Better than the first one

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2015)

You've seen the original, you've endured the countless standalone movies just so you won't be wondering "who the heck is this guy" when it comes to the inevitable Avengers movie. Now comes the latest installment from the studio that constantly serves you the same old dish every time, yet you keep coming back for more.
The Avengers are back! and they're bigger than ever, watch the movie open with a (well done) CGI fightfest where Whedon shows off the fantastic visuals of this summer blockbuster in an opening battle where the Avengers eliminate most of what's left of Hydra.
Meet Ultron, the robotic love child of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner who was created "to maintain peace" so Tony and his friends can have a break from saving the world. Now Ultron (perfectly voiced by James Spader) becomes self aware and (rightfully) decides that the biggest threat to peace, is humanity itself. Naturally declaring war on the whole of mankind. The Avengers have a problem with this, thus starting the Age of Ultron.
The Avengers (as overrated as it was) was actually a good movie, but it had a lot of stuff going for it. It was the first time they would team up after all those solo movies. It featured the fan favourite Loki as the villain. They had been leading up to it since the first Iron Man film, so it was highly anticipated. In the end the movie did well for many reasons but the main one being that it was the first time these characters would be on screen together.
Age of Ultron didn't have that going for it, not like the first one did, so they had a more difficult job to tell an interesting story because the novelty of the Avengers assembling has worn off. So did it succeed? Well for the most parts yes. The action scenes were beautiful to watch, moreso than the first (the writers clearly learned from the action scenes from Man of Steel) The story is mostly easy to follow (bar the random out of place scenes where Thor has visions that reference future Marvel movies) It is a very interesting story except for a few scenes, for example there is a short section of the movie where Hawkeye decides to take The Avengers to his farm house where we are treated to a few pointless scenes with Hawkeye and his random family (that serves no purpose whatsoever, but was only put in the movie because Whedon feels guilty about not having enough Hawkeye scenes in the first movie)
The movie gets back into the action after these scenes and keeps the momentum going. Another part of the story is the forced romance between Black Widow and Bruce Banner/Hulk. Now who doesn't love a bit of romance in a superhero movie? In a standalone movie this would have been absolutely fine. However this isn't just an ordinary movie now is it? it's an Avengers movie! where there are so many characters that hardly anyone gets enough screen time as it is. So throwing in a forced romance story (that had no previous forshadowing or back story whatsoever as much as the blind fanboys say otherwise) really takes something away from the otherwise almost perfect story.
The feminists came running accusing the movie of being "sexist" and "anti feminist" bar a few sex jokes there is absolutely nothing sexist about this film and the feminists didn't have a leg to stand on. All the characters were treated with respect and represented perfectly (some given abit too much respect, see what I wrote about Hawkeye) And how can I forget about the Maximoff twins! Both are portrayed by amazing actors and their journey of starting off as villains but becoming heroes is a well done one.
The film sticks to the usual Marvel formula. Explosions and jokes, the explosions are done amazingly well but the jokes fall flat depending on your age and type of sense of humour. The usually quick and witty Tony Stark makes silly sex jokes and other jokes that really are just dumbed down. There is a scene (early on) where Tony "swears" and Captain America says "Language" and this begins an running gag in the movie where everyone is like "oh don't swear in front of Captain" this joke might get a giggle at first but it gets old so fast that you just cringe whenever it is referenced to (throughout the film) Ultron is treated to a sort of dark sense of humour (and occasionally quotes random Disney songs) however it works on him (mostly because of James Spaders amazing delivery) There are references and easter eggs to other Marvel characters just to excite your inner geek, which are done well also. There are some themes covered in this film. Morality isn't really one of them, I mean it is briefly touched on but lets face it, this is the Marvel world. And there are no real consequences to anything. The viewer is treated to several scenes where The Avengers are shown saving individual people rather stopping the main threat that is killing hundreds at the exact same time. There are no real consequences for Tony Stark creating a self aware robot that almost wiped out humanity, but like I said, it's a happy fantasy world. But then again it's nice sometimes to live in a world that isn't as dark as the world that we live in.
Overall the movie is fantastic. With action scenes and cinematography that you would expect from a Marvel movie. The story is interesting for the most part and you will leave the cinema satisfied with this experience, but part of you will be wanting more which is why you will sit through the end credits waiting for that 2 minute scene which teases you until the next Marvel release. It's a good movie, make sure you check it out!