Avengers Age of Ultron: My Thoughts

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2015)

I want to start this review by saying that if you liked The Avengers, or just Marvel films in general, then I highly doubt you're going to dislike this film. It's not a departure, a change from the norm, or anything of that nature. Having said that, there are distinctions between Age of Ultron and its predecessor that make this a slightly different viewing experience.
In The Avengers there were never any introductions. We were thrust into the plot of the film almost immediately. This is because The Avengers was a sort of culmination-sequel of films that had already been made. We'd already seen Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Bruce Banner, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury from their respective franchises. We'd even met the main villain (Loki) before, which left no burden of introductions upon Joss Whedon's shoulders.
This form of freedom allowed the Avengers to get straight to the point and clip along very fluidly and efficiently. The result was one of the best comic book movies of all time. This time around, however, there were introductions. We saw four new main characters in Age of Ultron, all of which we'd never seen before (save for a cameo appearance by the Maximoff twins in Winter Soldier).
Unlike The Avengers, that began without a prologue and without delay, there's a fairly lengthy prologue in Age of Ultron. It is here that the plot is set up, and three of the new characters are introduced. There's a fairly lengthy scene in this portion of the film that drags noticeably. It's a much slower-paced intro to the one we experienced back in 2012.
Again, in the film's second act, we encounter another slow-paced, longer than necessary scene that leaves the viewer hanging. It is these interruptions in the plot that both ruin the fluidity that we saw in The Avengers, and contributes to Age of Ultron's 141 minute run time. Instead of the tasty nugget we savored in The Avengers, we now have something far more chewy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The upside of this is that the plot is far more developed and more intricate than the first film. There are a lot more twists and turns and a lot more questions asked and answered. This is the thing I really like about Age of Ultron; I was far more intrigued and absorbed by the plot than I was in the original.
But plot isn't everything; there are also character interactions and character arcs that need to be weighed in. In The Avengers I felt like the character interactions were perfect. It was far more entertaining and interesting to see the Avengers fight and engage in banter with each other, than it was to see the arbitrary 'Avengers vs Chitauri' battle sequences (don't get me wrong, I loved the last battle scene).
Here in Age of Ultron, however, it's mostly just the Avengers vs Ultron. There's a grand total of two scenes where the Avengers fight amongst each other, and it's very toned down and civil compared to its predecessor. There's still no shortage of one-liners and comical dialogue, however. Less than The Avengers, but still plentiful as ever.
The acting was solid, even from Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I have to say, I was worried about him, given his history in film, but even he was decent in this. Elizabeth Olsen was awesome as Scarlet Witch. That's all I'll say about that.
And then we have Ultron. James Spader was obviously the perfect choice for the role, but honestly he played it much differently than I thought he would. Ultron is about as nutty as can be. He's not the coherent mastermind we're used to seeing, but rather a raving, muttering lunatic with an incredibly twisted ideology. That said, he's probably my favorite Marvel villain to date.
Of course, with all Marvel films, it all comes down to the final battle sequence. Age of Ultron winds down in epic fashion. In comparison to the final battle in The Avengers, I have to say I liked this one a bit more. Not because it was epic, but rather because the imminence of Earth's demise was much more prominent. The Chitauri just didn't feel like a match for the Avengers, but Ultron's master plan seems quite insurmountable and quite threatening in comparison.
Overall, I left my theater satisfied. I didn't expect Age of Ultron to exceed its predecessors, and it didn't. But, nonetheless, it was a worthy sequel and one that I enjoyed immensely. It had just enough humor and just enough darkness to balance out in the end, and I would see it twice just for the thrill.