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Avengers: Age of Ultron
gfreeman98
Member Posts: 1,201 Arc User
Surprised no reaction threads!
Good movie, highly recommended, but not quite as great as the first one. (Maybe my expectations were too high, but Marvel has been setting the bar pretty high.)
Negatives:
The villain just didn't have the air of as big of a threat as he was. Intellectually we know his plans were horrible, but he just didn't come across as that evil.
Even clocking in at almost 2.5 hours, some parts seemed rushed. I think it's just a matter of trying to pack too much stuff in. Overall just didn't gel as well as the first one.
Related to the above, the real heavy fighting scenes were too busy at times. It'll be great for replay value but hard to catch everything going on in real time.
Positives:
Surprised at the extra attention Hawkeye got - it was a nice glimpse we hadn't seen before.
The dream sequences were interesting. A little more Black Widow backstory here as well.
Good movie, highly recommended, but not quite as great as the first one. (Maybe my expectations were too high, but Marvel has been setting the bar pretty high.)
Negatives:
The villain just didn't have the air of as big of a threat as he was. Intellectually we know his plans were horrible, but he just didn't come across as that evil.
Even clocking in at almost 2.5 hours, some parts seemed rushed. I think it's just a matter of trying to pack too much stuff in. Overall just didn't gel as well as the first one.
Related to the above, the real heavy fighting scenes were too busy at times. It'll be great for replay value but hard to catch everything going on in real time.
Positives:
Surprised at the extra attention Hawkeye got - it was a nice glimpse we hadn't seen before.
The dream sequences were interesting. A little more Black Widow backstory here as well.
Post edited by gfreeman98 on
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Comments
A villain doesn't have to scream hey I'm evil look at me and twirl a curly mustache to be a good villain. In fact many of the best villains are those who you aren't sure if they are the bad guy.
Hell, Ultron even mocked that cliche villain trope in the movie: I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan.
I think Ultron did very well as the film's villain; while he wasn't full of cliche "muahahahas" (thankfully), it was very evident that as an AI, he was loopier than HAL 9000.
^ pretty much this. I kept thinking as the movie played that it was somehow lacking the spark of the first film, but I couldn't put a finger on exactly what it was.
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Okay, by and large, it was a good film and worth my money. The humor was there, but felt a bit more subdued than the first film. As before, the funniest bit, I felt, involved the Hulk (during the Hulk Buster sequence), but even that felt not quite up to the "Hulk punch Thor" moment of the first film, let alone the show-stopping "puny god" scene.
I did have a few nitpicks beyond that:
1. Baron von Strucker is toast. Um...what? This is a major Hydra character, you build up his Hydra importance in both movie tags and TV shows and then give him a bit of screen time and just execute him off screen and show pics? I was expecting a villain just a notch below Red Skull. I'm hoping his death was somehow faked. Otherwise, they're going through major Hydra leaders with rather cavalier attitude. (They did a similar buildup of importance with Daniel Whitehall, again, only to end him quickly.) If they're not faking von Strucker's end, then I can only hope this is all leading to the rise of a major, enduring Hydra leader, perhaps Viper (Madame Hydra) or even the return of Red Skull.
2. Ultron had flexible lips. Again, um...what? This is a metal man, solid parts, and the metal at the mouth twists and flexes like lips when talking. Had they taken the time to suggest he was made of nanites or something allowing the appearance of steel but with the flexibility of flesh, I would have said "okay". Instead, upon realizing it, I found the visuals grating, and a breaking of the suspension of belief needed to view the character.
3. The Bruce / Natasha thing felt awkward and forced. The latter part might not have seemed so much so, had the first scenes of this not seemed like something that came out of nowhere.
A thought: Haven't they stated in the MCU repeatedly that T.A.H.I.T.I. was for restoring a fallen Avenger? And Coulson's recent statements to a certain bad boy suggest that though the T.A.H.I.T.I. base was destroyed, Coulson has the means to resurrect the program. Well then, a certain hero who "saw it coming" might be headed for T.A.H.I.T.I.
The VFX were purtyyyy, though.
*drools*
*falls into a pit*
Hope you guys were able to watch through IMAX for best sound too.
Strucker was a terrible Red Skull proxy. Bring back Hugo Weaving.
-Leonard Nimoy, RIP
I gather that you don't read much comics. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker is a high tier villain just as formidable as Red Skull in his own right, and in the comic continuity the original and best leader HYDRA has ever had. Red Skull in the comics actually had very little to do with HYDRA.
Strucker is also the arch-nemesis of Nick Fury and has a long and rich history in Marvel Comics continuity. A "terrible Red Skull proxy" he is not.
http://marvel.wikia.com/Wolfgang_von_Strucker_%28Earth-616%29
Regardless of how epic he may be in the comics, he was pretty TRIBBLE poor in the movie...which is what this thread is about.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
He was barely given a chance in the movie.
Exactly. I'm also puzzled as to why he was going to surrender so easily. Very unlike Strucker or any Hydra for that matter. I'm seriously hoping it was a life model decoy or some such that bit the dust. THAT would be more like Strucker.
Oh, and only one tag scene to the movie? (and almost a throw-away at that)
I don't disagree, but my point remains the same. Regardless of how epic he may be in the comics, what we saw on screen was far from epic. It's also worth noting that character origins in the movies are sometimes *completely* different from their origins in the comics(vision), so we cannot automatically assume the BVS we saw in the movie is as epic as the comic version.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
We can't really assume much about him, period, since he was offed so quickly by Ultron. As Strucker's one of my favorite villains, why do you think I'm disappointed by his treatment in the film?
I hope alongside steamwright that it was a LMD and not the real Strucker.
Cap also took him out pretty quickly at the beginning.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Are you calling the movie sh*t?
What exactly are you trying to argue? I've already stated I was disappointed by Strucker's treatment in the film and you're only mounting on more evidence of why.
How many times have HYDRA leaders faked their deaths.... or actually died in some cases, only to come back later in the comics?
For the "Actually died" bit... in one of Ophelia Sarkissian's(aka Viper, or Madame Hydra) more painful defeats she got buried under rubble.... tons of it, a full explanation has never been given, but her powers come from being an acolyte of Chthon. It's possible Chthon imbued her with some sort of magical immortality... as-is she looks around 25-30, but she's actually closer to 100 years old, if not more. She's one of the old-school HYDRA baddies who fought Cap in WW2.
My character Tsin'xing
Yeah... I'm hoping that she eventually appears in the MCU and hopefully receives better treatment than the other HYDRA heads have so far.
It did seem to come out of the blue. Of course we haven't seen them for a couple of years, so who knows how it happened, but we're given no setup or backstory to explain it. This goes back to my main complaint about too much crammed into the movie.
I thought all the character moments were good too. We got to see more sides of everyone, and they delved more into Black Widow's origin, etc and it was nice to see a real nod to her original origin from th comics although, again, with her birth fixed in 1984 - it's still a mystery to me how the KGB would be involved as by the time she was 'of age' the KGB no longer existed.
Again, I guess everyone goes in with different expectations, but I really enjoyed this one more than the first, and loved the character interactions and conflicts. for example, the situation where the Scarlet Witch KNOWS what Tony will probably do with Ulton's casket, and the rest of the team showing up to stop him, (and honestly BOTH sides had a point - it wasn't back and white and Tony even got Banner to see his side even after what happened to create the Ultron AI in the first place ); and in the end Thor showing up to do what he did <--- I thought the whole thing was a great character piece for all involved.
One of my favorite, smaller character bits was the fact Thor's Hammer did 'giggle' for Captain America when he tried to lift it,(and the look on Hemsworth's face as Thor was great when that happened.)
I was never a fan of 'The Vision' character from the Avengers comics (I read them from the mid 1960ies into the late 1970ies), but I have to say I really enjoy the tweaks they did to the character and his origin with this film, and I hope we'll get a chance to see more of the character in the MCU. He' not just your garden variety human built android using a refurbished body from the 1940ies (he was originally made using the original 'Human Torch' of WWII vintage which was itself an android); but now he is more a cybernetic artificial life-form that combines human, alien, and Asgardian technology. I also very much enjoyed his interaction with Thor's Hammer as well, and them discussing how well it's balanced, etc.
My biggest character disappointment was in regard to how they treated the Hulk in the second film. The writers seem to keep riding the line between:
Does 'the Hulk' have his own unique personality and is just letting people think he's a monster?
and/or
The Hulk is essentially mindless, driven mostly by instinct and influenced by banners 'motivations' (for want of a better term) as he changes?
In the first film they did give Banner AND the Hulk some scenes lines that reinforced the former as a possibility:
in the scene where one of the Chitari 'Dragons' is flying towards them and Captain America says:
"Dr. Banner, now might be a good time for you to get angry..."
And Banner relies:
"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry..."
And he then runs down the street turning into the Hulk as he goes and does a punch to the 'Dragon'.
https://youtu.be/NvY_sMf9b_Q?t=38
IMO - that scene to me showed Banner (at least in the first film) had more 'control' over the Hulk then he let on to those around him.
in the scene with Loki after the Hulk smashes Loki into the ground repeatedly - (and IMO is still one of the best scenes in that film) the Hulk, walking away says, "Puny god." Again, implying there is some intelligent control and distinct personality.
https://youtu.be/l8sLAJ1R9RU?t=41
In contrast, in the second film, the Hulk himself had no lines that I could make out, and until the Quinjet scene where Black Widow is saying they can't track the plane, the Hulk DOES push buttons to turn off the com-link, etc; indicating there IS some conscious deliberate thought and a unique personality - but IMO it's a step backward from what they were showing of the character's personality in the first Avengers film.
So yeah, I'm disappointed that they really have yet to give 'the Hulk' a real personality (and my favorite is the Hulk personality from the VERY early Hulk comic book appearances of the 1960ies where the Hulk WAS a separate yet still VERY intelligent personality (and it was the time where Banner just turned into the Hulk at night - anger had nothing to do with the change); so when it got close to sunrise - the Hulk would jump to the top of a high Mountain with no way down, or consume massive amounts of alcohol so that 'Banner' in effect was powerless to do anything until nightfall when the Hulk re-emerged.)
^^^
I'd enjoy seeing something like that done with the Hulk in a Marvel film myself...YMMV
Again in the end, everyone has different expectations, but I still give this film an A+ overall - and it shows what can be done by people who do respect the source material and don't try to change it just for perceived marketing concerns or to fit a 'formula' the studio may want for a 'typical summer blockbuster'.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
But it was the Wolverine movie, and she appeared to be a mutant. Oh and she got killed in a fight with Yukio. But... is she REALLY dead? She'd already regenerated from a seemingly mortal wound once.
That and this Viper never used the name Sarkissian. Instead she was called "Dr. Green". Alias? maybe... She also seemed to be affiliated with the Yashida clan, but she's NOT a Yashida she simply worked for them.... possibly part time.
My character Tsin'xing
The MCU and X-Men movie-verse are unconnected (different studios and film rights, after all), so it would be very easy to conclude that if she ever does appear in the MCU, she will be portrayed by a completely different actress and be completely different from her Wolverine appearance. Much like how the Quicksilver in this movie was completely different from the one in the Days of Future Past film.
Widow's origin was indeed a nice touch to the film. As to Hulk, the movies could be seen as a subtle (read "unstated") take on the comic canon where the madder Hulk gets, the stronger he gets...and the more brutish his gamma-induced multiple personality disorder gets. In such a situation, there will be moments when he is almost Banner, and moments when he is pure berserker.
Oh, and now a big reveal...
When I suggested Viper as the next Hydra head, I'd not considered a more important Hydra leader. May 7th's announcement over at Clevver Movies has embedded within it the answer, along with a pretty good announcement about Captain America: Civil War's cast. There's going to be a TON of stuff going on in the film. It's basically Avengers: The Next Generation. (and it will have a certain black-clad, claw-wearing prince!) Check it out.
A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
Yeah the MCU will probably treat Dr. Green as a different character than Ophelia Sarkissian. It doesn't really make a lot of sense for them NOT to.
My character Tsin'xing