Phase 3 has begun and is looking good...

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2015)

I'll just say off the bat that this movie shouldn't be judged off the hype and deepness and darkness of the story. While the film, in my opinion, surpassed the hype for the most part, it still has the lightheartedness and humour that would be expected from this series, and not the intense dark story that we all expected. That being said, I feel that is the film's only downfall, and a slight one at that.
The movie really shines in its special effects, blisteringly fast paced action sequences and its superb all-star cast. Goodbye to the classic movie formula, this one throws scenarios for epic fight scenes left right and centre, and smoothly at that. Not so much in the "that scene wasn't necessary" or the "that was super cheesy and predictable", because the movie flowed really well and kept it fresh. Humour was well placed and made it light and fun thanks to our "world's mightiest heroes", and the dark, chilling words spoken by our new favourite evil robots. I'll tell you, James Spader's performance was almost hypnotizing, dark and dreadful, as well as humorous at times. The other actors all had excellent chemistry and were believable despite how many amazing actors were crammed into one film.
As for the visual effects, costume design (ahem.. vision) all was excellent. It is clear that these films are digging closer and closer to their comic book roots with all the new powers and some wicked scenes that could be taken straight from the pages of a comic book. And since the visual effects are so modern and pleasing to the eye it all feels fresh and runs smoothly with the more real sets that we're used to. That being said, there is much more sweet effects than phase one and two marvel films, and I can say that GOTG and Avengers Age of Ultron both bring a brand new tone that heralds in the new phase, as well as take the audience closer to the sci-fi comic book world, and farther away from the realistic and practical heroes with easy to understand backgrounds.
For someone that's not about that kind of stuff, or who prefers and deep and Oscar- worthy script, this movie probably wouldn't warrant a high score. But I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, found the new characters fresh and intriguing, and more than ever am excited for what is to come, and for that I give it a 9/10.