Avengers: Age of Ultron
The second Avengers film is full of fun moments held together by gum and string. We’re past the catty banter of the first movie and the Avengers are mostly friends now. The bit in which heroes take turns trying to lift Thor’s hammer is a classic MCU scene that riffs on the group’s dynamic without devolving into whedonisms, and James Spader’s monologues as killer AI Ultron are spine-chilling. Age of Ultron’s greatest asset, however, is the introduction of would-be staples like Vision and Scarlet Witch. Unfortunately, it falls apart in its attempts to tie everything that’s happening into a neat bow to later be unwrapped in Infinity War, struggling to balance its ties to the extended universe with being a coherent standalone film. But hey, at least we got the cool moment of Vision picking up Thor’s hammer without breaking a sweat. — Kenneth Shepard
