Joss Wheadon does a great job again uniting the heroes with a perfect blend of action, humor and character development. The heroes without their own individual movies receive a significant amount of character progression throughout this film (Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow). This movie was Clint’s redemption film. Having been under Loki’s mind control in the previous Avengers and an antagonist for the majority of that film, this movie does a great job redeeming him and adding depth to his character. Black Widow & Hulk also develop a romantic relationship throughout the movie and we get to see portions of Natasha’s past growing up. We don’t get to see into Hulk’s past but we see him struggle deeply with his inner demons (quite literally) and his concern with not being allowed to love because of the “other” guy. The good thing about Tony, Steve and Thor having their own movies is that we get to see those characters grow and become better throughout their own respective films. So in the assembling of the Avengers, nothing too in-depth needs to be done with them. Joss Wheadon clearly understands the characters well and they express themselves perfectly during the film. That doesn't mean those characters didn't grow during the movie. Ironman and Thor get shown visions that cause them to do extreme things. Tony tries to make Ultron with Banner's help and Thor goes to a magic pool in order to relive the visions he had and understand them better. The whole point of creating Ultron was to make artificial machines that could protect the earth; neutralize a threat before it could become one.
Age of Ultron has a lot of little Easter eggs for the hard core Marvel fans as well. It even plays on the foreknowledge of the comic book readers a little bit. It alludes to the future relationship of Vision and Scarlet Witch, The Black Panther Villain known as Klaw, Civil War, the Infinity War and also seriously foreshadows how crucial Thor’s next movie will be. Moving forward, the action in this movie was plentiful and more than satisfactory. Ironman vs Hulk was easily the best action sequence in this movie. You get to see the Hulkbuster Suit in action; the suit Banner and Tony designed specifically to contain the Hulk. The end game battle wasn't bad but essentially the same as the first Avengers movie. Just substitute robots for Chitauri. However, the Avengers did fend off the attack while evacuating an entire city. The Maximoff twins were a welcome addition to the cast, especially Quicksilver. Wanda is still exploring the limitations of her powers so she isn't out of control powerful yet. Vision was also an interesting addition. Interesting because while he was a good addition, the way he was created was a bit of a reach. Essentially he was half Jarvis, half Ultron infused with an Infinity Stone then brought to life by magic thunder (Thor). But I understand they did the best they could (not enough phasing through solid matter though).
Now while this was a great movie with tons of great content, let’s talk about some of the questionable things in the film. Right off the bat, Hulk and Black Widow was weird. Not entirely sure where that came from or where they wish for it to go but it was weird. Ultron was inferior to Loki in every sense and Ultron's creation was rushed. Usually Ultron starts off as a good robot then learns how flawed humanity is thus coming to the sole conclusion the flaw itself is humanity. Therefore leading him to believe human extinction is the only way to save humanity. But in Age of Ultron as soon as he is made he’s already evil. Thor was almost in this movie for the sole purpose of preparing for his next movie. He wasn't there much and I’m not entirely sure what he did for the majority of the film but he just comes back all enlightened with his visions. Moreover this movie has tons of subplots which I was able to follow but I can tell that a lot of people couldn't. There was truly a lot happening in this movie. Can we also talk about why Falcon didn't come help? Rhodey was there, everyone was there except Falcon. In addition to that, Captain America holds his own vs Ultron (while occasionally defying physics might I add) but Thor gets completely thrashed by Ultron. That was hard to swallow (even with the upgrade). Lastly Ironman makes a pretty distasteful rape joke early on in the movie that confuses me only because his line in the trailer was completely different. It completely makes sense, by which I mean it’s something Tony Stark would say but still, there were other ways to make that line funny.
In conclusion, Age of Ultron is by no means perfect but it’s a humorous movie with great action and plot…well…plots that can be enjoyed by all types of fans. I definitely recommend it, whether or not you’re a comic book or superhero person.
7.8/10.