Avengers: Age of Ultron

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"No comic book movie before has so nailed the feeling of sitting and reading a stack of eight comics." - Jordan Hoffman, Popular Mechanics

SPOILERLESS MUSINGS

If you're an Avengers fan, you will adore this movie. It's got more action and humor than its predecessor and a far more menacing villain. Hawkeye might be your new favorite Avenger, and you'll also walk out with some favorite new Avengers. Ultron is the perfect balance of wit and menace, and you'll appreciate him as much if not more than Loki. James Spader killed it.

If you're not an Avengers fan, or you're looking for something more than a popcorn superhero movie, you will undoubtedly see the flaws of this movie. Otherwise, they're extremely easy to overlook.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I knew I was going to have fun with this movie as soon as I saw the first scene. Do you remember the tracking shot of the first Avengers movie that shows all the Avengers one by one, each fighting in their own way? The movie opens with a variation of that scene, this time located in the woods of the fictional Eastern European city of Sovokia. This was the first of many occurrences of me grinning like an idiot during the movie's 2 hour and 21 minute runtime.

I also appreciated director Joss Whedon's ability to turn from scenes filled with action and laughs to dark scenes that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. When the Scarlet Witch gives Tony Stark a vision of all the Avengers dead around him, it threw me completely off guard - and it was one of my favorite scenes in the movie for its shock value and depth. Marvel knows that it could never pull off the dark, gritty feel of DC movies, but it was nice to be reminded that they can still trigger an emotional response.

All of the action sequences in the movie were fantastic - and the Hulk vs. Hulkbuster scene is one for the record books. Though Ultron's robot army isn't too different from the Chitauri, the fighting is different enough to keep it interesting. I also appreciated that the movie has more of a Spiderman feel when it came to protecting civilians. Saving the lives of innocent people is something the first movie barely touched on, but it was the focus of Age of Ultron's action scenes.

In the first Avengers movie, the team barely knows eachother (save Black Widow and Hawkeye). It's great fun to see this movie start out with the Avengers being old friends. This also leads to many more humorous interactions.

Age of Ultron looks and sounds better than the first one - it is shot much more cinematically and has several great variations of the Avengers theme that we know and love.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch made a fun team that added some interesting variables to the mix, with Quicksilver's speed and Scarlet Witch's mind control/whatever she does. "He's fast and she's weird."

If you doubted Hawkeye's usefulness to the team in the first movie, you won't after seeing this one. Hawkeye gets some massive character development and is shown to be the glue that holds the team together.

Though Black Widow and Hulk's romance seemed forced, I didn't mind it too much.

Vision was perhaps my favorite part of the movie - his origin is so unique and when he nonchalantly wields Thor's hammer (proving himself worthy), the entire theater gasped and cheered. I'm excited to see how his character develops past his 1st day on earth.

There were two main things that the film could have improved upon. Firstly, I didn't feel enough of a premonition of conflict to lead into Civil War. There were a few minor squabbles of course, but I would've liked a grudge to be kept throughout the movie. Secondly, the movie did seem inconsequential at times. There is a large sense of danger from Ultron and the flying city, but if you really examine the events of the movie, the world isn't drastically different than the world at the beginning of the movie. Even Quicksilver's death, which may be consequential, didn't even upset me that much; he wasn't developed enough for his death to affect me.

Overall, this is such a solid movie that I can't wait to add to my collection. It is easily as fun as the first one and it gets me excited about the future of Earth's mightiest heroes.

REDDIT TIME - I share some of my favorite comments from an Avengers: Age of Ultron discussion thread.