"Clearly you've never made an omelet!"

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2015)

Upon returning from a London Imax viewing of AOU, I felt a sense of excitement and nerdy bewilderment that I haven't experienced for a long time, to put it simply, Avengers: Age of Ultron exceeded my expectations and has rightly earned its place among my favourite MCU movies.
Where to begin!? The action and story was spot on, it went above the standards for a traditional superhero movie, and created something totally different. The characters have developed since 2012, as in they shared this great dynamic and felt like a team, this is established from the get go, with what can be only explained as a technological masterpiece of an opening sequence. The opening tracking shot of the Avengers assault on a Hydra base in the middle of a dense snowy forest left me with a locked jaw! And that's coming from a budding Cinematographer.
The acting was splendid as usual, something which you rarely find in a majority of summer blockbusters. The character's presence and performances gave off such gravitas throughout, it felt like they were a functional part of the world they inhabit, nothing wooden or melodramatic, it all had an eerie sense of realism. A true uncut gem in this movie is Ultron itself.
Ultron, played by the hypnotic James Spader, steals the show as the enigmatic, sarcastic 8-feet tall robot. His performance brought something really strange and different to the genre, a true complex villain with understandable motives and fleshed out characteristics. When you leave the cinema, and you miss the villain, you know the Director\Writer did something right. His interactions with the Avengers are often hilarious, as Ultron is portrayed as something of a new born child born in a confusing time. His ways of thinking and his behaviour towards his objectives and his opponents are quite infantile, arrogant, and more often then not, laugh out loud hilarious.
Another great addition was the philosophical, theological Vision. Vision, played excellently by Paul Bettany. His character brings a totally new aspect; I expect him to have some great scenes in the following movies.
Speaking of humour, the funnies throughout were really spot on, maybe a bit too much at times but still really funny none the less. At my screening, there were multiple of times when the audience burst into laughter. It wasn't overly corny or cringworthy, it was quite tongue In cheek and topical humour. Also most of the time, the humour isn't at the expense of the action\drama, or at the expense of story progression.
The soundtrack, having replaced Alan Silvestri with Danny Elfman and Brian Tyler, sounds reminiscent of the original movie, but is a bit more "epic", fast paced and orchestral. The end credit piece, or "Heroes" is a great remake of the original theme.
Overall great movie, perhaps not as great as Cap 2, or Avengers Assemble, but still highly enjoyable in my opinion. If you are wanting to see an epic superhero with a lot of new element and complex fleshed out narratives and memorable characters\villains, then make AOU your spring blockbuster!