There are no strings on me

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2015)

There are so many things flying around my head, I need to pin them down to try and write a review of Avengers Age of Ultron. My hopes were high. I watched all of the trailers approximately 4 times a day for the last few months. And I was not disappointed.
Age of Ultron kicks off nicely as a sequel to Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the continuity. There's a lot that goes unexplained but you just use your imagination. The film is chock full of cameos and this is a big reason for success - they don't have to rewrite the films to explain why so and so isn't there. But keep an eye out for one cringeworthy scene where we have to listen to Stark and Thor explain why their respective girlfriends aren't around.
The film gives us a glorious array of the action and quips we love about the Avengers movies. There's shot after shot of magical stunts that defy belief but we don't even care. The script is actually quite well done, although there are a handful of clichés we forgive them in the broad picture.
But Age of Ultron does what I had hoped - it goes deeper and even a little bit darker into themes of death, artificial intelligence and human interference. The questions posed by Stark, by Banner, by Ultron - they were questions worth thinking about. The Black Widow and Maximoff twins backstories are deep and dark. This might be the most insightful Marvel movie yet. The concept of death was one I was worrying about how the film would touch on. I would have liked a bit more but I cannot complain with the end result. All I will say on this is that I hope the Universe continues down this road.
You don't go to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for quality acting - there's been plenty of misses. But there's plenty to enjoy here. Mark Ruffalo shows that he can act circles around the rest of this cast in his sleep. He's the film's standout, his ability to dial back chemistry is unparalleled. There is also plenty to enjoy from the broad ensemble cast - Don Cheadle, Andy Serkis, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany shine in their roles (of varying size), and the main cast is always fun to watch. Even Aaron Taylor-Johnson is surprisingly not terrible. James Spader as Ultron will go down as my personal favourite casting choice in history - he doesn't just nail it, he splits the wood and impales the floor.
Yes the film feels a bit overstuffed by setting up sequels, and I think this is endemic of the problem facing Marvel rather than a problem with the film. I felt that the Thor side quest was silly but the information he got was important. The "new Avengers line up" was a big let down for me, because its not real - several of the gang are just retired, but we know they'll be back (because their contracts tell us they well). Marvel are too cowardly to treat these characters like normal movies would, because its not the individual products they care about, its the universe. It will get harder and harder for Marvel to create great standalone Marvel films like the original Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor. But this is all a commentary on the universe, not the film.
Age of Ultron itself was a mesmerising popcorn flick with some quality performances and touches of deeper thinking. I will be going back and seeing it as soon as I can.