We have seen that it is very difficult for any sequel to live up to its predecessor, and Age of Ultron is not an exception. Having said that it is still an awesome flick and ticks all the check boxes around what we expect from a comic book superhero franchise.
With Age of Ultron Marvel marks completion of its phase 2 of the costume soldiers that started off with an amazing Iron Man 3 to the decent Thor 2 : the Dark World and the unexpectedly superb Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Director Joss Whedon assembles the Earth’s mightiest heroes one more time and puts them onto a mission to save mankind.
The movie opens with a spectacular battle sequence where the Avengers have attacked a suspected Hydra hideout. The team led by Captain America (Chris Evans) with Iron Man (Robert Downy Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) raid the outpost and recover Loki’s Sceptor.
However, prior to that they were engaged by a duo of twin brother and sister with super human capabilities. The boy Pietro is superfast and the girl Wanda can manipulate one’s mind. The duo escapes from the scene.
Tony takes the scepter to complete his artificially intelligent defense program ‘Ultron’, along with Bruce Banner. The project turns hostile and Ultron destroys the friendly AI associate J.A.R.V.I.S. It attacks the Avengers and escapes the facility. Ultron is later supported by the Maximoff twins in attempt to destroy the Avengers.
The rest of the movie is about how the Avengers resolve their inner conflicts as well as the major threat to humanity posed by their own creation.
Whedon uses the same tricks as in the previous outing, to keep us hooked to the screens. There are a plenty of one liners. The action sequences are bigger and better and way too much than the first part. The novelty if of course seems missing as I was expecting this one to set new levels in terms of the story telling.
The family back stories and the romance between two leading characters is a bit misplaced but probably required to ground the comic fantasy onto the real world and make the audience relate to it.
And then there is Nick Fury who is there to provide guidance to the team when it is needed.
The party scene where your heroes play ‘who picks up Mjolnir(Thor’s hammer)?’ is pure fun and the surprise added character around the climax is exciting.
Nevertheless you will have a good time watching this one, action might just exhaust you but as fans we really want that, don’t we? Watch it for action and superhero comic fun.
