Holy superhero bonanza. Crowds of kids literally lined up for hours in advance to see the new Avengers movie, “Age of Ultron.”

“Age of Ultron” has it all: Dazzling special effects, a character perfect cast, inside jokes for old fans, and spectacular action sequences for new fans.

The Avengers start by tearing into HYDRA bases in the aftermath of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” looking for Loki’s staff.

Iron Man leads the way, with Captain America providing tactical and strategic direction. Black Widow works with the Hulk,, demonstrating a new control over Banner’s powers.

Hawkeye provides backup while Thor provides new insight into current conflict. Ultron, an artificial intelligence gone rogue, and the s u p e r p o w e r e d twins, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, seek to break apart the Avengers from the inside out.

Director Joss Whedon crams so many other characters in, and the cast has grown overwhelmingly large. Minor characters like James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) , and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) still manage to shine brightly in their brief appearance.

Scarlett Johansson plays an uncomfortably flirtatious and romantically driven Black Widow yet she still manages to make the best of her action scenes despite the sexist structure of the role.

Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans lead the team as Iron Man and Captain America, falling faithfully into roles that they’ve knockedout of the park in previous movies.

For comics fans, the most obvious sore thumb is the script’s treatment of Black Widow. A romantic subplot appears, and while the chemistry is cute, the timing is hard to swallow.

The demotion from “kickass spy making connections no one else can” to “monster hopelessly in love” is baffling.

The large cast can easily leave behind viewers who aren’t firmly grounded in the Marvel universe. In the end, the film shows how single acts of heroics are more destructive than constructive, no matter how good the intent is, but the attempt to undermine the nature of heroics gets lost in the huge action sequences.

The audience is better off trying to lean back and enjoy the film, rather than look for a deep tale that’s relevant to modern day events.

On a scale of theater-rent-borrow-pirate: See this movie in theaters. The big screen is needed to understand the sheer scope and overwhelming breadth covered in this movie. Just make sure to take a friend with you so you can complain together afterwards.

4.5/5 stars