Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) by Farron K — 17 Feb 2017

3/5 Stars. A disappointment. It would obviously be difficult to equal the first Avengers film, but they didn't even come close. The story is a topic way too rushed right after Winter Soldier (it's literally the same shit), character development is weak, and there are serious plot holes (the most notable of which is that the big world-ending cataclysm would be impossible with something that small).

Ultron is far too much like a human in his mannerisms to come across as scary and only vaguely intimidates. His sympathy for the twins makes no sense as well. I assume they were trying to make it seem like it was some element of Stark's personality embedded in him, but again, logically this makes no sense. Ultron in past iterations has been a ruthless, brutal machine obsessed with annihilating humanity and reigning over the ruins. They got some semblance of this in the Age of Ultron version, but it's buried beneath how human and trivial he seems, a perception which is reinforced by the nonsensical plot to destroy Earth.

Aside from that, Stark's new AI has a grating Scottish female voice that makes me want to fast-forward, and Vision is ok, if a bit generic. There also seems to have been a mandatory boob-shot quota: Widow behind the bar with Banner as they get up, and the random woman with her son in the Eastern European country who has a very revealing top on during the fighting (they showed her twice, even, once after the fight).

Some good things: I thought their depiction of Hawkeye here was fantastic for making him seem like a real character and a hero, while the scene all the feminists went apeshit over (where Widow reveals she's sterile) made sense and deepened her character, given her relationship with Banner and her clear happiness being around kids. The effects were decent as well, though the slow-mo scene around the drill where they fight the robots is stereotypical Hollywood over-dramatization.

Overall, a mediocre entry in the pantheon. Give it one watch and then forget.