Very hollow and muddy

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2015)

When I saw this film's trailer I was super excited. Ultron looked like he would be the best villain Marvel has ever had. I thought this movie had potential to maybe be the best superhero movie ever, or at least that some people would think so. After reading some reviews my expectations lowered a little bit, but I was still excited for the film.
I can honestly say that walking out of this film, I was surprisingly underwhelmed. I thought this film had a multitude of problems and really felt empty inside. I'll go through my take f each part of the film:
1) Plot: I thought the plot wasn't that great. Ultron looked very threatening in the trailers and looked like a huge threat to the Avengers. There was never a moment in this film where I thought Ultron could beat the Avengers. Every time they come face to face, the Avengers can beat him, and for some reason don't. His motivations, which should be one of the most interesting part of the film, felt very rushed and not examined at all. Even though Ultron's drones are him, which he says at one point in the film, none of them are near as powerful as he is, even in his early states. Scarlet Witch and Vision's powers are never explained, and they end up being like God characters. Also there is a moment where the Avengers hide out at Hawkeye's house after Hulk destroys a city. This is where the movie slows way down. This is where they seem most vulnerable. But Ultron didn't beat them, and by hiding out they allow him to get stronger. They say they can't find him and they must hide because people want to arrest Hulk, but that doesn't mean they all have to hide and not even try to find Ultron. Even if you ignore the plot holes, this is a very basic Plot Line.
2) Acting/Characters: RDJ is great as Iron Man again, Chris Evans is great as Cap, and Chris Hemsworth is great as Thor. Samuel L. Jackson is great again in his smaller role as Nick Fury. I've never liked Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, but not because of her acting, more because I haven't loved the way she's been written. I'm not a huge fan of Ruffalo's Hulk either, but for the same reasons that I'm not a fan of Black Widow. They have a relationship in this film, and it is so rushed that it never makes much sense. Scarlet Witch and Quiksilver have very annoyingly stereotypical Russian accents. They switch sides in the film after seeing that Ultron wants to destroy humanity, but once again this is rushed and doesn't make that much sense. Overall, the acting is not that bad, but the writing of the characters doesn't make much sense and seems very hollow.
3) Action: The action is awesome in this film. Some of it doesn't make sense. The Avengers are pretty much invincible cartoon characters. Ultron's drones are so weak it's hard to understand how they are a threat. Scarlet Witch's powers are whatever the plot needs them to be, same with Vision's. Scarlet Witch has a power that you think is mind-control, but isn't. It makes the characters either see a fear of theirs, or shows us their origin story, if we haven't seen it. This is never explained how this is a power, as it doesn't seem to help them at all.
4) Music: Very forgettable, the original Avengers theme that is played ion the first is heard maybe twice in this film. Not really that important to the film, but also very forgettable.
5) Cinematography: Lots of CGI but very pretty cinematography nonetheless.
6) Dialogue: Marvel is back with their quick one-liner comedic dialogue, but it is less effective in this film than maybe any other Marvel film. The dialogue was surprisingly bland and very dry. None of it was very memorable. Very disappointing.
There doesn't seem to be any theme, message, or moral in this film. There was a lot of potential for this to be a pretty deep film, like The Dark Knight, but it ended up being a very hollow. One hero does die in this film, as was teased leading up to this film. Marvel has yet to actually kill an actual hero in their canon, which is a big pet peeve for me. However, I am shocked about the death, not because it was surprising who they killed, but it was surprising that they actually expected us to care. Joss Whedon is a very talented writer and director. However, I know he had a lot of struggles and disagreements with the studio on this film, and I feel if he was given complete free-reign, we would have had a better film.
This film feels like the Dead-Man's Chest of the Marvel Universe. You will probably enjoy the film, especially if you're going just to enjoy a superhero action film, but if you're looking for something more original and innovative, this is not the film. It's not bad, it's just not good either. The first Avengers was very good, not necessarily completely original, but a very solid film that stretched the boundaries of a superhero film a little bit. This one stays within it's own boundaries and in my book.
6/10