Rating: 3/5

Three-Word Review: Self-involved superheros

The Marvel Universe is vast.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of super heroes and villains fighting over the course of dozens of sub-plots.

Mavel’s ability to bring this enormous cannon to the movie screen has been phenomenal. They continue to make box office gold, even with relatively minor characters such as Thor and AntMan.

No single film was more a testament to this impressive transmediation than the first Avengers movie. Using the individual hero films as buildups, it combined these characters into one cohesive storyline with tremendous results.

However, the second Avengers installment wasn’t able to fully capture this same harmony. Much like they are called to do in the script, the heroes compete with one another for attention.

There are too many plot holes and unanswered questions. By comparison, the first film was more straightforward and easy to follow.

In the Age of Ultron, it feels too much like we’ve been dropped into the story in medias res. There is too much dependence on knowledge from previous films.

And there was too much of an assumption that there would be a third Avengers edition (which there undoubtedly will be.)

Don’t get me wrong — the movie is still downright entertaining. The action scenes are crisp and exciting. The dialog is still snappy any witty.

There isn’t much that director Joss Whedon does that isn’t outright impressive. But this one missed the mark slightly. In part, because it relied a little too much on the same tropes and themes that made the first film such a success.

Mavel can’t get them all perfectly. They’ve made almost a dozen feature films recently using their superheros. They could make a hundred more and fans would still flock to see them.

But Avengers: Age of Ultron was not their best effort to date. Let’s just hope it sets up properly for the inevitable sequel.