The best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far (spoiler free)

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2015)

Avengers: Age of Ultron is exactly what I wanted it to be, a fine sequel with solid pacing, directing, acting, eye gouging special effects and awesome action sequences. Before going to see this film, I looked back to the greatest movie sequels ever to make a comparison, Terminator 2, The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, (I haven't seen The Godfather Part II yet), and Avengers: Age of Ultron is definitely on the same level as all of those films. My favourite film in the MCU was undeniably Guardians of the Galaxy, but I gotta say that AOU is the best Marvel movie ever since GOTG.
The cast did a fantastic job, and I literally mean each and every one of them. Robert Downey, Jr. threw it down, Chris Evans is there shining in his well-acted portrayal as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth is at his very best, Scarlett Johanson is also at her very badass best (and quite flirtatious as well I might add), Mark Ruffalo was amazing as Bruce Banner/Hulk, but Jeremy Renner stood out to me on top of all of the team. He's not my favourite Avenger, but Hawkeye was at first to me the least important guy on the team, and I thought that because he had a lack of character development in the first Avengers, but now they've done a terrific improvement on his character and they have developed him much better this time with quite an emotional core and some very good one-liners.
The newcomers, I can say, without hesitation, the same for as well. Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron-Taylor Johnson did a brilliant job as the two mutant twins. I do think that Evan Peters was a better version of Quicksilver when he played him in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Paul Bettany as the Vision was a show-stealer as well and he offered us his best in a well directed superhero movie. However, the newcomers all pale in comparison to James Spader's Ultron. I can see now why the cast and crew applauded him for his performance. Ultron was the real show stealer of the film and probably the best villain in the MCU and he is definitely up there with the greatest movie villains of all time, even reaching the same level as The Joker and Darth Vader. Whenever he's on screen, the movie sets the dark mood.
So all in all, this is one of my favourite superhero movies ever and better than the first Avengers film in my opinion. It has a well placed focus on the title characters, the Avengers and Ultron, and after that, it has an awesome set up to Phase 3.
My one problem with it is that the film wasn't as dark as the trailers suggested it would be. I just think that there should've been a little more to set the mood. It definitely does set the mood as dark as it was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I will say that.
Still, I strongly recommend you see this one. Do not miss it.