my thoughts.

Additionally, I thought the creation of Ultron felt very rushed. Tony Stark is the one who actually creates Ultron, which was revealed in the trailer. I won't reveal what finally sets him off and compels him to make AI, because I thought it was very well done. I will just say that once he starts making Ultron, we get a brief montage of him and Banner working on it in a lab, and then Ultron is fully operational, just like that. It just seemed unnaturally quick.

Those are just a couple stumbles for an otherwise great comic book film. As I said before, I loved the superhero elements that this movie had to offer, and would gladly give it a perfect score as a Marvel fan. However, there were some notable blemishes that occasionally took me out of the experience. So, my final verdict on Avengers: Age of Ultron is that it is a flawed but hugely enjoyable superhero epic that provides the blockbuster thrills and jaw-dropping visuals that we've come to expect from Marvel, while also displaying Joss Whedon's knack for crafting characters that we care about.

A-