I went and saw the Age of Ultron on Monday and enjoyed the sybaritic delights of the Cinepolis theater with the reclining leather seats with foot rests and full bar, gourmet food, etc. etc., and I’ve been thinking about the film ever since, but also realizing that I actually remember very little about it.  Which is a sad commentary.

Then tonight I decided to re-watch Guardians of the Galaxy.  There’s a lot more heart in this film than in the latest Avengers installment, and ultimately if a story isn’t primarily about the people overcoming obstacles both personal and in the wider world, it’s not going to work for me.

But back to Ultron.  Spader clearly had a lot of fun voicing our killer robot and Whedon had some very nice little personal moments in Ultron, but they felt squeezed between all the action sequences.  One of the stand out moments for me was when Clint’s wife points out that the Avengers need him because he is an ordinary man.  He centers the others, grounds them, reminds them why they fight.  There is power in his quiet dignity as husband and father.

All the rest of them are fundamentally damaged — Stark who is trying to both win his dead father’s approval and outshine him.  The man who faces the world with arrogance and a quip.  The Captain a man who is grieving and is lost in time, a relic.  Banner who struggles to control this violent ID creature that can undo all of his humanity and his work as a healer in one horrible moment.  Black Widow who has been twisted both physically and mentally to make her a killer.  The moments when we saw those vulnerabilities, when they actually talked to each other instead of trading quips or insults were terrific.

And I did enjoy the banter, but how many CGI fight sequences does a film need to be successful?  I’d say this one had at least two and maybe three too many action sequences.  We had the fight in the forest, the fight in the Stark building, the fight in Africa in the derelict ship, followed by the Hulk hulking out and wrecking part of a city.  Then we go back to made-up-slavic-sounding-city and have a seemingly endless battle where Hawkeye gets the best line in the movie and which I can’t help but think represented Whedon’s overall thoughts and feelings on the franchise when he says —

“The city is flying! We’re fighting an army of robots! And I have a bow and arrow! None of this makes sense!”

Will I see the next installment?  Oh probably, I’m hooked on these comic book movies and shows, but I have to say that Winter Soldier and X-Men Days of Future Past and Guardians were for me more interesting and enjoyable films.