"Cap, I have to blow up the city!"

Rating: 6/10 (1 October 2015)

The Avengers bicker with each other while trying to battle Ultron, an artificial intelligence in a robot shell created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Given the astronomical success of the first film, it was almost a certainty this sequel would pale by comparison. I did enjoy this one but I must admit it doesn't hold a candle to The Avengers, Winter Soldier, or any of the first solo movies that I liked so much. The main thing the first Avengers had going for it was the spectacle of these characters teaming up on screen for the first time. It was a delight for longtime fans and for those following the movies to see such a wonderful payoff. This doesn't have that going for it. It's the same set of characters, with a few new additions I actually liked more than some of the previous characters. James Spader provides the voice for Ultron and does a magnificent job of being both menacing and funny. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and lovely Elizabeth Olsen are very good as Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (aka Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch), although their costumes are unimaginative. Paul Bettany, who has been providing the voice for Tony Stark's A.I. companion Jarvis in the previous movies, is upgraded to his own character here -- The Vision, who steals the movie as soon as he shows up.
As with the first Avengers, the character stuff is what makes this work. There's especially good material for Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner. With this cast and how well they mesh together, there's a ceiling on how bad this could possibly be and this, thankfully, doesn't approach bad at any time. Whedon's script, while still having some good lines and scenes, was a little unbalanced and doesn't have quite the punch he is capable of. The action set pieces aren't the most impressive I've ever seen (even within the Marvel films) but they are mostly entertaining and the final battle against Ultron and his robot army has some moments of greatness. One thing did bug me due to how frequently it happened -- how were the people who don't have superhuman strength punching and kicking metal that's stronger than steel without being hurt? A bit of nerdy hole-poking, perhaps, but it didn't make sense.
My experience watching this several months ago (and now rewatching it for the first time since) is very different from my experience with The Avengers. With the prior film, I was influenced by the massive hype and expectations to the point that it hurt my enjoyment of the movie the first go-round. I have since come to appreciate it much more and really just love it for the sheer fun that it is. This movie I found myself liking a lot upon first viewing but my second viewing found my opinion dropping quite a bit as I noticed a lot more of what was wrong with it. Look, it's an enjoyable movie but not as clever or fun as it should have been. Not the stinker some are making it out to be but definitely a bit of a disappointment.