AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (SPOILER-FREE) REVIEW

What Is It: Avengers: Age of Ultron is the second to last film in Phase II of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We see the Avengers battling against Hydra in a post-SHIELD world for the first time on film, as well as the introduction of a few new characters: Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and Vision (Paul Bettany).  The main showdown of the film is between the Avengers and the villainous AI Ultron (James Spader).  Ultron was created through a combination of Tony Stark's Ultron global defense initiative and the artificial intelligence Stark and Bruce Banner discovered in the crystal of Loki's scepter.

My experience: I saw it on a Friday afternoon it's first full day in theaters in the US.  The theater was moderately crowded and frankly did not seem too enamored with the whole affair.  Most seemed like it was a check mark on their to do list.  Unfortunately, at times that was what it felt like the filmmakers were doing.

It is an overall enjoyable film.  The visuals are incredible and there isn't a bad actor in the bunch.  It's actually some of the smaller roles that shine the most, notably Don Cheadle as Rhodey.  But after Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, the film felt weak for what should be the crown jewel of Phase II.  It didn't really do anything to radically change the universe (like CA:TWS) or show us something incredible we'd never seen before (GotG).  It was more of a monster of the week type film, and it wasn't a great monster.

Why You Should See It: You can't really skip any film if you're in love with MCU.  And the film does have it's moments where you can see the civil war that is to come.  Most of the issues I have with the film are things I'm willing to see play out in future films before I come to my final judgement.  So it is still a film you should see and you'll probably enjoy.

The Future: The final film of Phase II is Ant-Man (July 17).  Then comes the highly anticipated Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016), which will mark the beginning of the Russo brothers taking over the MCU from Joss Whedon.