One of the most anticipated movies of the summer has finally hit cinemas and anticipation would be an understatement. After the release of both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy last year, both fans and general audiences were expecting this 11th entry in Marvel Cinematic Universe to top everything off.

After the events of The Winter Soldier, The Avengers (consists of Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)) pursue the last HYDRA commander, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann). However, they also come across Strucker’s experiments with the twins, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) (changed from being mutants and Magneto’s children to experiments, due to 20th Century Fox owning rights to X-Men). Stark starts thinking about retiring from being Iron Man and starts creating, along with Banner, a new set of A.I. drones to tackle future threats (even extraterrestrial). Thus Ultron (James Spader) is born but doesn’t pan out as expected. Like a new child, he quickly takes action by having one primary goal; human extinction.

The movie doesn’t waste any time setting things up (if you haven’t been following the events from previous movies, good luck) and we’re straight into our first big action set-piece. It may feel a little rushed at times but it all flows seamlessly together. The whole MCU is already established at this point, though the few scenes where it takes a break from the action is one of the highlights. The entire cast fits into their characters like a glove, fully adjusting to their roles that we’ve been following since 2008. It completely shows their camaraderie as working in a team, as what made The Avengers such a treat to watch. Their witty banter and emotional connection are probably one of the most compelling moments in this movie (especially a running gag with Rogers and the team). We’re even given more back-story to Barton and Romanoff, which fleshed out their characters in a huge way than before. Both Maximoff twins are a welcome addition, giving Avengers an extra challenge to tackle. Wanda uses her hypnosis to bring out the team’s fears, thus adding a human layer to their characterisation.There are a few additional characters put into the mix (Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue to name one of many and antagonist for future Black Panther film) and may feel a little much to take all in but you tend to go along with the ride. Though it’s James Spader who steals the spot-light and he’s the most charismatic and intimidating villain since Loki. His introduction is undeniably gripping and quite spine-chilling with his speech towards the Avengers. He observes the world with childlike perception, slowly growing incredibly intellectual but also persistent on bringing total destruction on a global scale.

Writer/director Joss Whedon may excel on delivering wisecracks here and there but doesn’t fall short of the spectacle and there’s plenty of that on display! The creative fight combos between the heroes (mainly from Captain America and Thor) shows their ability to work as a team. The Hulkbuster vs Hulk scene was incredibly entertaining to watch, yet follows Man of Steel’s complete utter city destruction (may not be on the same scale but comes close). The design of Ultron is pretty much a Terminator pumped with steroids but given a face similar to Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Given a lot to deliver expressions from the face with Spader also providing motion-capture performance. Although Quicksilver was the scene-stealer from X-Men: Days of Future Past, this portrayal of Quicksilver is just as creative and does convey his intense speed through-out the movie. Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman’s score gets you pumped for rooting our heroes but also delivering the right emotional notes during such scenes with our characters.

Overall; one of the best entries in the series. It somewhat surpasses the sequel on expanding the MCU series but also fleshing out our protagonist’s and making it worth investing from beginning to end. Joss Whedon makes his last outing with Marvel a bang and has given us a fantastic villain with Ultron. Next up, Ant-Man.

5 out of 5

p.s. Stay for a mid-credits scene, though you probably were ready to do that anyways.