15 Most Disappointing Films Of The Decade (So Far)

11. Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Avengers: Age Of Ultron is just kinda there. It's not a bad movie; it's just not that great. That's by the by for effects-driven blockbusters, but coming from Marvel, who since 2008 have been consistently progressing the superhero genre - Iron Man showed B-List could work, The Avengers showed crossovers could work, Guardians Of The Galaxy showed D-List could work - it feels like a major resting on laurels and killing time before the real big fight in Avengers: Infinity War.

Everything about Age Of Ultron felt like a step up on all counts, with a greater threat and darker tone - The Empire Strikes Back to the original's Star Wars. But, really, it's at best repeating the tricks of the first movie (look, a long shot; ooh, quips), at worst rushing through box ticking without caring too much about a coherent plot (Serkis for Black Panther; Infinity Stones for Ragnarok; oh yeah, need to do something with the Avengers). It's no surprise whatsoever to learn that Joss Whedon and Marvel clashed considerably over what should and shouldn't be in the film.

Details of that spat, however, reveal this might just have been something that would've stumbled either way. On rewatch, the farmhouse sequence, which Whedon fought long and hard to keep in the film, is as pointless as the studio mandated Thor pool-dip - it doesn't explore any of the characters in a meaningful way (unless you count screaming "LOOK, HAWKEYE IS RELEVANT" as development) and stops any momentum the movie had built up dead. Age Of Ultron should have taken the MCU to exciting new places. Instead it dragged it back into mediocrity.