![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
locker_monsterSo glad I had today off to see Avengers: Age of Ultron. Something tells me the theatres are going to be very busy this weekend...
First, an aside about the trailers in front of the movie. There were five: a brief teaser for Mockingjay Part 2, the new trailer for Fantastic Four, the new teaser trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a trailer for Ant-Man, and a trailer for Tomorrowland. No Star Wars trailer, which was a surprise, since it's Disney, which also owns Marvel. Though, you do end up with three Marvel/Disney properties, so you know who's winning in that department. Man, Batman v Superman better not suck or DC has no chance in heck in keeping up with Marvel.
Anyway, on to the Avengers:
I'd say it's a solid B+. It's not perfect, but it does the job. There are quieter moments in the movie, which probably stems from the fact that you don't have to have an origin story. You can devote more of the plot to the characters rather than the action pieces. Everyone gets some sort of emotional arc, which is nice.
- Tony is still dealing with his experience going through the portal at the end of the first Avengers movie. Ultron only comes about because Tony is trying to protect the entire world. This obviously leads to some conflict, which I'm sure will get a pay off in Captain America: Civil War.
- Bruce and Natasha get a bit of a love story, which I was not expecting at all. Of all of the guys to be paired up with, Bruce was the last one I would think of. But I am glad that they didn't go with an obvious choice. Natasha is surrounded by muscle bound guys all the time, so maybe it was only natural for her to fall for the science guy. I'm not sure the relationship entirely works, but it does allow for more insight into Natasha's past.
- Like, how Natasha is sterile because of the Black Widow program. We need a solo Black Widow movie, stat. Natasha's life has not been easy and I want to see how this affects her outside of the team. She wants to have a normal life like everyone else, but that seems impossible for her.
- And a back story for Clint! He's lives on a farm. He's married. And he has kids! He's not just a guy with a bow and arrow. I was actually worried he would die in the movie because we got to meet his family. Because the second you set up that a character has a loving family, it immediately puts them in the cross-hairs. Clint doesn't die, though, thank goodness. I like that he and Natasha are best friends. Hanging with the Bartons is probably her only chance to kick back and relax and forget about being a super spy.
- Thor doesn't get much of an arc. He works out some stuff about the Infinity Stones, but there's barely any mention of what he's been doing on Earth since Thor: The Dark World. I guess hanging with Jane and learning about human culture.
- Steve also gets short changed when it comes to a meaningful arc. There is a little something when Scarlet Witch gets inside his head and he has a dream about Peggy. He's still trying to fit into the 21st century, and he's not ready to let go of Peggy. It was nice to see her, brief though it was. I do believe Hayley Atwell is on screen for less than a minute, but her name makes it onto the poster, so it's clearly a sign of how awesome she is. :-)
Anyway, I'm glad Joss took the time to service each team member in some small way. He could have easily cut that stuff out. Hopefully, the Blu-ray will have more. I hear there will be an extended cut, so fingers crossed, we get more character moments.
But can we have a movie where it's all team banter? My god, I love the team banter in this movie. They've bonded a lot since The Avengers and it shows. Everyone is so comfortable with each other. Tony and Bruce are science bros, everyone ribs Steve about his wholesome ways, and there's just general teasing all around. I wish we could have seen the team getting to know each other, but alas, it's not in the cards. At least we get to see everyone having a go at lifting Thor's hammer. And it's a thing they all talk about. I laughed when, at the end of the movie, Steve and Tony are still debating the rules about who can lift Mjolnir. Steve's thing about how if Mjolnir is in an elevator and the elevator goes up and does that make the elevator worthy was so funny. See, this is Joss to the core.
There's not much about the plot that needs discussing. Tony creates Ultron, Ultron is evil, Ultron tries to take over the world by wiping out humanity, Ultron is defeated. I feel like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are solely introduced so the roster of the Avengers can be switched around. Even then, only Wanda joins the team. Poor Pietro. I wonder if his death will cause Wanda to become unstable. That seems to be her thing in the comics, being unstable. But maybe this is the way to produce longevity. By showing that the team members can change, you ensure that the movies can keep going with new characters. At the very least, this allows for more characters from the comics to be introduced.
Oh, and it did seem like a lot of set-up was going on for future movies. There's heavy set-up for the Infinity Wars. In fact, that bit felt a little shoehorned in. Thor's side trip to some mystic pool was weird. But hey, we get a shirtless Thor out of it, so you can complain too much. ;-) Civil War was probably getting some set-up, too. There's some conflict between Steve and Tony, but they also introduce Klaw, who's a Black Panther villain, and Black Panther is set to appear in Civil War. Um, was that it? God, there's so many Marvel movies to come. Supposedly, they wanted to introduce Captain Marvel in this movie, but they wrote her out. I think it was a smart movie. She'll get a proper introduction in her own movie.
Odds and ends: I'm glad supporting characters from the other movies got to pop up. Sam appears and gets to join the New Avengers, Erik makes an appearance, and Rhodey lends a hand and joins the New Avengers as well. It's a nice reminder that all of these movies are connected and that the characters go off to do their own things once the movie is over. Though, what was Sam talking about, when he mentioned a missing person? Are he and Steve private eyes or something in their spare time? No Pepper or Jane, though they do get a mention. It was kind of adorable how proud Steve and Thor were of them, but you do get a nice eyeroll from Maria. Looks like Maria works for the Avengers as their Oracle (to reference another comic book completely). Avengers Tower looks like an awesome penthouse. I wish we got to see more of it. Oh, the opening scene was wonderful. Yet again, they did a continuous shot of the team in battle and it's glorious. I do love it when Joss does a one-shot take. The big fight at the end was pretty cool, too. Why is the Hulkbuster satellite thing called Veronica? Is it a reference to Betty and Veronica? Oh, and I love how coordinated the team was this go around. You notice it right away when they're fighting. Thor and Steve use the hammer and shield together in some neat ways and they have a Code Green if they need the Hulk to join a fight. Bruce and Natasha even have a way to calm the Hulk. Looks like it's a conditioning thing. Once Natasha says her phrase, it must trigger something in Hulk's head.
And it's kind of crazy how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to do this mad dance for the entire season to get everything synced up for the movie.
Funny thing is, the show doesn't need to tie in to the movie. All that ends up happening is Coulson finds the location of Loki's sceptre and he gets to say "Time to send in the Avengers" to Maria. Well, when you get to the movie, you don't question how the team knows where Strucker and List are holed up; the attack is already happening. It is a nice pay off if you watch the show, but it didn't need to happen. The fact that the show has to connect with the movies is one of the problems with the show. The writers are beholden to events that won't happen until much later in the season, so they spend all of this time setting things up. Sure, on the one hand, they know where the season is going, but it also restricts them. And this is going to happen every season. As long as AoS is on, there will likely be a Marvel movie released during the course of a season that the writers will have to reference. We'll see how this current season ends now that they've done their job of setting up the movie. There's no giant paradigm shift this time to shake things up.
And just a head's up: there's no post-credit scene. There's a quick mid-credit scene, but that's it, so no need to hang around to the very end of the credits. I can't believe people got up and left before the mid-credit scene, though. Have you never seen a Marvel movie before?
First, an aside about the trailers in front of the movie. There were five: a brief teaser for Mockingjay Part 2, the new trailer for Fantastic Four, the new teaser trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a trailer for Ant-Man, and a trailer for Tomorrowland. No Star Wars trailer, which was a surprise, since it's Disney, which also owns Marvel. Though, you do end up with three Marvel/Disney properties, so you know who's winning in that department. Man, Batman v Superman better not suck or DC has no chance in heck in keeping up with Marvel.
Anyway, on to the Avengers:
I'd say it's a solid B+. It's not perfect, but it does the job. There are quieter moments in the movie, which probably stems from the fact that you don't have to have an origin story. You can devote more of the plot to the characters rather than the action pieces. Everyone gets some sort of emotional arc, which is nice.
- Tony is still dealing with his experience going through the portal at the end of the first Avengers movie. Ultron only comes about because Tony is trying to protect the entire world. This obviously leads to some conflict, which I'm sure will get a pay off in Captain America: Civil War.
- Bruce and Natasha get a bit of a love story, which I was not expecting at all. Of all of the guys to be paired up with, Bruce was the last one I would think of. But I am glad that they didn't go with an obvious choice. Natasha is surrounded by muscle bound guys all the time, so maybe it was only natural for her to fall for the science guy. I'm not sure the relationship entirely works, but it does allow for more insight into Natasha's past.
- Like, how Natasha is sterile because of the Black Widow program. We need a solo Black Widow movie, stat. Natasha's life has not been easy and I want to see how this affects her outside of the team. She wants to have a normal life like everyone else, but that seems impossible for her.
- And a back story for Clint! He's lives on a farm. He's married. And he has kids! He's not just a guy with a bow and arrow. I was actually worried he would die in the movie because we got to meet his family. Because the second you set up that a character has a loving family, it immediately puts them in the cross-hairs. Clint doesn't die, though, thank goodness. I like that he and Natasha are best friends. Hanging with the Bartons is probably her only chance to kick back and relax and forget about being a super spy.
- Thor doesn't get much of an arc. He works out some stuff about the Infinity Stones, but there's barely any mention of what he's been doing on Earth since Thor: The Dark World. I guess hanging with Jane and learning about human culture.
- Steve also gets short changed when it comes to a meaningful arc. There is a little something when Scarlet Witch gets inside his head and he has a dream about Peggy. He's still trying to fit into the 21st century, and he's not ready to let go of Peggy. It was nice to see her, brief though it was. I do believe Hayley Atwell is on screen for less than a minute, but her name makes it onto the poster, so it's clearly a sign of how awesome she is. :-)
Anyway, I'm glad Joss took the time to service each team member in some small way. He could have easily cut that stuff out. Hopefully, the Blu-ray will have more. I hear there will be an extended cut, so fingers crossed, we get more character moments.
But can we have a movie where it's all team banter? My god, I love the team banter in this movie. They've bonded a lot since The Avengers and it shows. Everyone is so comfortable with each other. Tony and Bruce are science bros, everyone ribs Steve about his wholesome ways, and there's just general teasing all around. I wish we could have seen the team getting to know each other, but alas, it's not in the cards. At least we get to see everyone having a go at lifting Thor's hammer. And it's a thing they all talk about. I laughed when, at the end of the movie, Steve and Tony are still debating the rules about who can lift Mjolnir. Steve's thing about how if Mjolnir is in an elevator and the elevator goes up and does that make the elevator worthy was so funny. See, this is Joss to the core.
There's not much about the plot that needs discussing. Tony creates Ultron, Ultron is evil, Ultron tries to take over the world by wiping out humanity, Ultron is defeated. I feel like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are solely introduced so the roster of the Avengers can be switched around. Even then, only Wanda joins the team. Poor Pietro. I wonder if his death will cause Wanda to become unstable. That seems to be her thing in the comics, being unstable. But maybe this is the way to produce longevity. By showing that the team members can change, you ensure that the movies can keep going with new characters. At the very least, this allows for more characters from the comics to be introduced.
Oh, and it did seem like a lot of set-up was going on for future movies. There's heavy set-up for the Infinity Wars. In fact, that bit felt a little shoehorned in. Thor's side trip to some mystic pool was weird. But hey, we get a shirtless Thor out of it, so you can complain too much. ;-) Civil War was probably getting some set-up, too. There's some conflict between Steve and Tony, but they also introduce Klaw, who's a Black Panther villain, and Black Panther is set to appear in Civil War. Um, was that it? God, there's so many Marvel movies to come. Supposedly, they wanted to introduce Captain Marvel in this movie, but they wrote her out. I think it was a smart movie. She'll get a proper introduction in her own movie.
Odds and ends: I'm glad supporting characters from the other movies got to pop up. Sam appears and gets to join the New Avengers, Erik makes an appearance, and Rhodey lends a hand and joins the New Avengers as well. It's a nice reminder that all of these movies are connected and that the characters go off to do their own things once the movie is over. Though, what was Sam talking about, when he mentioned a missing person? Are he and Steve private eyes or something in their spare time? No Pepper or Jane, though they do get a mention. It was kind of adorable how proud Steve and Thor were of them, but you do get a nice eyeroll from Maria. Looks like Maria works for the Avengers as their Oracle (to reference another comic book completely). Avengers Tower looks like an awesome penthouse. I wish we got to see more of it. Oh, the opening scene was wonderful. Yet again, they did a continuous shot of the team in battle and it's glorious. I do love it when Joss does a one-shot take. The big fight at the end was pretty cool, too. Why is the Hulkbuster satellite thing called Veronica? Is it a reference to Betty and Veronica? Oh, and I love how coordinated the team was this go around. You notice it right away when they're fighting. Thor and Steve use the hammer and shield together in some neat ways and they have a Code Green if they need the Hulk to join a fight. Bruce and Natasha even have a way to calm the Hulk. Looks like it's a conditioning thing. Once Natasha says her phrase, it must trigger something in Hulk's head.
And it's kind of crazy how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to do this mad dance for the entire season to get everything synced up for the movie.
Funny thing is, the show doesn't need to tie in to the movie. All that ends up happening is Coulson finds the location of Loki's sceptre and he gets to say "Time to send in the Avengers" to Maria. Well, when you get to the movie, you don't question how the team knows where Strucker and List are holed up; the attack is already happening. It is a nice pay off if you watch the show, but it didn't need to happen. The fact that the show has to connect with the movies is one of the problems with the show. The writers are beholden to events that won't happen until much later in the season, so they spend all of this time setting things up. Sure, on the one hand, they know where the season is going, but it also restricts them. And this is going to happen every season. As long as AoS is on, there will likely be a Marvel movie released during the course of a season that the writers will have to reference. We'll see how this current season ends now that they've done their job of setting up the movie. There's no giant paradigm shift this time to shake things up.
And just a head's up: there's no post-credit scene. There's a quick mid-credit scene, but that's it, so no need to hang around to the very end of the credits. I can't believe people got up and left before the mid-credit scene, though. Have you never seen a Marvel movie before?
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-05-02 08:42 am (UTC)Yes! The team banter was unquestionably my favorite part of the movie. I would be so excited to watch a movie all about the Avengers hanging around at a dinner party. Well, I guess that's why we have fanfic.
I'm 99% sure that Steve and Sam's "missing person" refers to Bucky. Steve must be searching for his brainwashed best friend after CA: TWS, so if he is too busy Avenging to search full time then it makes sense that he would enlist Sam to help.
I thought from the trailers that the film would be doing some Natasha/Bruce romantic tension, but I was somewhat surprised that it was so out in the open. The ship makes sense to me, at least in terms of Nat's fascination with Bruce: Bruce is simultaneously a gentler soul than almost all her other friends, and a monster that she feels is similar to her own darker aspects. My heart ships Natasha/Clint, but I can still enjoy the love story the film gave us.
I'm still disoriented about Clint owning a farm and being married, since the comics have so firmly associated him in my brain with living in New York with Pizza Dog, fucking up relationships and drinking coffee straight from the pot. I don't even know how to feel about this change for the cinematic universe, because my brain keeps getting stuck. Hawkeye with kids? Appearing to have his life remarkably together? Does not compute! I did love that he has apparently brought Natasha here before, getting her in touch with the normal, nurturing life she has never had. You have a good point that having a family (including a pregnant wife) would often be a recipe for death, so I'm really glad the film didn't go there.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-02 01:41 pm (UTC)Or just kicking back with beers, as they were doing after their victory party. Since they were goofing around with Thor's hammer, I wonder if they goof around with each other's equipment. Like, do they play around with Steve's shield or have they tried out Clint's bow and arrows? Maybe the extended cut is all of the team just hanging out and talking. It could happen, right?
I'm 99% sure that Steve and Sam's "missing person" refers to Bucky.
Ah yes, that totally makes sense. I had forgotten about Bucky. I'm still entertained by the notion that Steve and Sam are PIs in their down time, though. That'd be an awesome TV show. The Cap and the Falcon. ;-)
I've never read the Hawkeye comics, so his family situation wasn't strange for me. I'm just glad we got to learn more about him and that he had more to do in this movie. Ooh, maybe they can do a Hawkeye/Black Widow team-up movie? Because it's unfair that Clint and Natasha only exist as supporting players in the other movies.