The song he keeps humming to himself is I've Got No Strings from Pinocchio (good thing Marvel is part of Disney for that particular song rights negotiation) which is a nice touch.
He's definitely the best villain of the many movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far.
This is the eleventh MCU movie. There are another 11 being made. And though Ultron is some piece of work, even he isn't enough to cure this Avengers movie's moderate sense of deja vu or the thought that this isn't quite as much fun as it was the last time the whole gang got together.
Yes, it's spectacular right from the slam-bang opening battle to the Earth-shattering finale.
And it tries to revive the spark it had in the first movie with the relations and rivalries between the superhero gang reunited after three of them - Iron Man, Captain America and Thor - have been out battling in their own franchises.
But there's something a little off the pace about this second Avengers assemblage. Other than the advent of Ultron it's not offering much that surprises.
True, it is attempting to go deeper with back stories on some of the less well-known characters - Hawkeye and Black Widow in particular - and the creation of its villain has some interesting ideas behind it.
He's the product of Tony Stark, one-man military industrial complex, who, hoping he can out-source protecting the planet to someone else, starts experimenting with inducing A.I. into one of his Iron Man-like sentinels.
But using some of that power that Loki brought to Earth with his magic sceptre in the last Avengers movie, the mix of tech and cosmic wizardry accidentally delivers Ultron, whose quick assessment of mankind is that it should be vanquished.
Whoops apocalypse, indeed.
So soon we're off chasing Ultron and his metal horde around the world - to South Africa, Korea and an Eastern European country named Sokovia.
There are rare metals to be obtained. Car chases to be pursued. City blocks to be levelled and new superheroes to be unleashed, including the brother and sister Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch who, aligning themselves to Ultron, uses her telekinetic powers to scramble their opponents' minds - cue trippy dream/flashback scenes which just seem pointlessly tangential.
Also a peculiar addition is the romantic subplot between Black Widow (Johansson) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). They have a King Kong-Fay Wray thing going on, while they're on the job at least, but the relationship feels like a curious addition here - or possibly the start of something that will make more sense in some of the many MCU movies to come.
So yes, this Avengers is darker, louder, stranger and soapier than the first one.
And possibly smarter too - as well as Pinocchio it references Neville Chamberlain, Eugene O'Neill, and Bansky in its dialogue, mostly care of Downey Jr's motormouth Stark.
It's also got a highly impressive villain and who does some hugely fiendish things and it is sure to dominate the global box office until the next Marvel movie comes along. But it sure feels less like an event than the previous Avengers film, just a reasonably exciting instalment in the ongoing mega-franchise.
Talking of which, this comes with a mid-credits scene featuring a Marvel super-villain which connects this film to Guardians of the Galaxy and the next Avengers movies, Infinity War Part 1 and 2 due in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Verdict: Deeper, darker, but less fun
Cast: Robert Downey jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner
Director: Joss Whedon
Rating: M (violence)
Running time: 141 mins
- TimeOut
