
Variety
If this is what the apotheosis of branded, big-studio entertainment has come to look like in 2015, we could be doing much worse... definitely has soul.
Full reviewWriter-director Joss Whedon returns to helm this sequel to Marvel's mega-hit, 2011's The Avengers. The 11th Marvel film, this time our heroes battle the sentient robot Ultron (James Spader).
When Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Ultron emerges with terrible plans. The Avengers' uneasey alliance must reassemble to restore balance.
Says Whedon: "I have to make my movie assuming that people will only have seen the first one, or possibly not even seen the first one. I can't assume that everybody went to see Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man in-between. I have to go from one movie to the next and be true to what's happened, but not be slavish to it... The model I'm always trying to build from, my guiding star, is The Godfather Part II where a ton has happened in-between... but you don't need any information: it's there in the film."
LessIf this is what the apotheosis of branded, big-studio entertainment has come to look like in 2015, we could be doing much worse... definitely has soul.
Full reviewFortunately Whedon understands how to craft a superhero movie just as well as Marvel knows how to sell one.
Full reviewWhedon has revealed that his first cut ran for well over three hours, and it shows: ‘Ultron’ feels excessively nipped and tucked, barrelling from one explosive set-piece to the next, leaving ideas half-formed and character motivations murky.
Full reviewThe follow-up to The Avengers may be the harbinger of a new deluge of superhero movies, but if all turn out as entertaining as this one, what’s the problem?
Full reviewA letdown -- entertaining to a degree, but so overstuffed that it may mark the point of diminishing returns for the Marvel movies generally.
Full reviewSucceeds in the top priority of creating a worthy opponent for its superheroes and giving the latter a few new things to do, but this time the action scenes don't always measure up.
Full reviewA big, bold, funny, thrilling, absorbing triumph, and continues Marvel Studios' seeming push for world cinematic domination.
Full reviewBigger and, yes, darker than the first, this is less air-punchingly gleeful but probably more consistent.
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