Avengers: Age of Ultron

"Joss Whedon’s challenge with the first Avengers film was to deliver a watchable, broad appeal superhero team-up film, something he managed in spades. With this sequel, the expected outcome is a little different, with the surprise factor of his superlative prior effort being near-impossible to recapture. Although Age of Ultron is at times awkwardly shoehorned into the timeline of the larger Marvel film universe, Whedon is able to build upon the strong foundation he’s already put in place, laying down a challenge to DC’s upcoming Justice League films as well as his successors in the Avengers franchise moving forward."

"If this is what the apotheosis of branded, big-studio entertainment has come to look like in 2015, we could be doing much worse... definitely has soul."

"Fortunately Whedon understands how to craft a superhero movie just as well as Marvel knows how to sell one."

"Whedon has revealed that his first cut ran for well over three hours, and it shows: ‘Ultron’ feels excessively nipped and tucked, barrelling from one explosive set-piece to the next, leaving ideas half-formed and character motivations murky."

"The follow-up to The Avengers may be the harbinger of a new deluge of superhero movies, but if all turn out as entertaining as this one, what’s the problem?"

"A letdown -- entertaining to a degree, but so overstuffed that it may mark the point of diminishing returns for the Marvel movies generally."

"Succeeds in the top priority of creating a worthy opponent for its superheroes and giving the latter a few new things to do, but this time the action scenes don't always measure up."

"A big, bold, funny, thrilling, absorbing triumph, and continues Marvel Studios' seeming push for world cinematic domination."

"Bigger and, yes, darker than the first, this is less air-punchingly gleeful but probably more consistent."