Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) by Cody F — 02 May 2016

Avengers, ________.

The culmination of phase 2 is not a disappoint, though not as good as it's predecessor Avengers: Age of Ultron manages to excel in all that it stands for. Joss Whedon balances all the characters in impressive fashion and manages to give all of them the moments they deserve. With quirky humor, tension, drama, and spectacle Whedon reminds the audience why they came to the theater in the first place.

Comparing this film to the first can be a challenge. Both films are very different, giving the heroes higher stakes and a more challenging climax. The action is spectacular eye candy. The movie opens with a long tracking shot like the ones used in its predecessor. It also does another 360 tracking shot, and tops the original in every way. The dialogue of the film is quick and hilarious, the chemistry this time around also tops The Avengers and even when things get serious the team never fails to entertain. Back in 2012, watching the Avengers come together for the first time was like a dream come true, with its gigantic geek moments and hilarious commentary Age of Ultron made me feel like that again.

The characters are in many different scenarios in the film. The Banner Widow romance felt forced at times but in the end made perfect sense, putting the audience in the shoes of who these characters are. Joss Whedon puts heart and emotion into this film with Scarlet Witches fantastic mind hallucinations as well as The Vision, who gives so much to the story, and is a terrific pleasure to see on screen. The Maximoffs also did not fail to amuse. Scarlett Witches powers were beautiful and many of Quicksilvers moments match the Quicksilver of DOFP.

Ultron was a good, not great, villain. His cliche motivations needed more development and more reasoning. More screen time with the character would've made him more relatable. The humor in him was surprising but made sense. He was in a sense underwhelming and though his conclusion was anticlimactic his dialogue during his confrontation with The Vision was still fantastic.

Whedon did a great job setting up the future films with Thor's storyline as well as Starks giving the audience a glimpse of the danger the heroes will face in the future. There were so many great moments in the film and the most surprising and redeeming factor of the film was the development of Hawkeye.

Turning to the negative side, Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver needed more character development in addition to Ultron. They needed more backstory and leaves the audience thinking why they volunteered to being experimented on in the first place. The pacing was also a imperfect, jumping from one story to another. You can tell by watching this film that so much has been taken out from its original cut so the it could be under 2:30 hours (probably Disney's fault). It's full potential could've been fufilled, developing the twins,Ultron, and the plot holes more. I acknowledge that some of these plot holes were intentional, but some developments needed explaination. Hopefully the rumors of the extended cut are true.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a thrilling popcorn flick. The characters and the spectacular visuals compliment a fine but overstuffed story. The positive overweight he negatives to make a film that is so fun, so hilarious, and so entralling it will make you proud to be a fan. With so many geek moments this movie succeeds in what Marvel is so greatly known for: fun.

Rating: 8.4 (A-).