I thought AoU was far superior to the first Avengers. The first Avengers was quite sluggish and had a very uninteresting first half, basically relying on the wow-factor of bringing all the superheroes together; which is badass, but doesn't make a good film. Second AoU had more room for entertainment and emotional depth due to the characters already being established (though still had to jarringly set up Phase 3 (Thor: Ragnarok with the water cave for example)). If anything I thought the third act of AoU was the weakest, as it was incredibly formulaic for a marvel movie (big bombastic ending with hundreds/thousands of minions + big baddie vs avengers)I wouldn't go that far, I thought it was fantastic but didn't quite live up to the first Avengers. I thought that the segment from just after the introduction to Ultron until the beginning of the third act was somewhat lackluster though still more than viewable watching. Third act was balls to the wall amazing holy shit. Basically the events leading to the creation of Vision and everything following was edge of your seat incredible. Speaking of, that hammer scene with Vision OMG
The stakes are never high enough for Marvel flicks, that's something we have to deal with. I actually really love how Whedon subverted expectations by NOT killing off Hawkeye (ya the buildup to his death was intentional and that made his survival all the more surprising).I definitely felt like the stakes weren't high enough when watching it. It's hard to believe Ultron is close to taking over the world when literally no one died the entire first 75% of the movie. I know it's Marvel's choice to not kill off civilians, but come on Hawkeye was set up brilliantly to die in that movie. If he had died halfway through, Ultron would have been way more intimidating, and the movie would have kept the "hopeless" vibe the trailers ever-so shoved down our throats.
Also it kinda bothered me that Quicksilver was killed off for basically no reason. I never read the comics, so I might be missing something, but I guess maybe the Scarlet Witch retains some psychological trauma from his death that carries over into the next movies plot?
Nevertheless I loved the movie I've seen it twice already lol that 360 degree church shot OMG HOLY BALLS
I think Quicksilver being killed off was used as an added incentive for Scarlet Witch to join the new Avengers, and + the fact that Quicksilver isn't that interesting of a character + Aaron Taylor-Johnson can't act for shit.