Avengers: Age of Ultron - Review

This is one of those films where my opinion changes every time I see it. When I saw this film opening night, I guess my hype was a little too high for my first viewing and I was a little bit overwhelmed with all characters and side-plots. After my second viewing, I knew what to expect and I walked away satisfied. In fact, I walked away in love with it. The first viewing outside of the theatre was in a hotel room in Mexico and to be honest, I was kind of bored by it. Maybe that was because I wanted to go down to the beach and have a few more rum and cokes. Now, watching this film after watching all the previous films that came before it in chronological order, not only do I really like this movie, but I like it more than the original Avengers movie. Now I know that it's not the most popular opinion in the world, but to me, the first Avengers film was all about seeing these characters all in one movie for the first time. If you read my review for the original Avengers film, you'd know that I think that the novelty has worn off and the flaws with that movie are much more prevelent now than when it first came out. In Age of Ultron, not only do I think it's darker and more entertaining, but I learn more about these characters. These are characters with many distinct personalities and this film gives them more time to shine. At least it feels that way. Rather than it feeling like a kid playing with his action figures. And while the final fight with the thousands of Ultron robots feels somewhat similar to the thousands of aliens in Loki's army, Ultron feels like a bigger threat and there is more of a personal attachment to him because he is a direct creation of Tony Stark. With these movies, you have to do some homework and familiar with what happened in the previous movies and with the characters. There is part of me that enjoys that, and another part of me that really doesn't. Sure it's cool to recognize little references here and there, but I still like when movies are able to be appealing to new audience members without being completely confusing. So just be weary of that if you give this Avengers sequel a shot. But if you are willing to hop on this roller coaster that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you're in for one hell of a ride. Quite an epic chapter in an even more epic story.