Avengers: Age of Ultron (A:AOU)

I think The Hulk is my favourite character in The Avengers.

So right from the outset you might suspect I love big, dumb things that make a lot of commotion.

And Age of Ultron may look dumb on the surface – a bunch of now-familiar superheroes zipping about saving a world in peril, but there’s enormous smarts in this second installment of the comic book collective that broke box office records on release in 2012.

Threading together the vastly populated Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way that makes sense for first time viewers, while being true to the original comic book fans is no easy task.

Director Joss Whedon himself says of the film in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly – “Is it perfect? It is not. Is it me? It’s so baldly, nakedly me. To do something that is as personal as this movie is – on that budget, for a studio that needs a summer tentpole – is an extraordinary privilege.”

And it is also a gift for the planet’s multiplexes, and popcorn loving thrill seekers.

Kicking off with a Bond-like action sequence that demonstrates the Avengers superlative power when working together as a team, one of their members takes a hit and cracks begin to emerge amongst the ranks.

“This is the age of miracles, Doctor. And there’s nothing more horrifying than a miracle.” So says Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where we first laid eyes on twin characters Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), two of the new adversaries facing off against The Avengers.

They join “Ultron” an artificial intelligence hybrid of Tony Stark, his computer servant Jarvis, and every filmmakers worst nightmare since Skynet in Terminator. Naturally Ultorn determines that it’s the human race that poses the greatest threat to the planet and so embarks on a somewhat ambitious plan to… um… end the human race.

At a time in history when nary a civilian can detach themselves from their mobile devices, the very notion that “THE MACHINES ARE TAKING OVER!!” could not be more relevant.

A:AOU is like a football sized piece of confectionary. For some it will be the sweetest thing they see this year. That’s me. For others it will be hard to swallow.

It’s corny, cheesy and camp as hell. And, like staying up all night eating nachos in a tent watching the stars, it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

4 Stars.