Avengers: Tantrum of Ultron

Rating: 6/10 (5 May 2015)

When I first saw the trailer of this movie, I could not stop saying "There are no strings on me." I was so pumped that Whedon was back and the Avengers will take away the box office yet again. The trailer set us up for an amazing and chilling villain, a darker tone, a more serious threat, and the promise of darker things to come. However the end result was very disappointing.
There are some great moments the this movie gave. Whedon's script has some very deep and gripping dialog. The Hulkbuster fight was by far one of the greatest scenes in any of the MCU movies to date. There is some great foreshadowing to the films to come. Hawkeye gets some deserved characterization. We get to know more about Black Widow's past. Scarlet Witch is amazing, and Vision was jaw dropping. I also feel that Chris Evans truly shines as Captain America in this film more than any other, and it is great to see how much Iron Man has evolved.
However, when the credits are rolling you will most likely agree that the first one was much better. The original cut of this film was supposedly over 3 hours, and with the poor editing with this movie it clearly shows. While Whedon can juggle many characters into one film, it did not have the same effect as this one. The Thor side story seemed added in. Andy Serkis' part left us excited for his return in the Black Panther movie, but had little to nothing to do with the rest of the plot. The death of the character in this film was not with someone we cared for too much. The love story was forced and unnecessary. Nick Fury did not have to be there. This movie sets us up for Civil War, but does not have a tragic incident that would spark such an event. There were also too many jokes, this movie should have had a much darker tone, but it got Disneyfied and had clever quips that were not as funny as the ones in the first film. This film should have taken itself more seriously. And lastly my biggest issue with this film.
The MCU is not perfect the biggest issue they have is the villain. True they do have Loki, the Winter Soldier, Red Skull, Obadiah Stane, and the promise of Thanos. James Spader was a perfect choice for the voice of Ultron. The trailers led us to believe that this is the cold heartless villain that would tear the Avengers apart. But Ultron was severely underdeveloped and not menacing or chill- inducing at all. He had unexpected jokes, which does not belong to a cold, calculating, ruthless robot hell bent on saving the world by destroying, what he believes to be its greatest threat, humanity. James Spader was meant to play a villain that could rival that of Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter, but he came off as childish and acted like a combination of Loki and Tony Stark.
While I don't think it is a terrible movie, it just could have been better. I hope that Marvel will give us the original 3 hour cut, and that could change my mind. But in the end, if we were to rank the MCU films this one would probably be on the lower half.