Marvel does sequels very well. In my opinion, both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, while good movies, were weak. Their sequels, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, were much stronger movies and a great deal better. I think part of the reason is the first movies were introducing the characters so we had no attachment to them yet, while in the sequels we already knew the characters and loved them. However, The Avengers was strong from the beginning because we knew the characters from their individual movies. Now we get to see them interact with each other. All that being said, Age of Ultron was just as good as the first Avengers, if not better.
A little recap for those who may not know what the movie is about. And there will be spoilers. The movie begins with the Avengers attacking a base where they believe Loki's scepter is. The first scene is awesome. I love the action right off the bat, although I did wonder how they all came to be together from where we last left them individually. They retrieve the scepter and Tony realizes he can use it to create artificial intelligence. He and Bruce work on the "Ultron" program (science bros, which is totally awesome and adorable). They think it's not working but it accidentally does and Ultron "wakes" up with a twisted sense of peace. He believes the Avengers must be destroyed because they are not peaceful (he's not entirely wrong but it begs the question of good and evil). Ultron builds a robot army and they all share a single consciousness so you can't kill one body and kill Ultron. Ultron also tries to create a new body for himself, but the Avengers steal it and attempt to put J.A.R.V.I.S. consciousness inside the body. They succeed thanks to Thor, who realized that Loki's scepter held one of the Infinity stones and it was being used to create the body. The Vision, as they name him, says he is on the side of life and agrees to help them defeat Ultron. Obviously, they manage to and save the world.
Now, I left out several major details in that summary because I want to fully discuss a few things. First, I have a really girly moment that I need to get out of the way. Although I love these movies for many reasons, I will admit that the attractive men do help. And goodness, the biceps and Thor's hair. I love it. Moving on, I continue to love the chemistry of the team. They play off each other so well and I adore it. Part of it is Joss Whedon's writing and brilliance, but it's also the actors and how well they interact with each other. For example, the after party in the beginning. You probably saw parts of it in the advertising, where they all try to lift Thor's hammer. The way they tease and goad each other is great. I loved Thor's face when Steve tried to lift the hammer, because he was able to move it just a little. Thor lost his cockiness for a second there. Speaking of lifting the hammer, the laughing that went on when the Vision was able to lift the hammer. If the Avengers needed a sign that the Vision wasn't a threat, that is certainly a good one.
As for the other new characters, I love Scarlet Witch/Wanda and Quicksilver/Pietro. The twins are great. And they did a good job changing their backstory to allow them to be in the movie. As mutants, Marvel and Disney do not "own" Wanda and Pietro, but they are still a part of the Avengers. So the storyline was just twisted to give them powers and allow them to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really like Wanda. She may be one of my new favorites. And I loved how Clint didn't even give her a chance to mess with his head. He was not about to deal with more mind control. As for the visions Wanda creates, Natasha's may have been my favorite. I was very excited to see more of her backstory as she is such a mystery. It was very intense but I really enjoyed seeing a glimpse into her past.
One of the biggest surprises was learning about Clint's family. Yeah, he's married with two kids and a third on the way. Didn't see that coming. Age of Ultron really gave us a chance to learn more about Clint and see who he is. Plus, in the middle of the battle he is giving Wanda a pep talk and basically tells her "None of this makes sense. We're fighting robots and I have a bow." Regardless, Clint rocks and he's certainly a very sassy character, which is wonderful. The other major surprise dealt with Clint as well. Whedon definitely set the movie up to make you believe that Clint was going to die somewhere in the movie. Instead, Pietro dies while saving Clint. It was very upsetting and Wanda was certainly not happy about it. It should be interesting to see how she continues to handle his death (if he stays dead because it's Marvel). As for other dead people, Fury made an appearance but not Coulson, and I really want to know if the Avengers know he's alive.
Last couple things. I continue to find the new version of "I've Got No Strings" very creepy but I kind of like it. As for the ending, Tony, Clint, Thor, and Bruce have gone their own ways. Steve and Natasha are helping create the new Avengers, which is an exciting prospect. You see them enter a training area, where The Vision, Wanda, War Machine, and The Falcon are waiting for them. I'm interested to see where it's going to lead. We know Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok are both coming, which are certainly going to shake things up. And Infinity War is not going to be a picnic. Which reminds me, Thor mentions before he leaves that four of the Infinity stones have been found. Two more are needed for the Infinity gauntlet. In case you, like me, couldn't remember all the Infinity stones found, they are Loki's scepter/Vision's headpiece, the Orb from Guardian's of the Galaxy, the Tesseract, and the Aether.
I can already say that Age of Ultron is going to be one of my favorite movies this year. It was funny, action-packed, and pulled on your heartstrings just enough to make a truly good movie. I definitely recommend seeing it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
