More of the same, really... *mild spoilers*

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2015)

Joss Whedon delivers his swan song in the Marvel cinematic universe with more of the same that made the first Avengers fun. Admittedly, although this is supposed to be setting up phase 3 leading to 2018/2019's Avengers: Infinity War parts 1 & 2, it is painted on a decidedly smaller canvas than its predecessor. Aside from a brief jaunt to a metaphysical realm for Thor, almost all of the action is earth bound. No Alien juggernauts or floaty asteroid realms here, folks. No Loki. And it really does feel like more of the same. The hordes of more or less identical Chitauri from the first flick are replaced by hordes of ACTUAL identical robots to serve as the cannon fodder. And fist fodder. And laser fodder, and lightning fodder--you get the idea. Some of the same beats are repeated, too, with the obligatory Avenger vs. Avenger smackdown in the second act. The interplay between the characters is where its heart is at, and is really Whedon's forté. There's a blossoming romance, some nice back and forth banter. The odd one-liner that's worth a chuckle or two. Like I said before: more of the same. My biggest complaint comes into the money shots; Whedon's whirlwind shots of all the Avengers standing together, facing down the faceless robotic hordes left me a little overwhelmed--there was so much happening so fast--debris flying, lasers shooting, lightning, bullets, arrows, people, robots-- it honestly felt for a moment like a Michael Bay Transformers flick overload assaulting my senses. And he's still doing those damn ugly dutch angles just to squeeze all the action into the frame sometimes. But did I enjoy it? Yes mostly. Even if I felt I had seen most of it before in the first flick (also, Superman Returns immediately came to mind when Ultron puts his plan into motion). Ultimately though, I am glad Whedon is handing over the reins, because you can feel that he's not as hungry with his second serving as he was with his first.
Oh, and btw, those rumours of a post-credit cameo for Spider-man were just pie in the sky, so you don't need to stay in the theatre until after the credits have finished rolling.