Stunning fights and darker problems

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2015)

Being an incredibly passionate Marvel Universe fan, I went into Avengers: Age of Ultron with expectations extremely high; the first film was near perfect in my opinion, so I was ecstatic to see what Whedon would have in store for the second. The very first thing that stuck out to me was the stunning fight choreography-they really stepped up their game in this one and added a lot of incredible team moves. There is a moment when all of the Avengers (+ Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) are standing in a circle protecting the core, and the camera moves around each of them in slow motion as they are fighting, creating the most breathtaking and exciting scene in the entire movie. The characters in this film are more angry, conflicted, and complex. Scarlet Witch shows each Avenger their greatest fear, and the results are chilling. We see Black Widow's haunting past as well as a little bit of Captain America's PTSD-both add emotion and depth to the characters. Despite a cheesy, eye-roll worthy love-interest plot between Banner and Romanov, I enjoyed seeing the characters' hearts ripped out a little bit. Despite the vast changes from the comics as far as Ultron and Vision's origins, the movie was compelling, exciting, and stunning. James Spader's Ultron was flawless and chilling-easily my favorite part. The movie sets a brilliant stage for the next phase in the Marvel universe-Thor discovers the "big picture" plan to seize the Infinity Stones and it's clear that things will get NUTS. Overall, it was solid, but not quite as perfect as the first.