The Age of Avengers!

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2015)

Finally the long awaited sequel to the Avengers have arrived and let me start out my saying what a show! The excitement and expectations were so high for this one and it did not disappoint!
Allow me to start with the bad things so we can leave things on a high note. First of we have the lovestories. Yes, plural. First, we have the romance between Hulk and Black Widow, which I have no idea where actually came from. It sort of seems random and used as more of a bland filler. It doesn't really gives depth to the characters like a good lovestory does, if anything it makes Natasha act more like a lovestruck teenager than a 'love is for children' assassin. It almost seems demeaning compared to the Natasha Romanoff we have seen in all the previous films. But good for Bruce though. He deserves someone who doesn't fear the Other Guy. Next we have Hawkeye who surprisingly has a hidden family out in the country. This too seemed to come out of nowhere and just like before it feels like a filler and if anything takes away something from the character that otherwise stood out wonderfully compared to the first movie. I may not have read the comics but even for me it seemed far-fetched and outright unbelievable. It was almost taken straight out of a girly fanfiction storyline. I have already suppressed those scenes and do not accept them as part of the actual film. Perhaps it is my inner fangirl but I cannot possibly be the only one who sees it as such.
Okay. Now that that is out of the way ... I loved everything else! The action was good, the story was believable and everybody got their moment to shine. Every character, old and new, got explored (at least as much as you can do with that many in one movie) and the two newcomers, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were even better than I thought. And what amazed me most was that I didn't find myself once comparing the two Quicksilvers we have now seen. Wonderful diversity from both takes on a character that are so far from each other that you don't even think about it being the same person.
The movie had both humor and serious moments which all worked so well! The team dynamic was fun and aside from a few bumps (and perhaps a fight or two) the team stayed consistent throughout the film. Ultron was cheeky yet somehow terrifying. It may not have hit Loki level but it was close and a lot of it had to do with James Spaders wonderful work and voice. So what's the main conclusion here, you ask? It is this: a wonderful sequel to a wonderful film. The love stories took away the some of the magic which is too bad since everything else worked so well and sadly that is the only reason the film didn't receive a perfect score.
Is this better than the first movie? No. But it's damn near close and who knows, after a few more watches it might even reach the bar. A sequel that is worth the watch! Without a doubt!