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

[Ethros]

May 1st? It's the 23rd of April, and Avengers: Age of Ultron is out now in numerous parts of the world, so as to not spoil it for people in the "news" thread we better create a proper review thread really.

Seems a long time ago we got this huh? But the wait is finally over.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr5rzSMNmRM[/yt]


[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAUoeqvedMo[/yt]

 

[Ethros]

My first question to people who've seen it- did it seem kinda blurry grey to you? At my screening the colours just seemed kinda zapped out of it a bit, I couldn't put my finger on it. I just wondered if it was the cinema screen or whether it was meant to be like that. It was in 3D for the record.




But overall definitely enjoyed it. I tried to avoid any reviews so as to not spoil anything; the only one I did see was simply the headline which gave it 4/5 and said it was very good but just a little too big for its own good. I think I'd agree with that, Ultron especially I feel got sidelined a bit. Really didn't live to all that hype he got after that first trailer. I mean Spader was great, but just his whole scheme etc... basically just yet again the MCU don't achieve an amazing villain.
I'll post some more thoughts later. Loved the ending


As for...

Spoiler: spoilerfic folks, you've been warned... twice

killing Quicksilver. I didn't really see it coming, it's a shame they already announced Renner for Civil War as it obviously played out a lot like it would be him. But I can understand why Quicksilver would be the most "expendable," when there's already a version in the X-Men movies, there's a Flash TV show, and a sperate Flash in the DCU coming. How many "fast running superheroes" do they need maybe?

 

[intrinsical]

My first question to people who've seen it- did it seem kinda blurry grey to you? At my screening the colours just seemed kinda zapped out of it a bit, I couldn't put my finger on it. I just wondered if it was the cinema screen or whether it was meant to be like that. It was in 3D for the record.

Yes, I had that same feeling too. Especially in the fight for a certain important substance, I could barely make out anything.


By the way, how do you guys feel about the new Avengers roster at the end of the movie?

 

[Dac]

^I like the roster, but the rationale for the others leaving was practically non-existent.

As for the movie, I liked plenty of individual bits and pieces and scenes on their own - as a cohesive whole though the movie is a mess. I give it a C+ - a weak ending to Phase II.

 

[Frodo Lives]

The New Avengers roster is ok, but I was rather disappointed with how empty the rest of the hanger was. Talk about a missed opportunity, especially with Civil War coming, why not expand the roster just a bit more than already introduced characters. Damnit Rogers, you've got an entire training campus for God's sake (hehe).

They should have had the entire Avengers Initiative in there. It didn't even need to have Spidey, just a bunch of Marvel's D-listers, some of whom I think are exceedingly under-appreciated.

As for Ultron himself, I have a lot of problems with, chief among them; he was too likable. Spader did an amazing job and we've never seen an AI with such personality in film ever before I'd say.

I found myself kind of rooting for him, but not in the same way I liked Loki and wanted to see more of him, Ultron just did not seem like a villain - he had no real malice is what I'm trying to say.

He was one guy against what was essentially a team of total dicks - and Barton. He was the underdog, even if his way of going about the extinction of humanity was horrifically stupid, it had a kind of artistic mad genius to it that you kind of had to admire.

Loki was witty and funny, but moreover, deliciously evil, he reveled in the chaos he caused. Whereas Ultron just goes about chaos very matter of factly, which is odd considering how warm and emotional he is the rest of the time.

I also thought giving him a moving mouth and lips was a bad move, it just seemed completely out of place, why in the hell would a robot need lips?

And did I miss something, or was Ultron specially programmed not to be able to directly kill the Avengers? Sure his drones gave it a good try, but he had Widow at his complete mercy and could have off'ed her at any time and dealt the Avengers a grave blow, but didn't, WTF?

Spoiler: Spoilerish spoiler

The one Avenger he does off is the one who wasn't actually an Avenger when he was created. And seriously, Stark, he couldn't have borrowed some body armour? You just send him out in some sweats?

Overall I liked the movie, but it ranks at about an Iron Man 3 level of enjoyment; I enjoyed it, but if you stop to think about it a whole heap of shit doesn't make sense.

Loved Barton's expanded storyline though, that was great.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

My first question to people who've seen it- did it seem kinda blurry grey to you? At my screening the colours just seemed kinda zapped out of it a bit, I couldn't put my finger on it. I just wondered if it was the cinema screen or whether it was meant to be like that. It was in 3D for the record.

Definately yes. I thought that my theater forgot to turn brightness higher. I had hard time following some of the darker action scenes. 3D movies always should have higher than normal brightness since 3D glasses dim the picture little bit.

 

[Tosk]

My screening looked just fine.

Content-wise, I'm very satisfied. Sure, it's not in the top three of MCU movies for me, but the first Avengers isn't either, so no crime there. Everyone had something to do, it had a light sense of fun, a charismatic villain, awesome sequences...thumbs up.

It's not without downsides, but nothing that ruined the enjoyment for me. And it shows how far we've come that a movie like this would be getting "Eh, it was okay" reviews when it would have destroyed nerd minds 10 years ago.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Here's my (spoiler-free) review.

Overall I thought it was a lot of fun but it didn't blow me away. I got a bit of action fatigue by the end of it as well. What did people think of the mid-credits scene? I thought it was redundant and would much rather have seen something from a character we hadn't seen before.

I was really hoping they were going to have a little reference to Spider-Man as well, even if it was just a strand of web hanging from the screen at the end of the credits.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

Disappointing mid-credits scene. I guess they just felt the need to remind everyone that Thanos is still around.



I'm kind of surprised after this movie that Hawkeye is still going to be in the Civil War. Or will it be just Barton without costume and bow and arrows? I got the feeling that he retired at the end.

 

[EyalM]

I liked it better then the first one. Mostly because Ulton was a more likable villain. Although his motivations were not clear (from "I need to protect humanity" to "I want humanity to evolve" to flat out "I will just kill everyone").

Did anyone feel like the final battle was, on some level, a response the Man Of Steel's Metropolis destruction debate? They just put so much focus on saving civilians and its importance.

Some nitpicks:
I felt like the Vision was completely useless. He could have been cut from the movie and nothing would have changed.
How does this movie work with Iron man 3? Tony destroyed all the suites there, and now he has them again.
How the hell would Wanda(?) know Tony would build Ulton because of the vision she gave him?
One last note: Why does everyone keep their sensitive computer systems connected to the Internet? Tony did it. Hydra did it. Even the nuclear weapons were accessible from the Internet (This was very close to a Terminator origin story )

And did I miss something, or was Ultron specially programmed not to be able to directly kill the Avengers? Sure his drones gave it a good try, but he had Widow at his complete mercy and could have off'ed her at any time and dealt the Avengers a grave blow, but didn't, WTF?

All the drones were Ultron. Having one be distinct and do all the talking seems to be for the benefit of the audience.
But even the "main" drone fought Thor and Iron man directly. I think he kept Widow alive because he needed someone to talk to. The way Banner just walked into Ultron's lair to save her was kind of stupid though. At first I even thought he was a fake.

What did people think of the mid-credits scene? I thought it was redundant and would much rather have seen something from a character we hadn't seen before.

I was pointless. And also disconnected, as the character acted like he had some involvement with the events of the movie, which he didn't.

 

[Ethros]

In regards to the plot being a mess, mmm, it wasn't the tidiest I will say. I did feel like for my friend and I watching it, having seen all the other movies more than once, and having a fair bit of knowledge about the Marvel universe it was ok. But for just a general movie goer, who may not have seen all the previous movies, a lot of it really would make you think "wtf"



Some random thoughts (most are a bit negative, not that I didn't like the film but they're just sticking out)-

-Thor's whole "journey" did seem a bit of a waste looking back. Kind of setting up Infinity Wars and (I presume) Thor: Ragnarok, but as a whole in this film it didn't really go anywhere.

-Was it really necessary to have Idris Elba & Hayley Atwell's names on the poster? I'd rather have had their appearances be a surprise. Same for Anthony Mackie really.

-No real explanation of how Tony/Iron Man came back after the end of Iron Man 3, he just was.

-The New Avengers scene was awesome, Scarlet Witch looked hot. But it would have been nice to have had a little cameos from maybe Ant-Man, Dr Strange, Black Panther etc, but I understand if they wanna save them for later.

-Hawkeye's thing of "I've been possessed. Not a fan" was awesome Some really nice stuff for him to play with in this movie. Although if he had a wife and kids I don't really get why Black Widow was wearing an arrow necklace in The Winter Soldier then.

-Baron Von Stucker... so he didn't really do much huh?

-It'll be interesting to see how Agents of Shield intersects in its remaining Season 2 episodes then. I presume a lot will be at the start with Dr List, and it'd be nice to see Von Strucker, seen as he did naff all in the movie. And when Nick Fury showed up at the end saying he brought some old friends, I was really hoping to see Coulson on that helicarrier. Alas


-The mid creits scene was a bit too "blink and you'll miss it." Again, this is that thing of hardcore fans enjoying it but average movie being left clueless. We all know the glove has a tiny cameo in the Asgard vault room in Thor 1, so we know that's where Thanos was. But most of the "norms" won't know that, or know that's where it was supposed to be. They could have at least made that scene a little longer, establishing that it was Asgard, see Thanos break in etc. That's my problem with the MCU movies- I enjoy them, but they all come across as so damn rushed.

 

[Dac]

Heres a large part of my issue with the flick - the Avengers was a culmination of Phase I. All the phase I films introduced elements that came into play in the Avengers. Characters, villains, plot points are ALL introduced in parts of the original Phase I. Phase II has nothing like this. Excluding Guardians because thats off doing its own thing, Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Cap Winter Soldier have very minor elements which connect to Age of Ultron (IM3 - Tony's world ending fears, Thor 2. . ., Cap 2 - Falcon) but nothing major is introduced that then comes into play in AoU. And the twins being in the post credit scene for Winter Soldier don't count, because they did fuck all and theres zero backstory on them. Due to the sheer lack of buildup throughout Phase II, AoU has to do all the world building/character building within it that Avengers didn't have to do. This just adds to the messy nature of the flick with a million and one things happening.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

I liked it better then the first one. Mostly because Ulton was a more likable villain. Although his motivations were not clear (from "I need to protect humanity" to "I want humanity to evolve" to flat out "I will just kill everyone").

Did anyone feel like the final battle was, on some level, a response the Man Of Steel's Metropolis destruction debate? They just put so much focus on saving civilians and its importance.

Whedon said that him and Feige talked about the level of destruction and how to portray it on screen.

http://www.vulture.com/2015/04/how-man-of-steel.html

I haven't seen the movie yet but from all the reviews I've read, they all say there is a pronounced emphasis on the Avengers saving people. I'm not sure if this effects the pass of the final battle, can someone else comment? From what I've read, it sounds like AoU is another Battle of the Five Armies. A film that is one long action scene.

 

[Ol' Scratch]

-No real explanation of how Tony/Iron Man came back after the end of Iron Man 3, he just was.

The end of Iron Man 3 was the explanation. It clearly showed that he couldn't break his addiction to being Iron Man despite having said so earlier, complete with him going back to his house, scavenging what he could of his armor-building tools, and riding off into the sunset with it.

 

[Ethros]

I haven't seen the movie yet but from all the reviews I've read, they all say there is a pronounced emphasis on the Avengers saving people. I'm not sure if this effects the pass of the final battle, can someone else comment? From what I've read, it sounds like AoU is another Battle of the Five Armies. A film that is one long action scene.

Yeah there is a bit of that.
And there is some really nice mellow stuff in the middle of the movie without saying too much, so don't worry.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I absolutely loved it. For me, Ultron was the best MCU villain yet, and really the only great supervillain they've had who was truly 100% supervillain (Loki seems to go back and forth a bit).

The pace definitely was much higher than the first movie, which is something I don't usually enjoy, but this time it really worked. The character building was a major highlight of the film for me and I'm glad it was in this one rather than the previous phase 2 films because it worked together really well. The only one that didn't seem to fit entirely was Thor's vision, which was ultimately much more about the infinity stones than Ultron. That thread of the film was a lot more about pushing the upcoming storylines than I would've expected, but it fit in enough for it to not bother me.

Ultimately it comes down to this for me: I never really payed attention to the Avengers or their part of the marvel universe growing up. I barely knew who any of these characters were when the MCU started. The movies up to now have all been (mostly) fun and I've discovered some really cool heroes, but this is the one that has made me absolutely fall in love with all these characters. The ones I liked from the other movies keep getting better. The ones I didn't really like that much suddenly felt 1,000 times more real and interesting. Thor actually feels like a grown-up now. Dr. Banner and Hawkeye got real depth and fantastic storylines. Even the new heroes (and Ultron) just blew me away. Elizabeth Olsen was just perfect - my favorite superheroine so far - and the whole dichotomy between Ultron and the Vision was outstanding. The last scene between Ultron and Vision in the woods was one of the best moments of the entire MCU so far.

 

[FPAlpha]

Just returned from the movies after a late night showingand maybe i was too tired but i kinda expected a better movie.

It's not bad but the parts never really seemed to work together.. it's like Whedon took a checklist and crossed off things he wanted to have in the movie without regard if it fit or if it helped the story.

The first battle was already disappointing.. the same montage of following a hero for a few seconds at a time as Whedon did in the first Avenger movie but back then i felt that was a brilliant idea and showed how well the team got together after the initial problems.

They lay the groundwork for the movie there and introduce the two Maximoff mutants.. oh wait..
That one really pissed me off a bit.. we all know that Marvel can't introduce mutants into the MCU for legal reasons but their "creation" story via the Mind Gem ist just so bland and missing the whole background from the comics.
I know it's not really Marvel's fault (who knew Superhero movies would explode like that after Batman and Robin nearly killed the entire genre) but why take these characters at all? I know that general movie audiences wouldn't care and wouldn't know but it still bothered me.

Then one of the few very good parts.. the after party where we got cameos galore from the MCU and the already spoiled Thor's Hammer pickup scene (which is still awesome and funny to see).

On to Ultron creation and i must say that Ultron disappointed me massively.. he was just such a mess characterwise and his plan was just so "Seen it a thousand times in other movies". I really expected more from Joss.

Bits and pieces were ok, most of the attempted humor fell flat for me and didn't come naturally as it did in the first movie.

The movie also came to a screeching halt when the visited Hawkeyes home and everybody got to mope around.

Thor's side adventure also didn't make much sense after the movie concluded and i just can't wrap my mind around Vision (also why is he able to lift Mjolnir when the obviously best candidate, Steve Rogers, is only able to move it slightly?).

For me the movie seemed more an amalgamation of parts than a coherent whole and it felt like a bridge movie to phase 3 and the Infinity War.

As quality of movies go i'd rate it somewhere in the middle.. it doesn't compare to the first Avengers, Cap 2 or Iron Man but for a tentpole movie it was not enough.

I hope Marvel is not settling down into their own cozy formula.. take some heroes, add humor and the occasional CGI battle, mix in a villain of some sort and shake for a while.

That formula can get pretty stale and for me it happened with Avengers 2.

The next movies though are different enough to hope for the best.. Ant Man (i love Paul Rudd), Doc Strange (finally Magic in the MCU, the should have made Scarlet With a mage instead of explaining her with the Infinity stone), Cap 3 - Civil War (that one could shake up the MCU once again if done right).

 

[intrinsical]

I heard that the original cut was 3.5 hours long and nearly an hour's worth of material had to be edit away. That's practically a quarter to a third of the movie left on the editor's floor... Little wonder there's pacing issues. I would love to see an extended edition in bluray.

 

[Jax]

I heard that the original cut was 3.5 hours long and nearly an hour's worth of material had to be edit away. That's practically a quarter to a third of the movie left on the editor's floor... Little wonder there's pacing issues. I would love to see an extended edition in bluray.

I hope when it comes to the 2 part Avenger finale for this current storyline of Thanos thats been building up in the background for several years, they don't cut away loads. I want to sit through 3 hour movies if the content fits, don't cut for sake of cutting.

 

[Reverend]

I'd say that was a distinct improvement over the previous Avengers movie. Entertaining villain, good chemistry from the core group, some spectacular action set pieces, a good balance of drama and humour and with expanded roles for Hawkeye & Banner (as well as several well placed cameos) it felt a lot more character oriented this time around.

Not that it's flawless (what film is?) but my only real gripe is that I'm still not exactly clear on what that whole bit with Thor and Selvig was supposed to be about.

I heard that the original cut was 3.5 hours long and nearly an hour's worth of material had to be edit away. That's practically a quarter to a third of the movie left on the editor's floor... Little wonder there's pacing issues. I would love to see an extended edition in bluray.

I doubt they cut out a full hour's worth of substantive material. This is something that quite often gets misrepresented, but typically when a film is said to have been an hour or more longer than the final film, what's really being talked about is the rough cut, which as the name suggests is basically just all the raw footage lined up in chronological order without all the inter-cutting, scene transitions, pacing. It's what happens at the *start* of editing.

Assuming that figure is even accurate, I pretty confident that 90% of what was cut was actually just a few seconds here and there at the beginning and end of each shot (you'd be surprised how quickly that adds up in a film like this with two to three thousand shots) maybe a line or two removed for pacing, brevity or a joke that fell a little flat.

In terms of whole scenes being removed, as the DVD will no doubt reveal, it'll likely amount to little more than 15 minutes.