AGE OF ULTRON - HUGE SPOILERS!!
I cannot stress the above enough okay??!!
OK, so I've seen Age of Ultron and I'm going to tell you the good and the bad (in my own humble opinon):
I've been seeing a lot of hate directed towards Tony for creating this thing but I'd like to add that Bruce, whilst initially warning Tony it's probably a bad idea for all of two seconds, willingly helps him to do it!!
The one liners in this movie are great and I must say a lot of them go to Clint for a change although RDJ still gets plenty to work with "please be a secret door, please be a secret door....yay!" The part where Tony sees all the Avengers lying dead is horrible and the nail is hit on the head much later by mystery guest in the barn - It upset him so much because he didn't die along with them, hence the running theme throughout the movie of they fight, they fail, but they do it 'together'.
What I do not agree with in this movie is the turning of Natasha from a hero to a damsel in distress in the space of two hours - she is not the Natasha I've been used to and seems to go all mushy for Banner far too easily. The part where they both jump over the bar and his face lands in her cleavage is not something I would expect to see in a Marvel movie, it's cheap quite honestly and hardly anyone in the cinema I was in laughed at it. Her whole part just seemed to be a stretch after everything she's done to date and she's worth more than cheap laughs. It appears Whedon's idea of feminism is very different to mine. Also, as I ranted to my friend on the way out, at one stage she is put in a cell by Ultron and after morse coding Clint to pick her up she proceeds to just sit there. Barton, Romanoff, they never have an extraction plan so why would she just wait for the menfolk to rescue her? Now I'm sorry but really Joss? That is not her style and what follows when Banner comes to get her out is something I don't even want to discuss....
Don't even get me started on Banner because although I think Mark Ruffalo is the best Hulk there has been it gets a bit much when every movie after he changes back he's still so affected by it. I know he doesn't like to think he's caused the loss of innocent lives but if he's consented to go 'Code Green' then he should be better prepared for the consequences. That being said, Veronica rules (I won't spoil that for you at least!).
I feel like Thor is on the sidelines a lot here and although the vision he had seems to be setting up Thor 3 (and the part with him destroying Clint's child's lego accidentally and then kicking it under the table trying to look innocent was hilarious) he doesn't have much to do.
I do feel a bit sorry for Tony throughout because he's clearly not entirely over his issues as highlighted in Iron Man 3 and his fears are used against him in the worst way. There are some lighter moments as usual but I really don't see how he and Cap are going to go to war when they practically french kiss goodbye at the end! The Cap is as always the Cap and goes so far to acknowledge that since he was...um defrosted?...he's entirely different from the man he was. His vision, in which he dances with Peggy for all of two seconds, actually broke my heart and I shed a little tear (thank goodness cinemas are dark and I was wearing 3D glasses!). Sidebar Hayley Atwell looked beautiful!!
Paul Bettany totally nailed it as the Vision, he did at times seem to be a new born seeing the world for the first time. As he confronts the last Ultron he admits that humans are not perfect but it doesn't mean they are a lost cause. For me he was one of the best things about the film.
I liked the twins and was a bit annoyed when Quicksilver died although I think that Wanda knocked it out of the park. She certainly filled in for Natasha as the strong female of the group as did Maria Hill, whose presence is always welcome and brilliant.
And now for the main man....Clint Barton. From the start of the movie he got most of the best lines and his little rant to himself about Quicksilver "no one would know.." was so funny. I was initially unsure about the whole wife & kids set up but it actually makes a lot of sense in the way that Renner plays him. He is caring, thoughtful and is very much the human heart of the team. As we see after the first battle he's not invincible and when he gives the Scarlett Witch her little pep talk it's very much like a father to a child. Also the 'bromance' between him and Natasha and by extension with his wife and kids and Natasha is quite nice. They both unequivocally say they are each other's best friends several times and she and Laura appear to be good friends which is better than them being at odds which would have been a total 'dick move' on Joss's part (but I still ship Clintasha and always will!!)
In short I did love the movie it really was great and the action sequences as always were top drawer, I just felt let down by the apparent change of Natasha's personality and the sudden appearance of a family for Clint. It makes the fact that she wore an arrow necklace for the entirety of Cap 2 totally irrelevant. By the way I was at a special screening where we watched the first Avengers movie, followed by Cap 2 and then Age of Ultron back to back. Seeing Cap 2 again reminded me of the difference between the Russo's and Joss Whedon and hopefully they can make the upcoming movies even better.