Acton packed Marvel sequel: uneven but punchy

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2015)

Another shot for what has become the most successful franchise series of all time. The dollars are rolling in for the Marvel universe, and so time to milk another in this series.
The first Avengers was great, but this one does not have the comfort of the first which was introducing characters to write the story. Instead this adds more characters and it doesn't half become bloated. The story isn't a million miles from the standard super hero comic book, so no need to elaborate on that.
Anyhow, the action from the get go is full on and only a few lulls to fill in emotional storyline to make us empathise with our heroes.
Special effects are great and so forth,and acting is great as the actors have more than filled in the shoes of their characters.
The problem is that this is not bringing anything new to the table. If anything it's standard stuff, and so despite the heavy and long fight scenes, I was losing attention and interest. Seen it all before and done better elsewhere, and the villain was little interesting and should been fleshed out more.
With so many characters and cameos to fit in, it gets baggy and can't focus or develop. The Black Widow and Hulk relationship really wasn't working either when the only time in minutes that could be devoted to it could be counted in single digits.
Maybe this was missing someone of the quality of Loki/Tom Hiddlestone, who really stole the show in the Thor films and first Avengers film.
It's a fine Saturday night cinema blockbuster but after some great graphic novel adaptions of late, this is a disappointment for me. Not bad but not one I'll likely return to.