Embrace your creed

It is as Advertised 

I'm, sort of, done with my bashing movie days.  That little space of anger is reserved for local movies.  From the get-go, Avengers 2 was promoted as a box office hit you cannot miss.  So, to expect great engaging storytelling would be silly.  Plus, I've been updating myself with recent Marvel comics and seriously, this movie really embodies today's capitalized spectacle of Marvel Comics; setting up premises for multiple characters while showcasing dynamic imagery.  Hey, it is what it is and it was fun.  It definitely has some effort in story rather than majority of Box Office Spectacles. 

Visual Characterization 

Unlike the first one, Age of Ultron showcases more of the Avenger's background and interestingly, it was done visually.  The character's fears and weakness was shown through hallucinations of the past, present and future; indicating much effort and love for storytelling.  Yes, this is the way of directing a box office movie; show don't tell.  Better yet, they were shown with basic but essential action-based scenes; of the characters doing and reacting towards their hallucinations and not just talk.  I feel like this needs to be justified as a few of reviews I've read lately really didn't understand this.  Heck, I'm not even sure if they were real Marvel Fans (Excuse my fanboy rage)

Set Ups

Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for their stingers and set ups for other titles.  Believe it or not, it's been 4 years since the first Avengers...wow.  And since then, most post Avengers titles didn't lived up to it's hype.  Yep, this is the down side of the movie.  There were too many set ups and too many characters to juggle.  It didn't click into one theme.  It felt like it was suppose to be about Artificial Beings who transcends to God-like entities (Ultron and The Vision).  But the respective Avenger's screen time really didn't compliment this as much.  Obviously, Tony Stark is the main man and his weakness, yet again, sparks the conflict of the story.  If it was really Iron Man vs Ultron, the theme may have seemed more bright.  But with Hawkeye's family, Black Widow's past, Bruce Banner's insecurities, Thor's responsibilities and Steve Roger's man out of time story...it didn't shine enough.  All of these character stories are awesome--with Hulk being my favorite in the movie--but they just didn't focus on the potential theme.  Sadly, this also applies to their respective titles with Captain America being most unfaithful to his theme.  C'mon, a man out of time sounds like an awesome story! 

Cartoon-ish

When the Avengers were in their jet, I was like "Oh, just like in the cartoons"; a subtle hint of what can you expect from the movie.  Then, Stark's towers has officially turned to Avenger's tower; officially making the team a brand both in the movie and outside.  Then, Ultron's birth from A.I to physical form just confirms it.  The movie is cartoon-ish; solving events that questions science and sanity quickly and without grounded explanation.  But I understood how The Avengers were never The X-Men; engaging themes that have some significant weight was never their forte.  At least, they maintained Hulk's character.  It has been a bother for me when the cartoons decides to conveniently make Hulk smart enough to talk and willingly able to change back to Bruce Banner.  Hence, why his story was my favorite in the movie.

Other Geeky-moments

The scene at Wakanda was awesome! Not just the fight between Veronica and Hulk but also the awesome set up for Black Panther's home.  Yes, this is one build up that sparked excitement.  I love the ideology behind Wakanda; a fictional country that answers "What would happen if third world countries was never conquered by the West for their resources?"  Wakandan's attire is an awesome visual representation of this ideology; clothes that are untouched by western clothes.  But the movie didn't highlight this as much.  First, the country looks like any other African countries (Reminded me of Neil Blomkamp's films) and most importantly, there were illegal Vibranium refineries.  Vibranium is much sacred and much protected by Wakanda.  I do hope they maintain the theme of Black Panther in his movie.

Verdict

The final set up, though seem interesting, didn't excited me as I'm tired of being let down with their movies.  Plus, the Maximoff's acting was just terrible and I'm very easy to be satisfied with acting.  Avengers Age of Ultron earns an okay 3/5 for it's care towards the characters but falls victim to the box-office demands which I don't think they'll change anytime soon.  And that's fine by me.  Joss Whedon, you truly are a comic book geek.  Thank you.