Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) by Matthew A — 31 Oct 2016

WHAT I LIKED: After the spectacular Avengers and a brilliant phase Two, Whedon pulls out all the stops to make Age of Ultron even better. And wow does he succeed; achieving this by grounding the character's and their stories, creating a deeper and more philosophical undertone, whilst still building an even bigger, explosive action spectacle. This combination of beautifully grounded character detail, philosophies and crazy action makes it a hell of a roller coaster. But does it just collapse under it's own weight? Some think so, but I disagree. Whilst it does jump around, you get enough time at each point to get really involved, and the story's writing even lends itself to the jumpy nature with each scene beautifully setting up the next. It flows, and that's largely down to Whedon.

So whilst it is certainly an ambitious roller coaster ride of pop-corn entertainment with great, explosive action, special effects and setup, Whedon manages to pull all that enjoyable stuff together in a way that the movie still feels personal; a roller coaster in terms of the way it makes you feel. I really cried, laughed, sat on the edge of my seat, got the goosebumps and had an absolute ball. It's got even more heart than the first. It's got soul.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: In a film of this ambition, there are bound to be niggles (Thor's cave scene, anyone?) But the beauty of it is that these things hardly take away from the overall experience at all.

VERDICT: The MCU's best film is a thrilling, beautiful roller coaster. Whedon steers it with perfection - and achieves a thoughtful blockbuster with rare personality and soul.