Walking into this movie you know your predestined to like it. Just like the first Avengers flick it kicks off the summer with a blast that flips the bird to all other major blockbusters in it's way screaming, "Top that! "Honestly it is going to be hard to top. I can't help but feel though this flick is more for the geeks and less for the masses.
We start off with an Avengers assault on the fortress of Baron Von Strucker, first appearing in the end credits scene of Winter Soldier along with new Avengers Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth the good Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Kick-Ass nerd cred but also dreamy Johnson). No the word "Miracles" is not used to describe them, they are simply known as the twins. This opening scene is amazingly done and showcases what an structured team the Avengers have become, each action with fluidity and reason, showing Captain America's leadership skills. Good action should always inform the story and this opening sequence tells us these people have worked very closely and hard to become the perfect team together. Of course with director Joss Whedon there's still time for jokes, such as the running gag of the team making fun of cap for reprimanding them for bad language! The Meme assault has already begun! 
I have only one problem with the opening. The end of Iron Man 3, Tony Stark blows up his suits and tells Pepper he's done. We haven't seen or heard of Tony since, but all of a sudden he's got his new suit and is kicking ass again! Minor complaint but the opening is so breathtaking you just kind of shrug your shoulders and move on with the flick. The movie progresses rather quickly as we see Tony working with Dr. Banner using alien tech found in Struckor's lab to create their peace keeping Ultron program. Which is semi set up as we see Tony has developed suits to play crowd control while the Avengers fight the baddies. The foreign countries highly dislike this peace keeping team of Stark bots, seems like a nice lead into Civil War. Still it kind of goes against his revelations and conquering of his paranoia in IM3, but it seems we're scrapping those ideas for the sake of this story. Ultron becomes self aware and goes insane by developing a machine that will destroy all human life!
We see the return of War Machine (Don Cheadle) and the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) for at least one great performance and sadly a very small cameo. I wish Anthony Mackie had more screen time, but it seems he was thrown in for a throwaway line to explain why Cap is no longer looking for Bucky. War Machine gets called in for some aerial action giving us some great scenes showcasing his skills with his suit.
Now for the new Avengers on the block! We of course have Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, but by far my favorite addition to the roster is the Vision played by Paul Bettany. Being a huge horror geek I am a sucker for practical FX Makeup and besides his cape, Joss Whedon had Paul Bettany decked out head to toe in a costume; including face makeup! Knowing this character was going to show up, I sat through a good chunk of the movie wondering how they were going to introduce him without just throwing him in out of nowhere. I will say it is done rather integrally to the plot and the quick build of his character within the movie has easily been set up since the first Iron Man movie. Full nerdgasm moment? He uses his beam alongside Iron Man and Thor to take somebody down. Definite chills down the spine.
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have decent screen time, but just don't have as much of a chance to be fleshed out. The big detriment for them is Vision being set up like an old friend over several movies while before this all we had for them was a cameo. The other problem is Fox beat Marvel to the punch with Quicksilver and honestly they did him better. Visually and creatively Quicksilver's powers are more stimulating and fun in Days of a Future past then in Age of Ultron. Ms. Olsen does scratch the surface of her comic counterpart, showing all of Scarlet Witch's odd quirks and at one point a great extent of her power. Nice set up for possible stories to come. Including a small nod to her falling for Vision with a simple rescue!
Ultron himself is very much his comic counterpart and more. While at times in the older comics his dialogue could be as trivial as the Daleks in Dr. Who, here he has been Whedoned! Given Whedon's love of Villains, Ultron's dialogue is beefed up with very dark humor. A worthy villain, but I feel we were only introduced to what he could fully be as his rise and evolution was very quick.
This movie is a good chunk of what we've hoped for. There is talk of almost an hour being cut out of the movie which would explain certain set ups and story lines that seemed a bit unfinished. Then there's Joss Whedon himself. This being his alleged last film in the Marvel cinematic universe, Whedon has to be Joss Whedon. Cue Jar Jar Binks, "Is some people gonna die?" Yes Jar Jar, two characters get Whedon Whacked Godfather style. This infuriated me to no end as the characters chosen to be killed have no reason to be killed from a franchise perspective, but I'll let you guys decide if you think Whedon has finally gone too "I'm a nerd god" far.
Visually pleasing action filled movie with a lot of story lines up in the air to set up other films or story that you need to go back and watch in previous films to understand. Some parts also require a little comic knowledge as well, but I wonder if that was all set up in the footage cut due to the films running time? This is why I believe this film in particular to be trying for the geek crowd more so than usual, but as shown with Guardians and this films box office thus far, go with the geek and the film the masses will also seek! I had a great time either way and only had minor issues that as a fanboy I forgot very quickly. I give Age of Ultron four bad words out of five! Cap's gonna be pissed!
