Avengers: Age of Ultron - The Perfect Summer Vacation Movie

Perhaps the expectations on the Avengers' sequel was so high that whatever they had done would have not satisfied us. Perhaps the Marvel movies of late have consistently set the bar so high with super movies such as 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Captain America: Winter Soldier' over the last couple of years that the biggest ensemble of them all would have great expectations. The thing with Marvel movies is that, they have a habit of bettering expectations. Do they achieve the same with 'Avengers - Age of Ultron'? Read on to find out.

First things first, if you have to assemble the Avengers, you need a threat so big. And this is a sequel, so aliens coming in from other galaxy as in the first part need to be bettered. Do they? No, actually, the threat comes from within. It is of their own making. Tony Stark fiddles with an Artificial Intelligence (Ultron) - found in the gem inside Loki's scepter - which with some twisted logic wakes up and decides that the best thing for this world is for mankind to be decimated.

The first set of people standing between word destruction are the Avengers and so, Ultron decides to build an army that would decimate the world and so it goes around for the one element that would be indestructible: Vibranium (yes, the one that Captain America's shield is made of). He also uses the synthetic tissue generation technology of a doctor Helen Cho and tries to upload himself to a body created with the sceptre's gem. However, he is stopped in the process and the body is made to occupy JARVIS by Tony Stark, giving rise to Vision (Paul Bettany). So, whether the avengers coupled with the Vision manage to defeat the nefarious plans of Ultron is what the story is all about. 

There are a few new additions to the cast such as Quicksilver (Aaron-Taylor Jhonson) - a Flash inspired character who can well, run fast and Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson) who can control minds. They are initially seeking revenge against the Avengers and especially Tony Stark, whom they blame for destroying their family. Their presence adds a different dimension to the Avengers ensemble and they surprisingly find their own in a rather star studded movie.

While there is ample fun and frolic among the Avengers - the butt of their jokes often being Thor ("..if I place this hammer in an elevator and it goes up, then the elevator is worthy enough") and the Hulk ("...just roll over and show your belly when somebody snarls?"), there is a serious element of lightness even to Ultron. He is made from Stark's vision alright, but there is an element of Stark's sarcasm and nonchalance to Ultron that you often feel that the AI isn't all so serious. Simply put, the antagonist here isn't menacing enough. Sure, Loki wasn't the terminator reincarnate, but when needed, he was dead serious. Ultron just doesn't command so much fear.

Another thing that fails to work big time is the romance between Bruce Banner and Natasha Romaoff. True, the beauty and the beast is a wonderful concept and it brings a lot of emotions to the screen, but the blossoming and the acceptance of the romance in this already stars-everywhere-gasping-for-screen-presence movie is so huge that it doesn't fit in properly. 

While that would sum up the "What doesn't work" part, what works is absolutely everything else. The length is 142 minutes but it doesn't show, at all. The CGI is unbelievable and 3D technology has been put to excellent use in most scenes. The screenplay and dialogues are exhilarating: there are so many witty and sarcastic quotable quotes that you are bound to crack up every other scene.

It's heartening to see the characters such as Black Widow and Hawkeye get more screen presence and character development since they have no movies of their own. There are also surprising cameos here and there that would delight the ardent fans. To sum it up, kids will love it, fanboys will drool over it and the rest will definitely enjoy, for a few minor plot holes. Joss Whedon, take a bow!

Overall, Avengers is the movie to watch out for this Summer and I would be surprised if any other Hollywood movie can come close to it till Batman Vs Superman comes up next year.