I'd hate to spoil the party, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is starting to run out of trick cards.
Criticizing Avengers: Age of Ultron is the equivalent of being one of those prick judges on Cutthroat Kitchen, insulting a cook for making a mediocre pasta when all they had was marinara sauce and expired noodles. Joss Whedon and friends pulled out all the necessary mayhem, entertainment, and joy of your usual MCU flick, so let's mention this before this turns into a massive review of disappointment. However it's becoming a bit more apparent that the intangibles holding back Marvel and Disney's potential is hindering the quality of the movies. It hurts to point out the elephant in the room, but after seeing the final scene you can't help but realize that clearly Hollywood and the Copyright shenanigans is hampering the franchise as a whole.
For those not truly knowledgeable of the subject, Marvel and Disney are restricted on who they can show (and for how long) and who can get their own spin-off movie. As of now, the true-true Avengers team assembling on screen is literally impossible. Fox, Sony, and Universal own cinematic Marvel properties and unless every film studio in California decide to drop the competition and hold hands, Whedon will be restricted on his vision of the Avengers and the current Marvel universe. He even has to change the origin stories of some of the characters because certain words can't even be used in this franchise of movies. Like a production version of mineweeper, you can avoid mines for only so long before you notice you're running out of space. Funny thing I mentioned this in my review for the original Avengers movie as well, although it wasn't as obvious back then.
The production value, writing, acting, humor, action, and attention to each of the characters has been spot-on lately, and Avengers: Age of Ultron is no exception. All the characters are back, and they remain just as entertaining and engaging as the original Avengers movie that overwhelmed audiences back in 2012. Iron Man and Hawkeye have all the great lines, Hulk and Thor has all the awesome kinetic energy, and Captain America remains our lovable heroic leader. Of course, a few other characters make nice cameo appearances, and others...well, we didn't really need them (one hero in particular was bizarrely underwhelming). Lastly, Ultron was quite a formidable foe, perfectly portrayed by James Spader.
But.....
There are no stakes to be raised. We all know the upcoming Marvel lineup for the next several years. We all know of their limited amount of cinematic resources. So with that we are presented with less surprises, less suspense, and less of the unpredictability factor that had been a major source of fun during the first phase of Marvel movies. The movie took off immediately without any sort of build-up because it knows why we are there: entertainment of the highest summer degree. But with sequel after sequel planned, the audience pretty much knows who is going to make it. What would keep us engaged would be if we saw any major left field surprises or unexpected turns. Because of the restrictions and because of the required schedule, there honestly was very little to be shocked at. It didn't have the ballsy shakeup of The Winter Soldier.
No movie built to predate upcoming chapters has ever felt complete (Dead Man's Chest anyone?). Avengers: Age of Ultron tries its best to disguise this but the inevitable is clear: punches were held back because they need to be saved for later installments. Marvel has to keep whatever remaining limited cards it has on its deck. Unlike DC which pretty much has all its eggs on the same basket, Marvel has to make incredible omelets using less eggs. And although you will enjoy this satisfying meal of comic book action, you'll notice the kitchen staff starting to sweat.
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