Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) by Mrmoviebuff — 30 Apr 2015

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner are back with some new additions to the franchise in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', one of the most anticipated films of 2015.

This sequel is very different to the 2012 film, 'The Avengers'. By that I mean the first movie is for people who are looking for a good action flick and are disappointed with the "Transformers" films. But the action still needs purpose and that's what that movie had to offer, it didn't disappoint. "Age of Ultron" on the other hand is a darker, personal and small sequel than the original. In other words, if you like a bigger story with heart and emotion with some pretty neat action, i.e. 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' (2014), than this one is for you.

While the characters are back, the humor is present and the action scenes are aplenty, 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' will no doubt divide many audiences who may think this is either better than the original, or slightly underwhelming. I think it's as good as the first, it may not be clean as 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' (2014), nor is it messy as 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (2014), but I was gripped from start to finish.

James Spader voices Ultron, the main enemy of the film. The first thing I have to comment on is his performance, and what a performance it is. I reckon Ultron is the best on-screen, comic-book villain since Heath Ledger's Joker in 'The Dark Knight' (2008).

Another new additions to the franchise are; Pietro Maximoff aka "Quicksilver" (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff aka "Scarlet Witch" (Elizabeth Olsen). I didn't really feel that these characters were necessary to this story, but they had some spectacular moments and that's thanks to Joss Whedon's confident direction.

Overall, I liked this movie, probably not as much as recent superhero outings such as 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' (2014) or 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' (2014)...but I liked it much better than 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (2014). The story is darker, the action scenes maybe too much and too exhausting, and maybe 2 hours and 21 minutes is a bit too long...but if you are a die-hard Marvel fan, you will not be disappointed.

And by the way, is Aaron Johnson's Quicksilver better than Evan Peters? I still prefer Evan Peters because of that famous slow-motion scene, but Johnson delivers a clean and sophisticated, cool performance.