It was not a slow start.
The movie is straight into the action with the Avengers team launching a full on attack against a Hydra base in an attempt to retrieve Loki’s scepter.
“Terrific!”, I thought. “I am tired of movies that are halfway through before anything happens.”
Be careful what you wish for, however.
I enjoyed the opening scenes … But there is a problem when you begin at a breakneck pace … The rest of the film has to keep pace with that opening to avoid being an anticlimax.
And I am not claiming that Avengers: Age Of Ultron fell in this trap.
There was no shortage of action.
This, unexpectedly, was not my main criticism. When a movie that ran for over 2 hours is too full of action, then something has missed the mark.
( They should have let Hawkeye direct ha ha ).
There are too many major characters, cameos and new additions. The action scenes were occasionally a little busy but, for me, the time left over for character development was wanting. It was like meeting up with a good friend from your college days only to find that the rapport you once had wasn’t there anymore.
That said, there were pluses and I was happy to pay the ticket price.
The interpretations of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany’s Vision look like they may add interesting dimensions to the franchise.
There were a number of surprising moments.
It would appear that the next installment will not be as crowded ( Not everyone will make it to Avengers 3 … I am not going to tell you how or why here, though. ).
Ultron, voiced by James Spader, had a personality ( Not sure that was a high point but it added humor and was a welcome divergence from the Terminator cold machine logic approach. ).
Most importantly, Josh Whedon did not retell the comic book Age Of Ultron event. That was a mess. Trust me, if it had faithfully translated to film, the result would have looked like the lovechild M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Bey.
Overall I will give Avengers: Age Of Ultron 7/10 or 8/10 with popcorn.
The plot could have been stronger, however, but this was a better effort than Thor: The Dark World or Iron Man 3 although not on par with Captain America: Winter Soldier.
And it is a superhero film. … There are gods, monsters and flying people. … If you are going to nitpick at how the physics doesn’t make sense, perhaps this isn’t the movie for you.
