Avengers: Age of Ultron

This review may contain spoilers!

This is certainly not Marvel's best film to date nor is it better than the first Avengers, yet it's still a great film and worth the watch. I would give Avengers: Age of Ultron an 8/10.

This film flaunted it's special effects so casually that you simply had to admire how far this film series has come as a franchise. I also really enjoyed the cinematography, the way this was put together meant that you felt like you were watching live action screen grabs from an actual comic book. Once again Marvel delivered a beautiful opening score, something that was quite powerful and matched these spectacular cinematic moments. The fight choreography was brilliant as well, huge kudos to the stunt department. Joss Whedon also works really well on delivering some incredible dialogue and character depth. The film moves at a great pace, blending action and drama in a great way.

Robert Downey Jr, who played Tony Stark, really does remain the actor upon which the MCU rests; his quick and easy quips as well as his brilliant emotional narcisstic range make him a genuine pleasure to watch onscreen. Chris Evans, who played Steve Rogers, was really written well for; he embodied some of the stronger ideals of his character all while making the hard calls against his own teammates. Scarlett Johansson, who played Natasha Romanoff, remains one of the best leading ladies of the MCU, her presence in action scenes as well as her backstory became really intriguing in this film. Jeremy Renner, who played Clint Barton, really came into his own this film; suddenly he became one of the most interesting and engaging of all the Avengers. James Spader, who voiced Ultron, was a fantastic antagonist; he had a lot of natural charisma and was one of the 'fun sociopaths' that Marvel is so notorious for. Don Cheadle, who played James Rhodes, was a welcome addition to the Avengers team; he's a subtle form of comedy that is really refreshing to watch. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Pietro Maximoff, really shaped up to be one of the most interesting of the new characters; his energy onscreen was always perfect and he progressed very naturally. Paul Bettany, who played Vision, was a joy to finally see onscreen; his character brought a whole new angle to the MCU and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future. Anthony Mackie, who played Sam Wilson, remains one of the best new additions to the MCU; I loved his cameos in this film. Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter, had a beautiful cameo, she really made Steve's vision feel so discordant which was perfect for the tone. Idris Elba, who played Heimdall, was absolutely manic in his cameo; the insanity he portrayed really has me looking forward to Thor 3. Andy Serkis, who played Ulysses Klaue, was a brilliant minor antagonist; his witty banter really stole the scene he was in. Linda Cardellini, who played Laura Barton, brought a whole new dynamic to Hawkeye's character; her very grounded role in this film really brought a fresh new aspect to the cinematic universe.

However the best performance of the film was without a doubt Samuel L. Jackson, who played Nick Fury. Jackson reminds audiences of the one character who has cemented this franchise almost as much as Tony Stark has. In his performance we see an incredible display of wisdom and some of the best banter and dialogue of the film. He has the pleasure of being the best part of the final battle and I think this film wouldn't have been as great as it had been without him.

Where this film suffers is in Whedon's inability to craft a compelling Avengers plot that resembles any of the past films we've seen before. And Maybe that's just because his main villain has such a weak motive; his solution for peace is to destroy the world? Yeeeah this is the 21st century, the whole 'destroy the world cause I'm in the right' plot has been done to death. He's also forgetful of his characters in places, we don't really see much sense of continuity from the past films. For example Thor keeps leaving the story and coming back only for the key moments. Not to mention the out of nowhere romance between Black Widow and Hulk; frankly that was a very forced romance and ruined the best character of the first Avengers film. Whedon had a very disorganised and poorly planned plot that really brought down the film.

Chris Hemsworth, who played Thor, felt like he'd spent a bit too long away from the character; his performance lacked the usual energy and he seemed out of place in this film. Mark Ruffalo, who played Bruce Banner, was hampered by a terrible romantic subplot; he reminded me why a Hulk solo film hasn't happened. Elizabeth Olsen, who played Wanda Maximoff, couldn't do the accent of the character she was cast to play; as a result she had one of the most artifical performances onscreen and I dread seeing her in future Marvel films. Cobie Smulders, who played Maria Hill, lacked screen presence; it's really unclear to me what she actually does as a character. Stellan Skarsgard, who played Erik Selvig, was disappointingly underused; he felt like he'd been thrown into the film for the sake of a cameo. Claudia Kim, who played Dr. Helen Cho, was really an insignificant new addition to the MCU; she felt more plot point than character. Thomas Kretschmann, who played Strucker, was a terrible minor antagonist; he lacked any kind of threat; I mean if you're going to play a terror cell leader at least actually try and fit that presence. Kerry Condon, who voiced F.R.I.D.A.Y, was really annoying to listen to; hopefully they change the voice actor by the time Civil War swings around.