Too ambitious to contain as its prequel.

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2015)

As I gave THE AVENGERS (2012) a 5/10, it is a sad truth that I still haven't reached the rarefied status of completely ignoring those populist "it" movies, like FURIOUS 7 (2015, 6/10), the second assembly of the Avengers is another box-office mammoth of 2015, and this time I have to squeeze in a small packed screening room with an equally small screen in the local cinema here in Cairo, my worst fear towards 3D technique came true, it is disastrously dim-lit, why on earth we can watch a bright trailer on our computer screen yet when comes to the real one, we have to endure this schlocky quality?
I don't want to reiterate the conspiracy theory behind the 3D screening, so straight to the movie itself, Joss Whedon is still unwieldy in the task of giving each avenger their distinctive room to breathe, since we have been undergone through years of Marvel's brainwash, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow are all no more eye- opening fodder to harness, the only relatively new character is Renner's Hawkeye, so Whedon applies a timely addition to his story and makes him a family man with a wife and two children, a conventional setting shouldn't bother any none-fan-boys, it is not a big deal. Also Black Widow as the only female main character here, has to sacrifice herself to be manifoldly utilised as the sole romantic interest in the marvel Universe, gyrates from Iron Man, to Hawkeye, then Captain American, this time her "sluttishness" finds Bruce Banner as the easy prey, maybe Thor is next in line if there will ever be a Black Widow standalone film!
The new blood are the superpower twins Scarlet Witch (Olsen) and Quicksilver (Taylor- Johnson), the former is a welcome inclusion to (tentatively) offset the sex discrimination with big promise; the latter mutters an awful supposed Eastern-European accent with a tangible sense of discomfiture, and never has a show-stopping moment like Evan Peters in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014, 7/10), and his unanticipated heroic act in the end is too forced to believe, no padding or whatsoever shows he is willing to sacrifice himself for Hawkeye, is he moving too slow to dodge the bullet or actually he is moving faster than he can think, such a shocker doesn't taste good, if there is a gay-interest between them, we can buy it, but like this? A second-rate shock tactic simply because others are too important to kill-off, but if I may suggest, Nick Fury should get an early retirement forever.
Now comes Ultron (voiced by a strangely unforced Spader), the mega-villain dragooned with a saving-first-killing attitude and Vision, former known as Jarvis, the operation system (Bettany) finally materialised with a human physique, continues rehashes the Infinity Stones gimmick which seems to be the nucleus of the entire Marvel blueprint. Unfortunately the fatigue of non-flesh-and-bone design of villains takes its toll after THE AVENGERS, IRON MAN 3 (2013, 6/10), X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. It is much feasible for the CGI technology, and there aren't enough individual bad-ass to match each and every avenger in the battle, so this seems to be the only viable way to do, an omniscient A.I. super-villain tailed with countless unvarying mechanic sidekicks to be mercilessly dispatched by our bulky numbers of heroes, yuck.
One thing ameliorates from the first chapter is the location alternation, the endgame befalls on a fictional East European country Sokovia, and special cares have been assertively enforced to the hoi polloi, scenes of evacuation has been deployed as if we still believe it is happening on the earth where billions of ordinary human also inhabit.
The action set pieces don't match the slickness and gymnastic tactility of CAPTAIN America: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014, 7/10), the most stylish spectacle belongs to the battle shot of every single avenger fights together, composes a symphony of sensation, which doesn't last too long. Frankly speaking one can enjoy more from the internecine combat Iron Man in his Hulkbuster suit Vs. The Hulk, that's why the next instalment is called AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR with two parts and the first one will arrive in 2018 (where fortunately Robert Downey Jr. will not reprise the main leader role), it is more much engaging to watch well-established characters fight to death than with some butt-ugly metals, that's why I still hold a wee hope of next year Zack Snyder's BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE.