Mostly good movie

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2015)

*tried to keep mostly spoiler free but there are some mild ones* I (like a lot of people of course) have looked forward to this for years. I thought the first Avengers movie was amazing, and as a fan of all things Joss Whedon I was excited he'd be back for this installment. It tied nicely in with the most recent episode of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I enjoyed the introduction to a couple of new characters, since I didn't know much about them previously. The movie felt a little crowded, but it's the Avengers--you obviously have to have all of them. Whedon's trademark humor is definitely present, and provides a nice balance to the darker story lines going on. But something felt very off with a lot of the characters' motivations. It felt like we were missing something vital about their thought processes, and their subsequent decisions were somewhat jarring and the bickering between characters was more grating than entertaining. And a new relationship was introduced that felt like it dragged the whole rest of the movie down.
Overall I really enjoyed the movie, and I'll definitely watch it again. The choice of actor for the villain is fantastic, it's nice to see another familiar character in the flesh, sort of, and there are some interesting themes. I think it could have been a bit longer--perhaps if certain things were given more time to be fleshed out, they wouldn't have seemed like they came out of the blue.