Avengers: Age of Ultron (spoilers)

[Gryphos]

So I just watched Avengers: Age of Ultron and HOLY F*CKING SHIT IT WAS SO SICK.

I absolutely loved every second of this film. It was just the epitome of pure innocent cinema fun. If you go into any Marvel film expecting a deep storyline with themes and shit, you're gonna have a bad time. You go to watch a Marvel film if you want to see awesome action, great humour, and generally sick stuff. And this film does sick stuff so damn well.

Some of my favourite things:

Quicksilver. Quicksilver was a true don. Got to love when he takes out Hawkeye and is all like "You didn't see that coming?" And the bit where he just decks Captain America was great. In general he had some great action scenes. So mad that they killed him off, but it did lead to Scarlet Witch going into beast mode and wrecking shit, which was awesome.

The Vision. Another great character. He had some great lines — "Well, I was born yesterday". And the bit where he casually hands Thor his hammer — I think the entire audience's buttonholes collectively clenched at that moment.

The entire final battle on the floating city. This entire section of the film just blew me away. The pinnacle of it was probably the bit when they're all defending the detonation device in the church from the army of Ultron bots. Hands down the sickest moment of the film was that one slow motion panning shot when you just see every member of the team throwing down. I think my brain exploded from too much pure concentrated awesomeness.

 

[Tom]

Glad to see you liked it! I'm into MCU for the sick stuff, and looks like this one delivers! I haven't seen it yet--a bunch of friends and I are planning to go see it this week for my birthday (which is in two days, by the way). I'm really pumped.

 

[thecoldembrace]

I saw it about an hour ago, I was so astounded by the level they went with. I am generally a skeptic going in so that I can be blown away, and jebus did it.

But the best part of it? Thanos.

 

[SM-Dreamer]

I watched it Friday night, and quite thoroughly enjoyed the movie (except for some bros in the row in front of me, *sigh*). The dialogue was awesome, the action was kickass, and there are too many characters to like that I have trouble picking a favorite. Loved James Spader as Ultron's voice acting. Just... an awesome movie.

 

[Penpilot]

I saw it opening day. Still think the first one is better. To me, this was a really good movie, but not great. Compared to the first one, the jokes weren't as crisp. They were funny, but, they weren't hitting me like a Hulk punch. I was chuckling, but not belly-laughing. I think I only had two uncontrolled laughs in the whole movie.

I think what was lacking was in the villain, Ultron. He didn't shine like I hoped he would. Spader was adequate, but couldn't follow up Hiddleston's performance as Loki. He tried, but like I mentioned, things weren't as crisp. Ultron didn't stand out and make me want more.

Again, still a very good movie. They really showed how the Avenger's acted as a team, one person's powers complementing the others. My absolutely favorite scene is the party when they all take turns trying to pick up Thor's hammer. And one of the best moments is the expression on Thor's face when Cap gets it to budge just a little. It's priceless.

 

[Alex_Darkling]

I went to the midnight opening and loved every second of it, the humor, the action and the development of the Avengers as a team. Really impressed with it, Spader's voice is just perfect for villains.

 

[Tom]

WOW. Just saw Avengers this afternoon, and just...wow. Possibly the best movie Marvel has turned out so far, besides The Winter Soldier, which I loved.

This movie works. There were some choppy transitions and some confusing scenes, but overall it had a great plot structure, and a smooth narrative. I enjoyed the quieter scenes interspersed with the high-action sequences. It kept the film interesting, and allowed the audience to breathe between explosions. (And there were explosions. A lot of them.)

One thing I complained about when The Hobbit films came out was the way the CGI fight sequences looked like video game graphics--sharp and clean yet somehow disjointed, unnaturally fast tempo...This movie is how you do CGI. I could tell which scenes used it, but for the most part it blended naturally with the live-action sequences.

Vision. Vision was awesome. AI has always fascinated me, and I really enjoyed his portrayal. His personality was so believable--genuine, human in its warmth and humor, but also with that edge of alienness that comes of his artificial origin. His appearance has the same feel to it, both recognizably human, yet foreign, at the same time. I did want him to lose the cape, though. Did anyone else think of Edna in The Incredibles yelling "No capes!"?

Ultron was a great villain, and genuinely scary, unlike Loki, who I could just not take seriously for some reason. His repeated allusions to Pinnochio and Christianity really freaked me out (I hate puppets, and madmen using religion as justification for evil), but what was really alarming was the realization that Ultron is Tony Stark. Granted, Tony Stark is not a murdering megalomaniac bent on world-wide annihilation, but it's all still there. Ultron is Tony's current mindset and personality, taken to its logical (and terrifying) conclusion. Right down to the sense of humor, which was deployed to full effect, and left me cringing back in actual fear a few times. Now that right there is a villain.

The only complaint I have is that the introduction of Clint's wife and kids sort of ruined my Barton/Romanoff ship, but that's not really a big deal...

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Where was Coulson in all of this? I was hoping for a little bit of the Agents of Shield group to be mentioned or the Avengers to be shown that Coulson is still alive. It also seemed like Banner/Hulk has not progressed in his control. In the first Avengers he spoke, yet in this his control as the Hulk did not improve, aside from the "lullaby" to get him to turn back. I thought Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were done really well, though they got over their hatred of Tony Stark very fast. Ultron never impressed me as a villain. I feel he was lacking passion or need to be more ruthless. Overall I actually liked the first movie slightly more.

 

[wordwalker]

Definitely fun. Spader, "language!", explosions, the Vision, "neither was Omaha Beach," Spader, more explosions, the Ultron/Stark symmetry, Spader...

And of course, Hammer Time. Most of us had seen the "who's worthy?" setup scene in previews, and I'd actually stopped reading one blog post just when it started explaining what Joss had done there, so I went into the movie eager to find out what the payoff was. Quicksilver is not the only thing you don't see coming!

Natasha and Bruce. Odd, sweet, and just plain right. In a genre that's straining to reference all the bits of canon it can get (hey, did you notice this movie means Hulk left the team in "Avengers #2"?), it's a pleasure to see something completely fresh come along and work so well.

Vision... I did want him to lose the cape, though. Did anyone else think of Edna in The Incredibles yelling "No capes!"?

Nerd mode: of course "No capes!", they're idiotic for all the dodging and scrambling a hero has to do... unless you're a mastermind like Dr. Strange (who's going to be Benedict Cumberbatch!) or you've got intangibility powers like the Vision.

--But wait, Thor's been wearing a cape from day one! Take a closer look at his costume. The trim's pointedly different, but the basic colors are a more of a Superman allusion than any other hero's used. These guys don't care if their capes get caught in some passing jet!

 

[Penpilot]

Where was Coulson in all of this?

Joss Wheadon addressed this by saying in the movies he considers Coulson still dead. He felt that if Coulson showed up it would undermine the power of his death and make it meaningless. He didn't want to do that because it was such a key moment in putting all the heroes on the same page in the first movie.

 

[wordwalker]

And that's only the out-of-universe ramifications; they know just what it would do to the team to find out the guy they're "Avenging" is alive and well and Nick has been hiding that embarassing fact from them ever since. (And then there's the two cans of worms it would open: "You mean you can raise the dead now?" and "Fury, you tortured a man back to life and nearly shattered his mind?)

 

[feathertoad]

I enjoyed the movie! T'was really good! Can't wait for more Marvel movies.