*Spoiler alert*

*No, really. I give stuff away from the off*

Hmmm. Not sure about this one. Don’t get me wrong, it was bold, brash and brutal, especially in the fight scenes. There’s a smattering of pithy one-liners and more testosterone than you can shake an Asgardian staff at. There are stunning set pieces: the Slovakian city ripped from the Earth, Stark’s Hulk Buster and the Hulk, punching chunks out of an unnamed South African city and the opening battle against a Hydra stronghold. There are clashes between Avengers, the death of Jarvis, the birth of the Vision, the Black Widow *cough* and yet…..

It felt a bit flat to me.

There are some fine moments: Stark and Thor trying to out cock each other, Stan Lee getting pissed and exclaiming, Excelsior! and James Spader, as Ultron, is inspired casting indeed and yet…

It felt a bit too big, a bit too cumbersome. I’d have thought that if anyone could pull off an ensemble piece like this it’d be Joss Whedon, but maybe that’s my problem? Whedon did such an incredible job with Avengers Assemble. It was full of heart, wit and power, a film that took the garish, lycra stretched, ridiculousness of a comic book and turned it into a believable world of power, passion and character and maybe that’s where Age of Ultron lost me.

Apart from an almost sickly sweet scene where we discover Hawkeye not only has a girlfriend, but he has two kids and another on the way and some creepy excerpts from the Natasha Ramanoff life story, there’s very little in the way of character development. With the Thor, Captain America and Iron Man movies we know pretty much all there is to know about these guys. Ha! you laugh, what do you expect from a superhero movie? Well, thanks to the first one being so bloody good, a bit more than this.

This isn’t a bad film. It’s just not as good as I was expecting.

I watched it in 3D, not through choice, it was just the most convenient showing and found that, surprise, surprise, there was absolutely no need for it. If anything, I found it irritating, not enhancing.

I think I may have to go and see it again, just to make sure…