(Rating: ☆☆ out of 4)

This film is not recommended.

In brief: This film may be critic-proof, but it is also fun-proof.

GRADE: C

Believe it or not, this is actually the 11th Marvel film about superheroes. Yes, they have taken moviegoers into the comic book cosmos, with varying results, and made their films one of the most profitable series in movie history. Reviews seem pointless as the movie is critic-proof in its popularity. Avengers: Age of Ultron is also fun-proof.

￼Now let me begin my review by admitting to a bias: I am not really enamored by superhero movies. While I do usually find them entertaining and mildly diverting, I do enjoy the CGI artistry involved. I don't follow the historical and mythological angles of these comic book heroes and their mystical powers, nor do I much comprehend their hierarchy in the superhero food chain. Just show me the money in your big budget with your CGI! On that matter, the film does not disappoint.

￼Adequately directed by Joss Whedon, Avengers: Age of Ultron gathers this motley crew of crusaders together once more to rescue the world from annihilation, although our heroes do a pretty good job of destroying many metropolises and injuring countless innocent bystanders in order to save them and mankind. (Perhaps they should try a little less harder next go-round.)

Once more we have Ironman (Robert Downey, Jr.), too snarly and uptight this round, The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) with those expandable briefs and those patented stretchy trousers, Captain America (Chris Evans) with no shirtless scene for the gay crowd to Marvel (shame!), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) looking great in head to toe leather, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) with his non-stop supply of arrows, and Thor with hammer and grimace in tow. Plus some secondary avengers are now added to the mix but just take up more screen time from the primary A-team and contribute little to the film: Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, aptly named for his speed, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, who has the power of mind control but had very little control of her fluctuating Russian accent, and Paul Betthany as Vision, although I had some trouble understanding his whole superpowers and identity. It's all more of the same clang-bang-shoot-em-up from that old gang of ours.

￼The thin story, also written by Whedon, has Tony Stark a.k.a. Ironman center stage as he uses the elusive Loki specter to create an artificial intelligence, namely Ultron (wonderfully voiced by James Spader), to help him and his cronies battle the ongoing forces of evil. Of course, Tony's ideal robot buddy has other ideas and more destruction and mayhem ensues.

￼The battles are plentiful, six rather long combat scenes by my count, enough to please most young fan-boys and gamers in the audience, or anyone under the age of 10. There's more screen time per battle than there is in dialog or character development, although Whedon does try to give some back-story to some characters and romantic involvement between two of the Avengers (strictly boy/girl stuff). Between the ethical debates about war and peace between Stark and Captain America, or his foe Ultron, the film really has no point of view. It just keeps moving on, with its main purpose to show oodles of badly staged combat that either highlights shaky camera-work that obscures the action and movement of the actors or it relies on slo-mo aerial ballet moments for dramatic effects. The pacing is set at either of those two extremes with little in-between.

￼The film takes itself far too seriously. What made previous outings so popular and effective were the humorous asides and ironic conversations between these misfits, a factor totally missing in this film except for an amusing moment involving Thor's heavy hammer and a plummeting action sequence between Ironman and the Hulk that supplies the film's sparse laughs.

Noisy and clunky, Avengers: Age of Ultron is mindlessly numbing pop entertainment that seemed more desperate to please its audience with its state-of-the art imagery that supply any logic or pleasure to any of its human characters or any moviegoer with an average IQ for that matter.

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