Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) by 27Hours — 01 May 2015

***************************UPDATED REVIEW - SCORE CHANGE FROM 5 TO 6***********************.

The film opens with the Avengers conducting an impeccably choreographed raid on a remote, snowy, forested H.Y.D.R.A stronghold, in the fictional Eastern European nation of Sokovia. We see Hawkeye firing arrows from the back of Jeep while Black Widow drives; Captain America motorbiking through the forest while Ironman flies; Thor swinging his hammer while the Hulk swings his fists; all this action finally culminating in beautifully shot moment when all the Avengers simultaneously exit their respective battles and attack as one - a metaphor for harmony that this group has built amongst themselves since the first film.

However, it will not last. We quickly learn that the spectre of another alien invasion has been plaguing Tony Stark; he believes humanity will be eradicated if there is to be another hostile extraterrestrial incursion. These events are ultimately what lead to his creation Ultron - a global defence program gone horribly wrong. Within moment's of being created, Ultron decides that the best way of keeping the planet safe is by destroying all human life.

This is where the movie's quality begins to decline. Ultron never truly impresses, as his inability to kill off or critically injure any of the six main Avengers diminishes his credibility as a formidable villain - as the writers would have us believe. Black Widow even going the entire film without so much as a scar on her face. Moreover, it reduces the action sequences into a tedium of repetitive and pointless, computer generated violence, used only to satisfy the requirements of the annual summer blockbuster. This is particularly pronounced during a scene in the movie whereby Ultron has captured Black Widow (Scarlet Johannsson) a.k.a Natasha Romanoff. Rather than killing her off - as would be expected of a being whose self-declared purpose is to eradicate humanity (Avengers included) - instead he details to her, with the glibness that has become the central motif of this film, his evil plan to defeat the Avengers and end humanity - can it get any more cliched?

Between the Hulk smashing up Johannesburg and Captain America battling on runaway trains, the movie makes feeble attempts to develop its characters. We learn that Hawkeye is family man by day and one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes by night. Black Widow is now attracted to Bruce Banner in a relationship that feels forced and completely out of place. Oh, and Captain America has reverted to his pre-Winter Soldier self. Never do we get the impression that there's more to these characters than what we've witnessed in the past dozen or so films. How did Romanoff's past influence who she is today? How is Cap dealing with the events of The Winter Soldier? Is there much more to Stark than quippy one-liners and superficial charm? Banner at least tries to convey to us his inner war with the Hulk but Thor however, disappears for almost half the movie, using the time (sort of) to set the stage for 2017's Thor:Ragnarok.

Cast your mind back to 2012's The Avengers. What made that film such a success was getting to see all these explosive personalities clash for the first time on the big screen. At this point in the MCU, we're all familiar with the personality traits of these characters on the surface, and viewers -.

Having slogged through a dozen or so films of seeing them wreak havoc on a city-wide scale - will be asking for more out of these characters rather than another exhibition of their talents for destruction. However, to the film's peril, Whedon has preferred to avoid the deeper and darker sides of these characters - that battling a genocidal A.I would necessarily reveal - and instead opts to showcase their skill at delivering quippy one-liners and half-hearted philosophical musings.

Ultimately, the forced, disjointed nature of the film, along with the half-hearted involvement of all the characters (heroes and villains alike) are what make this movie feel like an irrelevant, sub-standard film.

Tl;dr: Movie is a rehash of what we've already seen from the MCU. It would have received a higher rating if wasn't as underdeveloped story-wise and character-wise. Relatively uninvolved characters; overly-witty dialogue; massive CG battles. If you don't mind pizza for dinner two nights in a row, then you'll likely love this film.