AVENGERS ULTRON: Season Crossover Finale

Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2015)

AVENGERS: THE AGE OF ULTRON is plenty mediocre all by itself. But, seeing it within a couple of days of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD made it look even more like a dull retread.
Right from the first scene, the "exciting battle" is full of the kind of cartoonish CGI that is such an anathema to those with any sense of realism or proportion (which George Miller destroys with his real world stunts). And, really, what the @#$# is it with the Avengers spinning and twirling when they fight villains? Does doing a somersault in mid-air really confuse their enemies? And, why do Black Widow and Hawkeye have the seeming ability of flight even though they are supposed to be the 'down to earth' Avengers without magical powers? I know, I know. You're not supposed to ask such mundane questions and just "check your brain at the box office and enjoy it". But, after all these superhero flicks, not to mention the enormous resources devoted to them, isn't it about time that Marvel ups their game, and not resort to their characters just strutting, posing and tossing out quips? If Joss Whedon never makes a genre movie again, it wouldn't be a great loss.
As to the "plot", it's pretty standard issue stuff, which boils down to the Avengers having to set aside their issues and join together to save humanity - again. For a little while, it looks like ULTRON will spend a few precious moments to develop a COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT-like theme of creating opposing World Defense superstructures. But, it's tossed aside way too quickly in order to have more posing, strutting and uttering of "witty" banter. And, did we really need to see the Avengers all assemble into a circle as they battle the baddies one more time? It looks like a superhero circle jerk.
To give it some credit, a few moments are given over to showing a more normal human side with the Hawkeye homestead sequence, but, it just makes the contrast all the more jarring between something resembling the real world versus the utterly phony CGI landscapes of the bulk of the movie. Elizabeth Olson's Scarlet Witch isn't a bad addition, but, Spader's Ultron just looks like a slightly more organic Iron Man.
The "Marvel Universe" has devolved into the most expensive TV series ever created. And, the Avengers flicks are like the big Season Ending crossover episodes where they all come together before splintering off into next season's sequels, reboots and origin episodes. And, then, inevitably, there will be AVENGERS III: Even More Strutting, Posing and Quipping.