Some of the biggest weaknesses from the mostly great The Avengers have been reduced this time around. For example, with more screen time, more character importance, and an actual use of his code name, Hawkeye doesn't get nearly so shafted (no pun intended). The climactic battle doesn't feel quite so lacking in practical progress, nor does victory come at so little cost to the heroes. I think there's more cause for tender emotions.
But I must stop a little short of calling the latest sequel equal, let alone better. In particular, it has issues of pacing. A good chunk is either too fast or too slow, as evidenced by my dad sighing next to me. I suspect that the DVD will be loaded with deleted scenes or at least descriptions of planned moments. I almost wish director Joss Whedon threw in as much as he'd wanted, but 2.5 hours makes for a pretty uncomfortable sitting already. And you probably will prefer to see it in a theater.
Be warned: Just because it's a popcorn flick doesn't mean you can afford not to be alert. I've seen all previous films in the series, and it still taxed my brain to figure out some of the things going on. Here's a tip to get you started: The government agency SHIELD has been dissolved in light of its thorough infiltration by proto-Nazi organization Hydra. That explains why the Avengers are fighting an army again right from the start.
In truth, Hydra doesn't matter for long. It serves largely as a vehicle for introducing the "enhanced" twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, known to X-Men fans as mutants Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. In contrast to the X-Men: Days of Future Past incarnation of Quicksilver, this speed demon is hardly fun-loving or American. Like apparently many Eastern Europeans, they resent the contributions of high-tech weapon tycoon Tony "Iron Man" Stark, if not the Avengers as a whole (one of many aspects that could have used some elaboration). But you already know from the title that they're not the main villains either. Indeed, like in other appearances, they waver on the hero-villain spectrum.
Of course, some things never change. The Avengers still spend half their time in conflict with one another. The Hulk still has about an equal chance of menacing good guys rather than bad. And despite his genuinely heroic turn in TA, Iron Man keeps mainly cleaning up his own messes -- including the creation of Ultron under the telepathic influence of the Scarlet Witch. His idea was to make the team obsolete with a peacekeeping super robot, but clearly he hasn't seen enough sci-fi to realize what might happen. Neither has the Scarlet Witch, for that matter.
To be fair, Ultron is pretty surprising even to savvy viewers. Leave it to Stark to make a robot who doesn't talk or act much like one at all. Those pauses, those chuckles, those song excerpts, that pseudo-adolescent pettiness...Ultron would be pretty funny if he weren't so daunting. Believe me, anyone who gives himself multiple bodies and destroys one midsentence to make a point is fairly daunting.
Speaking of funny, Whedon has not abandoned his trademark sense of humor. Perhaps no moment is on par with the "puny god" scene of TA, but the audience gets chuckles now and then. Might I say that the stuffy Thor makes a good straight man.
On the subject of race, while this is the first entry to show all four black heroes to date in the series, I'm afraid they collectively form the new Hawkeye. Nick Fury doesn't appear until the third act. War Machine shows up late to the grand finale as backup. Falcon inexplicably doesn't even join him for air support. And Heimdall appears only as an undead nemesis in Thor's hallucinations.
Thankfully, that third act raises my overall opinion of the movie. That's when we really get what the fans of TA came for: one moment of awesome after another, neither too hectic nor too draggy, with a few somewhat innovative dynamics. It's enough to make you welcome Avengers: Infinity War, but you'll be content to wait another three years for it.
Oh yeah: You don't have to sit thru all the end credits this time. There's a mid-credits teaser, but it's not especially entertaining or informative, so don't feel too bad if you have to rush.
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