Somewhat disappointed

Rating: 5/10 (13 February 2017)

I'm a big fan of Marvel and have seen the other Avengers titles, and so I went into this one with certain expectations. They weren't met.
As opposed to earlier installments, barely a few minutes seem to pass in AoU without one of the characters making what is supposed to be an amusing, throwaway remark/one-liner. There's nothing wrong with injecting a little levity into the proceedings, but in this case, I found it excessive, and detrimental both to the flow of action and to the characters and how you engage. Wisecracking is usually one character's responsibility, specifically to provide comic relief. When all the characters are doing it, it gets tired very quickly.
I found the plot to be a bit messy, perhaps because I'm a comics purist, and the introduction and treatment of several new characters here is only tangentially related, if even that, to their actual origin stories as per the comics. With apologies to James Spader, I found the portrayal of Ultron in particular to be bordering on the ridiculous, and inappropriately "human", as in my imaginings, Ultron was always more of a Terminator-style killing machine with tyrannical tendencies, whereas we're presented here with more of a lovable but psychotic rogue with as much dangerous charm as he has nuts and bolts. The whole effort seems to be held together by an abundance of action, new characters, and cameos from previous characters (Samuel L. Jackson, or Idris Elba) to distract from the general lack of substance.
All in all, it was 2+ hours that I don't totally regret spending, but would not see it again, or recommend it - unless it's just for the voyeuristic pleasure of seeing your favourite eye-candy protagonists in biker leathers and latex.