Avengers Assemble! I couldn’t call myself a film critic if I missed out on this.

What’s It About? When Tony Stark’s latest AI creation goes rogue and constructs a homicidal robot army, only the combined efforts of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes can save the day.

STRAIGHT UP: The WrestleMania of superhero films. That’s mostly a compliment. 9/10

What I Liked

James Spader as Ultron – Marvel movies never have good villains, they said. Well, here’s a good one.

Smooth and steady action – Once again, it’s impressive that action this big can be filmed in such a visually comprehensible fashion.

A more balanced cast – Although Age of Ultron crams even more characters into its run time than the first movie, it’s better about giving them all an equal chance to shine. Instead of leaving the heavy lifting to Hulk and Iron Man like last time, the screenwriters make an effort to give every Avenger a signature scene.

The core defense scene – Right here, someone finally succeeded in creating the motion-picture equivalent of a comic-book splash panel.

Save ALL the people! – Captain America and co. make such a point of rescuing citizens and reducing casualties that it’s hard not to read it as a direct rebuttal to the competition’s approach in Man of Steel – and I love it. If I were a kid, these are the kind of heroes I would look up to and trust to protect me.

The Vision – The payoff for this character was fantastic. In my theater, a key scene featuring him and Thor drew gasps and cheers.

The Hulkbuster Armor – This was the thing I was most excited to see in the movie, and its big moment did not disappoint.

Earth’s Prettiest Heroes – Can I just make a side comment on this? The Avengers are, without exception, a group of extremely attractive people. It’s almost distracting.

What I Disliked

Not showing the work – HYDRA is on the run before the opening credits, and the relationships between some of the characters seem to have changed wholesale since last time, but there’s no account of how these offscreen developments went down.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver – I felt like these two didn’t add much to the film as the B-plot villains, and those faux-Eastern European accents were horrendous. Special jeers for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who continues to be a terrible actor.

Hawkeye, the worst Avenger – I understand what they were trying to do with his character here, but they failed to make me care. Also, the movie’s most Hawkeye-centric scene is kind of awkward and breaks the flow of the action.

Dark color palettes – Age of Ultron seemed to be visually darker than the original film, which popped with bold, bright colors. What gives?

CLOSING THOUGHT: If you’re reading this, you’re almost certainly going to see Age of Ultron at some point. It’s as much fun as you’d imagine. The latest Avengers film isn’t always greater than the sum of its parts (some of the standalone Marvel films can top it), but still proudly represents the best aspects of these particular kinds of stories – the aspirational elements of wonder, joy, and empowerment.

On a more deeply personal note, this post commemorates the one-year anniversary of Quick & Dirty Movie Reviews. It all began with my friends asking to hear my thoughts about Amazing Spider-Man 2 – and now, with another superhero movie, things have come full circle. I’d like to thank anyone who has ever read one of my reviews, or talked to me about them in person, or taken one of my recommendations to heart – you make this hobby of mine all the more fulfilling, and I hope to continue earning your readership in the future. QDR will continue… and I’ll see you at the movies.