Avengers: Age of Ultron

141 minutes of nonsense and not much else. The second installment of Marvel's Avengers franchise, "Avengers: Age of Ultron", has already made over $400 million domestically after only a month in theaters, and who knows how much overseas. How much money is enough money though? Super hero fatigue has evolved into an ongoing disorder in the film industry with something like 30 plus movies based on comic books coming to theaters in the next 4 years alone. That's a lot of back stories, misunderstood men with powers and the total annihilation and destruction of Planet Earth coming our way people. There's just no fighting it, this is Hollywood today.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" reunites us with the fabulous six: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and not much has changed. Accept that the world is still under threat like it always is, and instead of a threat from outer space it's now from some country called Sokovia in Eastern Europe. Doesn't Disney have enough money to deface the name of an actual country in Eastern Europe? Of course Sokovia isn't the real issue, something called Ultron (James Spader) is, that, gasp! Iron Man helped to create. Ultron is everywhere and nowhere at once, he is all seeing, and all knowing, a God pretty much, in the form of special effects. If it wasn't for the purring voice of James Spader behind the Ultron facade, this villain, and this second part of the Avengers saga almost completely underwhelms, which really is a bummer.

Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner in "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

The first movie, "The Avengers", which was released three years ago, was an anomaly. The super hero movie to end all super hero movies. It did the unthinkable; it merged all of our favorites together. It was a funny action movie, a huge super hero film, and a band of brothers adventure all in one. There was someone for everyone. Iron Man made us laugh, Hulk made us feel, Thor made us swoon, Captain America made us patriotic, Hawkeye made us scratch our heads. And don't forget there's the token girl too, Black Widow. This time though, unfortunately, Black Widow is given a romance to distract, with Hulk no less, and damsel in distress attention that is so sad, I actually felt bad for Scarlett Johansson.

Joss Whedon, the writer and director, gives his actors wonderful dialogue that really sparks, more so than the fiery set pieces. He can make almost any character, even aliens and super heros, sound self aware and funny. These super humans become more human as a result. We like them better. The smaller moments, casual conversation, throwaway remarks, and the party scene early in this new film in particular are the best parts. They're the most fun. I'd much rather watch the Avengers being drunk at a party trying to pick up Thor's hammer, than fighting a computer in some desolate African city. It's all about the explosion, the noise, the next big sequence. Each frame of this film is filled to the brim with spectacle that I was overwhelmed, the images blurred together into one mass of movement. It was numbing, your senses are deadened. Technically, it's expert, you probably won't see more expensive effects in film this year. But in the end, the issue with "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is that I don't know why I should care about the death and destruction, what's at stake, the consequences, when the filmmakers don't seem to either. The stories and films coming out of Marvel studios are going to be with us for along while, so why complain, especially when we paid to see them in the first place, ensuring that more will come.

While I was in the relatively empty theater I kept thinking about how refreshing the first "Iron Man" was when it came out in 2008. Robert Downey Jr. brought humor and style into a genre that seemed stale, about to die. It turns out that "Iron Man" was the little seed that sprouted up, continuing to grow and grow, now a giant oak. In 2015, we are all in the midst of a giant forest of oak trees whether we like it or not. It's all the same, in every direction, and frankly, I'm lost, eager to find my way out.