Avengers: Age of Ultron - What I liked and didn't like (somewhat spoiler-free)

The Avengers don't roll ... they fly

Just got back from watching Avengers: Age of Ultron. Of course, I had to pay extra for:

• The IMAX experience.
• 3D (something I can't experience at home, since 3D flat-screen TVs fell out of style)
• Movie popcorn and Cola Icee.

Cause if I'm going to see a movie in the theaters these days, it had better be a really good movie, and it had better be worth going all-in with the movie theater experience.

And the Avengers did not disappoint.

What I liked about Avengers 2 ...

Didn't see that one coming ...

• Quicksilver: Yes, we've all seen the same character in that memorable scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past. How do you beat that? You don't. Instead, you cover ground that X-Men did not, which is Quicksilver's character development. And of course, you give him more screen time, which means many more opportunities to see him zip back-n-forth in epic fashion.

The ultimate fangirl

• Scarlet Witch: Along with her twin brother Quicksilver, her characterization and background almost defines what it means to truly "avenge." Sounds cliche, but this is the magic of The Avengers and how they can take familiar themes and work them into something amazing.

Cool under pressure

• Hawkeye: IIRC, Jeremy Renner wanted his character to play a more prominent role in Avengers 2, given that in the first movie Hawkeye spent half of it brainwashed. Wish granted. His character serves as an important foundation of morale, something that serves as a wonderful anchor in the midst of the team's usual internal squabbles.

The classic Hawkeye look

(By the way, Jeremy Renner can be credited for single-handedly redefining the look of the character Hawkeye even in the comic books, from the cheesy purple-masked costume to the modern black leather.)

The modern Hawkeye look. Total bad-ass.

The hammer budges ever so slightly for Captain America. Nice subtlety.

• The game of "Who can lift Thor's Hammer." Even though it was already in one of the trailers, I don't think that clip will get old.

Perhaps my favorite scene of all the Spider-man movies.

• The classic runaway train scene. Just like in Spider-man 2, stopping a runaway train is a rite of passage for every superhero, and this movie is no exception.

These guys could reinvent physics if God allowed them to.

• The chemistry between two geniuses: It's fun to see Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner working together, even if sometimes they come dangerously close to playing God. Although their personalities are very different, they can somehow feel each other out in an intellectual manner, which is something I can truly identify with.

• "We're not a team. We're a time bomb." The same theme is applied to this movie as in the previous one, and it works just as well. I love how putting together a band of misfits with special abilities is like mixing chemicals together and creating a very volatile compound.

From Superman Returns

• The final battle. Good Lord, that was one climactic fight. Even Superman would have had a rough time with that battle, which should tell you what kind of impossible odds the Avengers had to face. And yes, compared to the final battle in the first Avengers, this one was even hairier.

The Infinity Stones. Speaking of playing God ...

• The Marvel Universe references: It wouldn't be a Marvel movie without references to future projects, and there were several in this movie. I'll only cite one example to keep this review spoiler-free, which is the expansion of the story behind the Infinity Stones. I love how Marvel continually slow-plays this hand toward something that has ever-increasing returns on investment.

What I thought could have been improved

There are no strings on me. And I don't have a nose to grow ...

• Ultron: The villain was a real jackass, to be sure, but he didn't quite measure up to Loki in terms of screen presence. I guess it's hard to CG-render a robot that matches up to the acting skills of Tom Hiddleston. Still, Ultron felt more like a computer program that needed to be "debugged" rather than a purely evil force that must be vanquished. Hence I didn't get that same satisfying feeling as I did when poor Loki was flopped around by the Hulk in the first movie ...

Conquer humanity, they said. It'd be easy, they said. Poor guy ...

No, this isn't a plot hole. Just a filler image that illustrates how the action tried to make up for said holes.

• Some large plot holes and inconsistencies. Some of these gaps are understandable given that this movie was already packing so much into two and a half hours, but the inconsistencies are somewhat hard to swallow. (Once again, to keep things spoiler-free, I won't discuss any of them, but you can Google them yourself.)

Imagine having to read all of these comic books in one sitting ...

• A little too much content to swallow in one serving. Yeah, this is the Avengers, which is Marvel Studios' flagship franchise, so of course they're going to throw everything but the kitchen sink into this movie. But I think they could have made just as good of a movie, if not a movie that has more even pacing, if they cut down on the content just a little. As of now, I feel like the needle is starting to point toward overload, and I hope Marvel realizes this for future films.

But still, go see this movie ...

Overall, this is an excellent movie and a must-see for anyone who is even remotely following the whole Marvel Studios universe.

My score: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)