Any reviews?

Not a full review, but I dig it.  It's kind of easy to take it for granted because what Marvel has been doing is so steady, but those guys have managed to bring the serial, intersecting-universe nature of superhero comics and bring it to the big screen in a way where the individual movies are very satisfying themselves.  That it's slick and the action is well-balanced between destruction and rescue doesn't hurt, either.

It's kind of unfortunate they're losing Joss Whedon after this; as much as he's apparently tired of working on these massive things that aren't really yours, there aren't many people with the ability to co-ordinate this sort of multi-threaded storytelling out there (Warner Brothers appears to need a guy like that for their DC movies desperately), and there aren't many places where he'll be able to use that skill-set without just being a hired hand.

AVENGERS: THE AGE OF ULTRON is plenty mediocre all by itself. But, seeing it within a couple of days of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD made it look even more like a dull retread.

Right from the first scene, the "exciting battle" is full of the kind of cartoonish CGI that is such an anathema to those with any sense of realism or proportion (which George Miller destroys with his real world stunts). And, really, what the @#$# is it with the Avengers spinning and twirling when they fight villains? Does doing a sommersault in mid-air really confuse their enemies? And, why do Black Widow and Hawkeye have the seeming ablility of flight even though they are supposed to be the 'down to earth' Avengers without magical powers?

I know, I know. You're not supposed to ask such mundane questions and just "check your brain at the box office and enjoy it". But, after all these superhero flicks, not to mention the enormous resources devoted to them, isn't it about time that Marvel ups their game, and not resort to their characters just strutting, posing and tossing out quips? If Joss Whedon never makes a genre movie again, it will be NO loss whatsoever.

As to the "plot", it's pretty standard issue stuff, which boils down to the Avengers having to set aside their issues and join together to save humanity - again. For a little while, it looks like ULTRON will spend a few precious moments to develop a COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT-like theme of creating opposing World Defense superstructures. But, it's tossed aside way too quickly in order to have more posing, strutting and uttering of "witty" banter. And, did we really need to see the Avengers all assemble into a circle as they battle the baddies one more time? It looks like a superhero circle jerk.

To give it some credit, a few moments are given over to showing a more normal human side with the Hawkeye homestead sequence, but, it just makes the contrast all the more jarring between something resembling the real world versus the utterly phoney CGI landscapes of the bulk of the movie. Elizabeth Olson's Scarlet Witch isn't a bad addition, but, Spader's Ultron just looks like a slightly more organic Iron Man.

The "Marvel Universe" has devolved into the most expensive TV series ever created. And, the Avengers flicks are like the big Season Ending episodes where they all come together before splintering off into next season's sequels, reboots and origin episodes. And, then, inevitably, there will be AVENGERS III: Even More Strutting, Posing and Quips