A Wasted Chance To Make An Awesome Film

Rating: 5/10 (6 May 2017)

Oh, dear! What happened here! This had the possibility to be a great film with depth... so what does Joss Whedon give the audience - a formulaic action film lacking in characterisation and an awful lot of changes to origin stories and ongoing characters, which didn't make sense. It felt so forced into being something big and spectacular that only helped in hindering my enjoyment of the film and story.
Usually, I'd say that a movie is worth watching due to the story or the action but in this case, things don't seem to gel just right and the whole thing is messy and disjointed. This is definitely not the best in the Marvel Movie Universe... This is nearly on par with Iron Man 3 (another film which could have been awesome).
I was having doubts in the opening action sequence as some of the CGI is sloppy, giving the scene an untidiness. You can easily tell which sections are CGI'd. Thank God things get tidier as the film progresses.
Then there's Bruce Banner; a scientist with a clinical and logical mind who only wants to help people and would never hurt anyone... but suddenly is all too happy to let Stark activate an unknown AI though they know the dangers involved. This goes against the core nature of Banner but Whedon doesn't care. What would've been more in character would be Stark being his usual egotistical self and activating the AI on his own accord, only for Banner to find out and come in to keep an eye on things so nothing goes wrong, being too late to stop Stark It's such a little thing, but the devil's in the details
When Ultron finally appears, nicely voiced by James Spader - though a little more creepiness and menace was needed (The "I have no strings" vocal is actually more menacing in the trailer than in the movie scene), you think okay here we go, but it's over too quickly and feels more like a damp squid than impending doom and throws the pace of. In fact, there's a lot of stops and starts in the pace of this film, I'm not sure if that was Whedon's intention but it doesn't work.
Even the one-liner quips between the team were lacking in humour and feel thrown in to lighten the sequence and entertain. The trouble being if it feels thrown in it loses its power and the feeling of reality the filmmaker is trying to create. Once that happens then the viewer breaks away from the film and it's not as entertaining for them.
Two-thirds of the way through I'd pretty much given up on the film but decided to stay for the ground shaking final fight scene. Which wasn't really too special as it was just loads of Ultron's minions fighting on his behalf (though he had previously stated that they were all him). The thing is if Ultron was such a Bad Ass and believed himself superior to humans and the Avengers then he should have taken them on one on one, as they were helping the stranded people to leave. Then when he does attack he lets his drones do it for him and you have an epic battle with epic music, which doesn't feel so epic, then it only takes four Avengers to dispatch Ultron in... less than a minute! What a baddie!... another damp squid.
Hey, maybe that should have been the title - Avengers: Age Of The Damp Squid!
As I said in the review for Guardians Of The Galaxy, Marvel are in serious danger of stereotyping themselves and following a specific formula, which is even more evident in this film than in that one. This could be the slippery slope to failure if they don't beware.
If you've liked the previous films in the Marvel Movie Universe then you may be able to get through this one, though I wouldn't recommend watching it as a stand alone film since there are better offerings out there. If you're a fanboy of the comics then it's probably best to stay well clear of this film, especially if you don't appreciate new interpretations as this isn't a good one. This movie could be a turning point for fans.