When the Avengers first appeared in 2012, they broke new ground in terms of what superhero movies could achieve, melding multiple superheroes and playing a balancing act between them within a single cohesive plot. Now three years later, we finally have the sequel, and the novelty has worn off, so it needs a lot to live up to and armed with a grittier tone, better action and a much serious villain, writer-director Joss Whedon does seem to manage it for the most part.
In the sequel, The Avengers now have to battle what is apparently Tony Stark's biggest blunder yet when he and his partner in-crime, Bruce Banner(a.k.a. the giant green rage monster) try to restart a dormant peacekeeping program in the form of an A.I. known as Ultron, when he decides that the real problem are the humans themselves.
In the very beginning, the movie thrusts you into the action in what is a very fun establishing castle battle. From here you realise that this will be bigger, faster and louder than what we had seen before. To make things different, the film now sports a much darker tone however it never goes too far and retains the humour that we have come to know from Marvel. And also is filled with a large number of locations that does make things less visually monotonous.
The plot does feel much more faster in its pace and whizzing past the sheer quantity of story content that it presents that it often feels too fast, but nothing you wont get used to. Most of this fast pace 'no-time-waste' story filled with action set-pieces fill the first half, at which point I did feel quite scared that this movie would be another cobbled-up story that would not present much substance. Then the second half kicked in and it does pick up its threads though they are some points where it does seem a bit Deus-ex Machina and parts of the movie do not feel fleshed out enough.
The cast comprising the likes of Robert Downey jr. , Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson and Chris Hemsworth all turn out awesome performances which shows their grown comfort level with their characters. This is further backed-up with their natural chemistry as actors and character development in the story in some rather clever ways that shine some light on the personal motivations of each avenger. Special mention to Hawkeye who finally got some much earned character development. Also the new additions to the team, the Maximoff twins, Quicksilver (Aaron-taylor Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are good additions to the team. However the cast grows much larger than that with many characters carrying over from previous movies and appearing in little cameos, etc. Whedon has fully utilised this large cast with great sincerity and care.
The action does come as leaps and bounds ahead of what we had seen previously where each sequence from the start either rivals or just exceeds that much to the final New York battle in the prequel, especially in its set-ups. And when the audience is finally engrossed in the story, it really elevates the involvement in some of the sequences at the end.
However, the highlight of the movie has to be Ultron voiced by James Spader, who brings a whiff of gravitas and a sense of humour and purpose to the character that I felt was lacking in Loki. Ultron would have never been the same without Spader's voice talents. And they also play him rather well, going the extra mile to show that this isn't some generic A.I. Frankenstein and a serious, evolving threat to the Avengers and the world in general. There is also a very interesting relationship shown between Ultron and Stark that is explored here. And there is also the banter and dynamics between Ultron and Vision. I will not go into Vision much because I would highly recommend for you to experience it yourself, but one thing is to be said that he does adds a lot to the movie and is a very intriguing character.
Scope and Spectacle seems to be the name of the game here, with fast fluid camerwork and action and an equally fast yet seemingly uneven paced story. Avengers: Age of Ultron does appear at first to be too many little things trying to become a larger whole but it kicks in and does get focused and in the end leaves you satisfied for spending your 2 hours 21 minutes with it. There are also little tie-ins to future movies as well, more so than I noticed in earlier movies of "Phase-2". Overall it is jammed pack with action set-pieces, enough amount of character exploration and doing another good job of expanding and furthering this Universe. Though I will caution to keep your expectations in check.
ps. If you didn't know, there is a middle credit-scene but not an after credits scene, I checked.
But that is just my Impression....
