Avengers: Age of Ultron- Grading & Discussion (spoilerific)

[Gryffindorian]

I saw it today, and I liked it a little better than the first movie. Characters like Natasha, Clint, and Dr. Banner were more fleshed out, especially focusing on Hawkeye's private family life and the budding romance between Black Widow and the Hulk.

Ultron's villain was more of an angsty teenager with daddy issues than the typical bad guy with a sinister plot to destroy mankind. He's emotionally volatile with a penchant for genocide. I'm not saying I didn't like him; it's just that for an AI program designed by Tony Stark, he evolved too quickly and went from zero to supervillain within nanoseconds.

The Vision and the Maximoff twins were a great addition to the team in their battle against Ultron and his metallic army. Paul Bettany's costume design was done well. Taylor- Johnson and Olsen's characters as the misguided and vengeful twins got better as they evolved as heroes fighting for a good cause.

Did anyone catch a glimpse of Stark's Jocasta program? And I thought for a moment the "safe haven" Barton was referring to was the the cabin that Skye stayed at on Agents of SHIELD.

Rating: A

 

[shivkala]

The last two or so weeks I kept reading reviews saying that AOU (a godawful abbreviation if there ever was one, probably only second to DOFP) was a disappointment, especially after Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy. I am happy to say that I disagree.

I like that we started in media res with throwaway lines to the effect that the Avengers have been active hunting down HYDRA in general and the scepter in specific. I was happy they went that direction, rather than a "threat emerges that requires the team to re-assesmble, angle." It allowed the characters to start off as a team, rather than a collection of people who only got together three years ago and haven't been working together since.

Ultron was the best part of the movie, in my opinion. Those who argued that Loki was the only fleshed-out villain in the MCU now have Ultron, too.

I really, really enjoyed it. I only hope Civil War keeps this up, as I felt Iron Man 3 was a huge let-down as the first non-Avengers film with an Avenger in it.

 

[Skywalker]

I really, really enjoyed it. I only hope Civil War keeps this up, as I felt Iron Man 3 was a huge let-down as the first non-Avengers film with an Avenger in it.

Speaking of which, does anyone else feel like AoU has made Iron Man 3 pretty much pointless?

 

[DEWLine]

Was the SHIELD agent on the helicarrier who had the "They're all full of people" line the same SHIELD agent who refused to launch the carriers in CA:TWS?

Exactly the guy. Glad to see he managed to survive this long!

And unless maybe he didn't want to jeopardize her spot in the CIA, I would've expected Fury to recruit Sharon for this.

She may not have have trained and qualified for Helicarrier bridge work.

 

[DEWLine]

Speaking of which, does anyone else feel like AoU has made Iron Man 3 pretty much pointless?

Nope. Winter Soldier pretty much nailed down Stark's motive for changing his mind. We didn't need to see Steve's conversation with Tony about what happened re: Tony's parents.

 

[Sistrin]

Nope. Winter Soldier pretty much nailed down Stark's motive for changing his mind. We didn't need to see Steve's conversation with Tony about what happened re: Tony's parents.

The Iron Man story line was always as much or more about the trials and tribulations of Tony Stark as it was about Iron Man. I thought the movies accurately reflected that, and thus found them good, enjoyable movies.

 

[Sci]

Speaking of which, does anyone else feel like AoU has made Iron Man 3 pretty much pointless?

Nope. Winter Soldier pretty much nailed down Stark's motive for changing his mind. We didn't need to see Steve's conversation with Tony about what happened re: Tony's parents.

Also, I think SHIELD collapsing and Hydra damn near killing more people in a day than died in the Holocaust is a pretty good reason to change his mind, without negating the emotional journey he took in IM3.

And hell -- he clearly hasn't abandoned his goal of being able to put his days as Iron Man behind him. He talkes in AoU about how he thinks the goal ought to be to make superheroes unnecessary.

 

[Skywalker]

Speaking of which, does anyone else feel like AoU has made Iron Man 3 pretty much pointless?

Nope. Winter Soldier pretty much nailed down Stark's motive for changing his mind. We didn't need to see Steve's conversation with Tony about what happened re: Tony's parents.

Also, I think SHIELD collapsing and Hydra damn near killing more people in a day than died in the Holocaust is a pretty good reason to change his mind, without negating the emotional journey he took in IM3.

And hell -- he clearly hasn't abandoned his goal of being able to put his days as Iron Man behind him. He talkes in AoU about how he thinks the goal ought to be to make superheroes unnecessary.

The thing is that AoU--Tony's first appearance since IM3--never touched on the events of TWS convincing him to un-retire, and we don't really need to see him dealing with his PTSD issues in IM3 in order to understand his mindset in AoU, either. His vision in the cold open, and his argument with Cap at Hawkeye's place, make it abundantly clear how he feels about this superhero business now that it's gotten real. Anyone could skip IM3 and not miss a beat.

 

[tomalak301]

I've been thinking about this movie a lot today since I've seen it and the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am. I love the Marvel universe, how things seem to come together and how things build and build and that momentum never stops. As a non-reader of the Comic books, I find the films really entertaining.

Today I went to see the new Avengers movie and while I liked it, I was underwhelmed with it. It seemed like there was way too much going on, maybe for it's own good, and that hindered the overall story very much. Also, the film felt really disconnected from the Phase 2 films we've seen in the last few years. For example, I thought Tony was hanging up the Iron Man suit and retiring, yet he's right back into it with no explaination to connect this film to Iron Man 3. It also seemed like the other characters didn't get that much to do, except for the Hulk, which I really want to see a Hulk film with Ruffalo and maybe Johannsen. I felt this way after Avengers and I feel it now. He and his character moments with Nat were the best parts of the movie.

I also was a little annoyed with the Dialog. It seemed like every other line was a "Whedon'ism" and during the action scenes it was starting to grate on the nerves. Overall, it wasn't a bad film and it was a nice Summer film but it's probably one of my top least favorite marvel films, with the Second Thor and Iron Man 2.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Speaking of which, does anyone else feel like AoU has made Iron Man 3 pretty much pointless?

I feel that Iron Man 3 made Iron Man 3 pointless....

 

[Tosk]

The ending of Iron Man 3 was Tony sweeping away the remnants of his post-Chitauri PTSD, he doesn't say anything about hanging it up for good. If anything, the last scene before the credits implies the opposite. ...IMO, naturally.

 

[shivkala]

Apologies for posting this in both threads, but for those who watch Agents of Shield, but don't read the show's thread:

Spoiler: Discussion of current AOS storyline

Could this new Avengers Facility/Avengers Initiative as a replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D. be "Theta Protocol"? Coulson is gathering powered people seemingly to train them. The end of AOU shows Cap and Natasha training the next group of Avengers. Perhaps Coulson and crew will seek out more candidates and even assist in training some of them. Skye and Mike/Deathlock could be trained there. Cap/Natasha's group could be the "Graduate Level" training, whereas others would start off smaller.

 

[Reverend]

Why do people think IM3 ended with Stark retiring? Because the Malibu home was wrecked? Because he finally got around to having the shrapnel removed? Because he threw the Mk3 chest piece into the sea?

Apparently people weren't paying attention to the closing dialogue: -
"My armor was never a distraction or a hobby, it was a cocoon, and now I'm a changed man. You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys, but one thing you can't take away - I am Iron Man."

It's all right there. He no longer *needs* the armour to cope and understands that he *is* Iron Man with or without it.

Plus of course the framing scene takes place at Avengers tower with Banner sat right next to him. So there's that.

 

[DEWLine]

So, you have Nick Fury, apparently out of hiding, running a large Avengers organization with access to a hellicarrier, with Maria Hill working for him, all apparently under the umbrella of Stark Industries...

.... is it just me, or is this basically just SHIELD by another name? What does this imply for Coulson's team on the show? Is their SHIELD, or the Gonazales!SHIELD, going to merge with Stark-Industries!Off-Brand-SHIELD?

Coulson's been feeding intel to Hill and, through her, to the Avengers. Also, I suspect that "Theta Protocol" is the name for the new Avengers infrastructure. So that linkage is already established.

 

[DEWLine]

By the by, those coastal shipbreaking yard scenes?

Apparently, they have roots in reality.

http://recyclingships.blogspot.ca/2011/04/highly-toxic-chemicals-found-polluting.html

http://www.marineinsight.com/marine...this-the-largest-ship-graveyard-in-the-world/

 

[Reverend]

Apropos of nothing, but anyone else spot that Stark had several AI chips when he was loading up FRIDAY? I didn't catch them all but I did see one that said "Jocasta", which I've only just gotten around to looking up.

Could be just another nod/easter egg for the fans, but then so was Captain America's Shield when it showed up in Iron Man 1 & 2.

 

[Kemaiku]

It depends how many of them are remotely complete or close to Jarvis in terms of complexity, he might have been looking for Friday in particular. In the comics she was he secretarial AI.

We might see some of them doing lesser tasks in furture movies, Veronica might be a speaking next time, or the Avengers Tower run by one while others run the suits etc

Right now I'm happy with Friday being the new AI.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Maybe I'll pick up on it better with a repeat viewing, but somebody explain to me exactly who/what the Vision was? Was it Jarvis? The Mind Gem AI? Some fusion of both?

Or was Ultron the Mind Gem AI?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Maybe I'll pick up on it better with a repeat viewing, but somebody explain to me exactly who/what the Vision was? Was it Jarvis? The Mind Gem AI? Some fusion of both?

Or was Ultron the Mind Gem AI?

Well, from what I understand, Vision is neither, but an emergent result of a bit of all of them.

Jarvis, Mind Gem AI and Ultron are sort of his parents. His existance gives the term cybersex new meaning!

 

[theenglish]

Why do people think IM3 ended with Stark retiring? Because the Malibu home was wrecked? Because he finally got around to having the shrapnel removed? Because he threw the Mk3 chest piece into the sea?

Apparently people weren't paying attention to the closing dialogue: -
"My armor was never a distraction or a hobby, it was a cocoon, and now I'm a changed man. You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys, but one thing you can't take away - I am Iron Man."

It's all right there. He no longer *needs* the armour to cope and understands that he *is* Iron Man with or without it.

Plus of course the framing scene takes place at Avengers tower with Banner sat right next to him. So there's that.

I didn't realize people took this movie to mean Tony was retiring. Personally, I liked IM3 precisely because it did not try to be Avengers.

Instead the writers went the opposite direction and made a very personal Tony Stark story and I thought that worked really well.