Review Roundup: Everyone's Favorite Superheroes Return in THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

The classic Marvel gang is back in THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. The film is a sequel to 2012's THE AVENGERS, and the eleventh installment of the Marvel franchise. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon, whose previous credits include TOY STORY and CABIN IN THE WOODS.

When an artifical intelligence program, Ultron, threatens to destroy mankind, the Avengers must once again resassemble to save Earth from ultimate doom. Along the way, they encounter two of Ultron's human experiments who now have mysterious superhuman powers.

THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: This "Avengers" doesn't always pop the way that the first one sometimes did, partly because its villain isn't as memorable, despite Mr. Spader's silky threat.

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Where this Avengers movie is at its weakest is in its plot. Well-made though each action sequence may be, there are so many of them, including more going on in the pre-credits sequence than in many entire films, that everything blurs together.

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Three years ago, writer-director Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" turned out to be a sprightly wallop of an all-star superhero blockbuster. So why does the new one seem, I don't know ... a little ... small?

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" 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 and some of the characters are left in a kind of dramatic no-man's-land.

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Not that the film is a disaster. It has enough whammo-kerblammo, high-stakes standoffs and breezy banter that, if you work really hard to fool yourself, you might mistake it for a pleasing blockbuster, in much the same way that Tim Tebow's mom probably thinks he's a good quarterback.

Mark Kermode, The Guardian: The visual effects are good, but not great, the zingers lively if unmemorable (Thor and "The Vision" discussing the balance of his hammer is a fleeting hoot), the narrative arcs defined by costume rather than character.

Ben Kendrick, Screen Rant: That said, even if the misses the bar of classic movie greatness, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is one of the most exciting and entertaining Marvel entries so far - with some of the franchise's best visuals.

Dana Stevens, Slate: If Age of Ultron is a chain hamburger, it's one turned out by a maker who cares deeply about the integrity of his product.

David Edelstein, Vulture: Though a mess by all conventional narrative standards, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is a fascinating case study in the rules of "universe" storytelling.

Angela Watercolor, Wired: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON isn't perfect. (I'm still struggling to decide if it matches its predecessor, TBH.) But it was given the task of tying together everything from Agent Carter to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY while sling-shotting the Marvel Cinematic Universe into its Infinity Wars-dominated Phase Three. No other movie could've done that better than this one.

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