AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Starring: A lot of people - come on, you must you know who most of them are by now
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Joss Whedon

When Tony Stark attempts to resurrect an artificial intelligence peacekeeping program, things go badly wrong and the Avengers have to battle both villainous "murderbot" Ultron and genetically enhanced human sidekicks Pietro and Wanda Maximoff aka Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen respectively). The fate of the Earth is at stake, all human life as we know it will cease to exist, and so on.

The second Avengers movie turns out to be not quite as cohesive as its predecessor by virtue of the facts that 1) there's a whole chunk of stuff going on storywise (with plenty of references back to previous movies in the Marvel Universe) and 2) there are so many major characters vying for space that the pacing inevitably suffers as a result. That said, it's still an hugely enjoyable sequel and Joss Whedon just about manages to keep all of the plot plates spinning without giving the audience a major brainache.

In the interest of writing a spoiler-free review, let me tell you that the major plot development involving....ah, just kidding, people. This is, as you'd expect, big, loud and stuffed to bursting with action. Buildings fall. Vehicles are tossed around. Lots of things explode. Much fighting ensues. Inordinate amounts of CGI are rendered and digital artists are kept very busy indeed.

However, in amongst the crash-thump-boom of the general proceedings Whedon does at least attempt to give his characters a little more backstory in case you're weary of watching wave upon wave of bad guys being clobbered. As usual, Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanov - Black Widow - continues to be the most interesting of the group by a long chalk and her character arc is the most affecting here. Similar attempts to inject some life into the character of Hawkeye are not quite as successful. Jeremy Renner, an actor I like, does the absolute best he can but the Avengers' resident archer is, how can I put it, a wee bit on the dull side. He's good at shooting arrows. He's very, very good at shooting arrows. And....er....

As for the new kids on the block, Taylor-Johnson brings a reasonable amount of youthful swagger to Quicksilver but I'm still drawn to Evan Peters' portrayal of the same character in X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Olsen lingers more in the memory as Scarlet Witch but then again she has the more interesting powers of the two and an intriguingly unhinged look in her eyes for most of the flick. If she'd been studying at the same University as me I'd have fallen for her on the spot. What can I say, I didn't always make the best choices back then. Anyhoo...

The rest of the old guard are reliably on form, I'm delighted to say. Robert Downey Jr. is never anything less than rollicking good fun as Tony Stark, even when he realises he's inadvertently created a robot than thinks the only way to solve the issue of human beings going to war is to make those human beings extinct. Mark Ruffalo gets to do some soul-searching and some senseless destruction as Bruce Banner/The Hulk and Chris Evans gets to cut loose as Captain America, going unexpectedly feral on everyone's ass....nah, he doesn't, he's as straight-laced as ever.

So to Thor. If you're a Thor fan, you might feel a bit short-changed here. It's not like Chris Hemsworth's Norse God is relegated to being a bit player here but he's not given all that much to do other than hit people, spout the odd bit of Asgardian wisdom and have his hammer be the subject of a running gag (though, arguably, it's the best gag in the movie). As the Big Bad in the movie, James Spader fares much better. His Ultron is a terrific creation, completely psychotic and yet somehow charmingly witty with it. The film is generally at its best when he's around and he provides a worthy adversary to our band of heroes. Also, as you'd expect, Whedon's script is peppered with snappy little exchanges as the Avengers bicker and take the piss out of each other like a close-knit team would.

So, is this the best Marvel movie so far? Well, no, it almost certainly isn't but what "Ultron" does manage to do - and do very well indeed - is to give us a densely populated and entertaining escapade which develops the ongoing story and its characters in a pleasing way whilst not skimping in any way on the extended action set-pieces. Note to the film-makers: Can we have a Black Widow movie? Please?