Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Okay, might as well get this thread started early!

Anyone seeing it opening day? Any hopes for the movie in particular?

I'll be seeing it in the morning, and am hoping for a story that relies less on the superficial comparisons between characters and more on the things that internally motivate them. For example, Tony Stark's desire to make amends for his past carelessness (which likely WILL be a main theme, just based on more RECENT carelessness) instead of his flippant egotistic remarks.

In the first movie it made sense to compare them to each other on the surface level, with the traits that are most visible. But on repeat viewings it made the characters feel 1-dimensional to me.

Would love to get into Thor's sense of responsibility, Caps man-out-of time nature (but going deeper than pop-culture), Hawkeye's guilt or perceived vulnerability given his previous mind-control and Banner's fear of losing control (which means the Hulk should be less heroic this time to warrant that fear). But with at least three new characters being introduced... well, we'll see what they have time for in the character department and whether or not the story makes sense.

One things for sure, it's probably gonna LOOK pretty frickin' cool! Buckle up for a wild ride, everybody!

I'm definitely excited for it. Probably going to see it twice, once with my family and another time with my Calc class. That said, I'm trying to lower my expectations for the simple reason that I don't think it can out do Winter Soldier. I don't know if anything they do can impress me more than Winter Soldier. Here's hoping they prove me wrong.

Well, here are my thoughts. Hope I don't poop on anyone's parade...

You said "poop." Again.

Dude, I gotta say. We went as a family and saw this. Had a great time!! Its a fun enjoyable movie and I would recommend if you watched the others you watch this one!! Sure maybe it could have been better but it was still pretty cool. I was just a bit disappointed w/ the SHIELD tie in this time, but still pretty cool to see all these movies coming together! Hadn't heard spiderman would join, but interested to see how Guardians will come into it!! I was expecting to see Stan Lee appear, did I somehow miss him this time? Kinda got used to that!

CreatorsPixels wrote:I was expecting to see Stan Lee appear, did I somehow miss him this time?  Kinda got used to that!

He was one of the veterans at the party that had "one drink too many" and slurred "excelsior" as they helped him walk out.

WhiteBoy wrote:You said "poop." Again.  

I did? Man, I don't even remember that!

Paeter wrote:

WhiteBoy wrote:You said "poop." Again.  

I did? Man, I don't even remember that!

Oh, wait, you meant in the text above the video... not that I'm against saying "poop" in a video. In fact I'm planning a 90 minute special on poop!

I think we have somewhat similar tastes in superhero movies.

I wasn't as hard on Age of Ultron as you, but I think you have managed to articulate what felt with this one which was that "there is something a little off here".

I think the best thing about Avengers movies is the interactions between the characters. That was the strength of the first one and there was plenty of that here too. I guess I never really believed that Ultron and his army of Automated Iron Man Sentinels would cause too much problem for the mighty Avengers. However, Loki and the Chitari made me concerned.

You know the biggest problem with the jokes is a common problem nowadays, in that the funniest lines are usually in the trailers so by the time you see the movie you've already been spoiled for them.

Anyway, this is my review.

Nice review, Adam! Thanks!

I liked it, but it didn't blow me away like Guardians did.
I think, for me, the main shortcoming of both Avengers movies is that, in the end, the threat doesn't feel like something the army couldn't just fend off by itself. It was far worse in Ultron, when freakin' Quicksilver punched an Ultron to pieces with his bare hands. Speed doesn't make that much difference, it's more that these robot were apparently made up of dried pasta, not metal. I would have preferred to see maybe a dozen really powerful Ultrons that were pretty much unbeatable except when the heroes worked together in clever and meaningful ways. In Guardians, the heroes separated for the fight and some of them were only fighting a few key soldiers or a secondary villain. They didn't just line up to attack faceless enemies like, well...Galaga.
I hate that Hollywood thinks that every sequel has to be bigger. It doesn't. It has to be forward. I think that was the shortcoming of Winter Soldier, as good as that movie was, in that they still had to have the giant, world-threatening menace instead of the plenty menacing danger of Hydra reborn (or revealed, actually). The final battle could have been small-scale and still meaningful, but that wouldn't bring in the mouth-breathers, so activate Stormtrooper Mode with hundreds of incompetent, fragile targets (I call the aliens in the first Avenger Chitargets for just that reason). I don't mind spectacle, and the movies shouldn't just spin their wheels, Iron Man 2 style, but with every threat to Earth the heroes foil, the threats feel less meaningful, and they certainly don't need to be hordes and hordes of identical, weak Foot Soldiers.
I think of the Apokalips menace in the Bruce Timm Superman/Justice League shows. They had large battles, but they also had episodes with one or two actual characters bringing a scheme and moving things forward. That made the huge battles a lot more meaningful. It's sadly ironic that the movies series known for taking their time to carefully set things up early on have so quickly degenerated to just "Step One; show threat...Step Two; first fight fails...Step Three; identical fight, but heroes win". I hope the next wave will start actually going places and this will just be the mid-series lull most sagas have.

Watched this movie yesterday, and I enjoyed it for the most part (although the best part was in the Antman trailer where the Thomas the Tank Engine toy tips over, I laughed for a couple minutes and embarrassed my son)
****spoilers****
I can generally let go of reality enough to ignore logical problems, but a couple 'comic-book physics' issues got me here. Quicksilver saves people in the path of an oncoming train...by moving many times faster than that train and pushing them aside...as gentle as he might try to be, going from 0-200 in the blink of an eye is going to be catastrophic. Speaking of which, a car falls off ...something, and Thor flies down to yank the passenger out and throw her the hundred (couple hundred?) feet back up to the top. It'd probably be better to just crash, as that would be less jarring and less rip-your-skeleton-from-your-body.

However, my biggest problem with the entire movie was when Vision claimed to be "I am". That just sits very wrong to me. There is only One who can claim that, and He isn't a work of fiction.

mikel.withers wrote:
However, my biggest problem with the entire movie was when Vision claimed to be "I am". That just sits very wrong to me. There is only One who can claim that, and He isn't a work of fiction.

Interesting! I don't remember that part. What was the context?

Well, I'm not one of those guys who can watch a movie one time and quote back whole sections of it, but if I recall, they were talking about various states of being...Ultron a program, humans meat-computers, and Vision says, "... and I am." He pauses as if he might say more, but seems content with that.
I could be reading too much into it, but judging off of Whedon's other work, I tend to think it has meaning. Probably that the Mind Gem and the other 3 are fundamental building blocks of the universe or something (which causes philosophical problems beyond theological).
I don't want to get too bent out of shape, however...I really liked the movie, and even if it means I am a mindless Marvel fan, I like the cinematic universe, but I'm officially on guard now. (as if MERE secular humanism wasn't enough to put me on edge)

mikel.withers wrote: but if I recall, they were talking about various states of being...Ultron a program, humans meat-computers, and Vision says, "... and I am." He pauses as if he might say more, but seems content with that.

Oooh, I think that maybe does ring a bell now. Though at the time I think I was distracted by other things going on. Good catch! Thanks for pointing me to that!