A whole lot of fun but too inconsequential

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2015)

I should start of by saying that this is definitely a good movie. Over all it's probably a better movie that the first avengers. The problem with this movie is that is doesn't fit into the series nearly as well as the first one did.
The first Avengers was a little lacking in plot but it was a blast and, most importantly, by the time the film ended, you felt truly excited about the MCU because the film had completely changed the landscape of this world. And in that sentence lies the main problem with with movie. It feels too inconsequential. By the time the movie ends I didn't feel nearly as excited or interested in the MCU as I wanted to be. Because despite all the conflict that happens in the film, by the time the credits role everything feels basically the same as it did at the beginning of the movie. Everyone is still friends and everyone who was present at the beginning of the movie is still alive. And that's fine if you're making Iron Man 4 but it isn't if you are making an Avengers film. And to discuss this I kinda have to go into spoiler territory.
So in the film Tony Stark invents Ultron, an AI that goes crazy and starts trying to kill people. Now I'll get to my problems with Ultron as a villain in a second but my main problem with this is that Stark faces no real consequences for his actions. At the end of the film him and Cap are still great friends. And this might be fine if the next movie in the series wasn't Civil War. In Civil War we already know that there is going to be conflict between Iron Man and Captain America. So that means that in Age of Ultron Marvel had a great opportunity to create meaningful animosity between these two characters and in doing so make both character's more layered and interesting. But they wasted this opportunity in order to make a happy ending.
Now I could talk more about how overly self-contained this film feels but I feel like you get the point. So let's get to another aspect for me to get nitpicky about. The villain. The trailers of this movie sold me on Ultron, the maniacally AI with an half an oedipus complex as voiced by the incomparable James Spader. And I mean that's kinda what I got but I found that I was heavily disappointed with his lack of complexity. As a character I never felt like I really understood what was driving him to be so villainous. It just annoys me that the film couldn't give me a meaningful reason why this machine was acting the way it was. There is a vague cliché notion presented that it sees humans as too violent and to have peace it must destroy them all but even that isn't really presented properly. Over all Ultron ended up feeling like an excellent performance and some well written dialog that was undercut by a very simplistic and kinda cliché character.
Now I think I'm sounding far too whiny so I'll get to what I really liked about the film. And there are two main character based elements that I LOVED in Age of Ultron. Hawkeye in this movie was excellent. The writers took everything that made the character seem kinda lame in the first movie and turned it on it's head to make him probably the most likable character in the team. To explain I have to go into spoiler territory again. Basically mid way through the film Hawkeye takes the team to what he calls 'a safehouse' where we meet his family for the first time. And it is such a great moment because it takes all the times that people have complained about him being 'just a guy with a bow and arrow' and makes it his best feature. The fact that he is so regular shows that, unlike all the gods and monsters he pals around with, he has something really meaningful to loose.
Now to the second element that was really great in this movie. The Vision. Paul Bettany pulls of a great, reserved performance that made the character truly feel like a perfect halfway point between human and robot (kinda the way I wish Ultron seemed). The design of the character is also completely flawless. I can't be completely sure but I it honestly seemed like his face at least was solely done with make-up and it made the character look truly tangible
These weren't the only good things in the movie however. Quicksliver was pretty cool but Scarlet Witch was honestly quite fantastic. Elizabeth Olsen came across as truly threatening while still being somewhat relatable. The action was very entertaining however I'm honestly looking forward to the Russo brothers taking charge as I reckon they can create more grounded fight scenes as opposed to the Whedon extravaganzas that are feeling a tad excessive at this point. I also thought that the Banner-Black Widow romance worked well enough, although I think it would have been less intrusive if it was an established element in the universe.
I get the feeling a lot of my problems with the film come from what I wanted it to be and not what it actually was. Going into it I was expecting Marvel's answer to 'Empire Strikes Back' and although I didn't get what I was looking for, a film that raises the stakes and makes our characters more conflicted and complex, I still got an exciting film full of dynamic, likable heroes. Over all, I'd say go see the film. If you like Marvel films you'll like this one, just don't expect something that is going to really deepen the universe or excite you for future films like the first Avengers did.