Good second part

Rating: Null/10 (23 July 2015)

The Avengers return together in the second installment of the Avengers film trilogy. Once again all the characters have to work together to overcome an enemy that threatens the whole word and once again we tie together all the individual plot lines from the solitary films.
And once again it works. It really works. I especially like how director Joss Whedon has had the courage and common sense to allow the characters to evolve. The team has already been built so it's a great time to focus on their camaraderie. And that's the heart and soul of this movie. It's fantastic to see all these great characters working together and even just hanging around. In fact they have a party near the beginning of the movie and it's easily one of the best scenes in the whole film.
The actors are still at the top of their game with Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. once again earning a special mention. They're the two personalities who define the franchise and I cannot wait for Captain America: Civil War for a chance to see them together once again. Furthermore, the special effects are still state of the art, the action scenes are exciting and the villain is also one of the best we've yet had, which is great because interesting villains have been the one thing that Phase Two movies have mostly lacked.
But yeah, it's not a perfect movie or as good as the first Avengers. Most of the areas that work, work as well as in the previous film, but there are a couple of things that are a bit rough around the edges. Like the side plot they give to Black Widow and Hulk. It's interesting, but it comes straight out of nowhere and thus we don't really have a chance to connect with it. I'm not against the idea itself, but the execution needs some work. Secondly, by this point the plot formula is starting to become somewhat transparent. And I like the formula, but I would like it to be tweaked just a bit more so that I couldn't predict the story so accurately from the first few minutes.
Ultimately what this means is that Avengers: Age of Ultron is a good film, but it doesn't come close to being the best we've yet seen. And truthfully, it was pretty unlikely that it was going to be. Second parts are hard to do because you still have to save something for the finale, yet you've already established the characters and all that. Nevertheless, Age of Ultron is more than worth a watch or two if you've like the franchise so far. Have no fear. It's good, great even.