Avengers: Age of Ultron will not be hitting theaters in the United States until May 1, but there are certain parts of the world where the action-packed Marvel movie is already playing.
The sequel to the highly successful The Avengers, which was released in 2012, sees the return of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye as they team up to once again save the world. There are also a host of returning characters from other Marvel movies such as War Machine and Falcon, and the rise of the villain of the movie, Ultron.
With the hype surround the film, it will surely be a huge letdown if it does not deliver. Are early reviews rating Avengers as marvelous, or as a huge flop?
For fans that have not yet watched the movie, there will be no need to worry as there will be no spoilers in this review roundup.
Rolling Stone: "The movie swings for the fences, going darker and deeper into the bruised psyches of this dysfunctional family of warriors... (Director Joss) Whedon is the true master of the Marvel Comic universe onscreen."
Games Radar: "Avengers: Age of Ultron establishes itself as primarily concerned with the personal and the political - a superhero movie grounded in the real world, focused on family, ethics and psychology... And, somehow, it works. There's a love story, a tragedy, a shock reveal, eye-popping action, tear-jerking emotion and a crazy/creepy baddie who might possibly prove too much for younger viewers."
Cine Vue: "Whedon has delivered a film that outdoes his own previous offering and sets down a high watermark for those other pretenders... The web of relationships stretches further and the attention to personal triumphs and tragedies deserves resounding applause given the expanded roster this time out... With Avengers: Age of Ultron, Whedon doesn't merely hit it out of the park, he Hulk-smashes it."
The Wrap: "This sequel has its share of thrills and laughs, but you can feel the requirements of franchise empire-building weighing it down... Marvel movie die-hards will come away having found nuggets of pleasure, but those who complain about superhero sagas will find plenty to support their arguments here... Avengers: Age of Ultron feels like a solid but overstuffed episode, one more concerned with being connective tissue than anything else."
Variety: "The most successful superhero movie of all time gets a super-sized sequel with surprising amounts of soul... A super-sized spandex soap opera that's heavy on catastrophic action but surprisingly light on its feet, and rich in the human-scale emotion that can cut even a raging Hulk down to size."
Entertainment Weekly: "These days, we're so used to feeling short-changed when we go to the movies that it may seem churlish to complain when someone gives us too much. But with Marvel's latest comic-book battle royale, Avengers: Age of Ultron, I walked out of the theater feeling like the survivor of an all-you-can-eat buffet... My real beef with these movies-and this one in particular- is how same-y they've started to feel."
The Guardian: "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?... It's a superhero cavalcade of energy and fun."
Avengers: Age of Ultron may have a few negative remarks against it, but Whedon's brilliance and the sheer awesomeness of seeing so many Marvel heroes on screen at once more than makes up for whatever shortcomings the film may have.
