Exhausting

Rating: 5/10 (6 May 2015)

"Age of Ultron" descends upon its audience, hitting the ground running with guns blazing. Makes sense; after all, "in media res" is probably the best way to start such a thing. But that action . . . it doesn't really stop. Just moves from one huge setpiece to the next, destroying city blocks (sometimes actual cities) in its wake. This movie is so intent on giving us non-stop action and introducing new characters and setting up MCU Phase 3 and pounding our senses that the subtle pieces of character from the first one are all but gone. The relationship between Bruce and Natasha was nice, and they did give Hawkeye some nice personality this time around, but that's about it. And Ultron was a lackluster bad guy, enhanced a bit by Darth Spader, but only just. There was just so much infrastructure here, so much to take in, that you just want some space to breathe. The pieces are all well-machined - a move here, a stunt there, new toys from from Tony Stark - but it's not as satisfying a whole.
It does its job at beating you about the face with CGI battle scenes, that much you can't even question. But if this is the MCU's trajectory, then . . . stop the ride, I want to get off.
5/10