Rotten Tomatoes: 74% There isn't much to say about the Avengers sequel that hasn't already been debated at considerable length, although I would argue that we can't fault the masterful hand with which Joss Whedon has conducted his action sequences within the movie. The opening tussle in the woods of Sokovia is simply fist-pumpingly awesome the first time you see it (hell, even the second), and all ensuing chop-socky moments are well put-together and easy to follow. The fight between Stark in his Hulkbuster armour and you-wouldn't-like-me-when-I'm-brainwashed Hulk is one of 2015's biggest action spectacles, and is where Whedon begins to flip the bird to the wanton destruction of Zak Snyder's 9/11-x-100 Man of Steel. Iron Man actively tries to save civilians en route to his smackdown of the Hulk as opposed to Superman, who apparently wanted to fly Zod through as many civilians as possible, apparently in the hope of slowing him down. Whedon continues this trend as half the Avengers' final mission on Ultron's Sokovia-meteorite was the evacuation effort; a refreshing change of pace, then, for the heroes in a big budget blockbuster like this to be obviously shown looking after something other than themselves or their friends and family. The likes of Jurassic World - poor Zara! - and Furious 7 (in which Los Angeles was mysteriously completely bloody empty at the climax) have a lot of explaining to do in that regard.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
