Avengers: Age of Ultron - discussion (spoilers!)

Took the wife and kids to the cinema to see this as a family treat. Was not in the slightest bit disappointed.

The film is frenetic, with a few slow but meaningful scenes, punctuated by action scenes with increasingly higher stakes. All the humour is there from before, and there are some nice soft personal touches - Hawkeye and Banner/Hulk especially.

Even better, the Avengers is global, with big action sequences taking place in Uganda, South Korea, and Russia.

If there was one niggle it's that Joss Whedon tended to shy away from realising consequence of potentially mortal danger.

I did, however, love the question they posed about the difference between being a hero and a monster - very well done.

The end climax in Russia was staggering and unexpected - the film constantly fights itself to create bigger and better dramatic tensions.

However, it was the fight between Iron Man and Hulk that really got me - not least because we saw the perspective - and fear - of the ordinary people caught up in it. And the scene where Iron Man and Hulk plunge through the skyscraper under construction - I could practically taste the dust of it.

A truly, hugely, ambitious film, unrestrained by imagination or budget.

And at the end, it closes the story to open what looks like it could be an interesting new chapter.

ADDED: Also good to see the way the film connected with the other recent Marvel films, not least bringing in supporting characters from Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor franchises -

ADDED 2: And - OMG - that was James Spader as the voice of Ultron?! Impressive.

I took my wife and son to see Age of Ultron today, and was very satisfied by the film.
The only downside was that we don't think the cinema had been cleaned. So the film was great, the surroundings not so good.
I enjoyed all the little set ups for the future movies, such as Klaw.
My son's favourite part was the big sequence at the end of the film.
I enjoyed the fighted between Hulk and Ironman in the Hulkbuster (or Veronica as it was called).

It was also good to see the Antman trailer on the big screen before the movie started.

I wasn't very impressed by the film. Parts of it seem a bit of a hot mess and it felt a little rushed. It was good for a Saturday matinee though!

I did, however, love the Scarlet Witch - she's really cool!

And they featured my old university in a scene with Thor! YES!

I love the movie.
Beginning is a bit confusing, but love the middle and the ending.

As far as I'm concerned, it did NOT disappoint. There was one part that surprised both my brother and I-we were expecting something different-but damn if Marvel didn't do it again, at least in my eyes.

I think they're doing a great job handling the infinity stone story. It will be different being live action on the big screen, and they're really making it work. Great CGI work, nice dialogue and acting, and always plenty of comic relief between Stark and everyone else.

I have to say I have a slight niggle with the fight scenes, particularly in the climax. It felt like the camera was too close to the characters so you couldn't see the action around them. I'm also surprised no one's hinted at Stan Lee's cameo; I think it might be the funniest one yet!

It was a good movie. But I think it was not that good in comparison to first avenger.
It is a masterpiece.
Ultron wasn't that good of a villain as I thought he would be.

So I just watched this tonight. I wasn't a huge fan of the first film - with all the praise that got heaped on it, I thought it was just average, to be honest. And from the beginning I was a little iffy. The opening action sequence had some seriously iffy CGI - a lot of it just seemed really fake and 'weightless', if you know what I mean. Just not convincing. But I actually ended up quite liking the movie as a whole. I thought Ultron was a good villain, perfectly portrayed by James Spader (though I could have lived without the lips - he's a robot, why does he need lips?). The introduction of the Vision was interesting. The twins were well handled - I knew going in Quicksilver died, but that scene still had an impact for me. Pretty good, overall.

Rob83 said:

I'm also surprised no one's hinted at Stan Lee's cameo; I think it might be the funniest one yet!

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Ugh, no. Just no. I couldn't be more over Stan Lee's cameos. It just destroys the flow and immersion of the movie, especially this one. 'Everybody stop for a moment and look over here, BECAUSE IT'S STAN LEE WINK WINK OMG YOU GUYZ SO MUCH LOLZ.' Groan.

I was left distinctly underwhelmed. I felt its biggest flaw was the lack of depth to Tony Stark's nightmare vision. I think a couple of scenes of escalating violence where other avengers have to step in to stop Iron Man beating an opponent to death might have done more to underline the manifestation of growing dread Stark has about the future. Instead we have the usual wise-cracking set-pieces which (in my opinion) completely contradict the internal conflict that is supposed to be the core of the problem. Another point is Natasha referring to herself as a monster because she can't have children...a monster...really? This could have been handled with a lot more care but wasn't.

Ultron was, frankly, a waste of time and just another robot-gone-bad cliche.

Foxbat said:

Another point is Natasha referring to herself as a monster because she can't have children...a monster...really? This could have been handled with a lot more care but wasn't.

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I agree, that was very strange, and if that had been in a movie by basically any other director it would have been roundly pilloried. I tend to think Whedon gets a free pass because he's somehow been installed as this geek messiah who can do no wrong. I've never seen the attraction, myself. But I did think it was somewhat hypocritical after he threw out those accusations of sexism in that brief clip of Jurassic World before that film was released...

I don't think he's the great filmmaker some think he is and I think you can see a pattern in Whedon's work of recent years - specifically the use of the ensemble cast - examples - Firefly..bunch of good guys in a spaceship, Agents Of Shield...bunch of good guys in a plane, Avengers...bunch of super-good guys who have their own plane. I think he's dredging this well too much and starting to come up with mud.

I think so far, Ultron resembles a new era of the MCU when new charcters may appear from second to second. It is a fine tunning, and good as well.

Just watched this again and really enjoyed it. Love the character interplay, the great use of humour, and decent pathos. And that's before we even get into those amazing action sequences. I never watched Buffy, and I couldn't get into Firefly - but I think his scriptwriting on the two Avengers films has been masterful.

However, now that we're set up with a different cast of characters for the next film, I struggle to maintain enthusiasm. Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk, are such iconic characters, and have been used to such great effect - their interplay has carried much of the two films so far - that I remain to be convinced that the newer cast can continue to entertain so well.

I never got around to seeing this one.

Enjoyed the movie, but I have to admit I was very annoyed at how Natasha was portrayed. Here we have this awesome, kickxxx woman, and they not only have her captured and then rescued by the (big, green) prince, but also this:

Foxbat said:

Another point is Natasha referring to herself as a monster because she can't have children...a monster...really? This could have been handled with a lot more care but wasn't.

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I mean, c'mon!!!

Scarlet Witch was pretty cool, though.

Juliana said:

Enjoyed the movie, but I have to admit I was very annoyed at how Natasha was portrayed. Here we have this awesome, kickxxx woman, and they not only have her captured and then rescued by the (big, green) prince, but also this:



I mean, c'mon!!!

Scarlet Witch was pretty cool, though.

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A good looking girl - who does a bit of dingly dancing with her hands. To me, she will become a 'get out of jail free' card. Every time the Avengers find themselves in an impossible situation L'il old Scarlet will wave her magic fingers and everything will work out just fine.

But that's a recurring theme. Thor's an actual god, for crying out loud, but still they only ever seem to just win the day.

Culhwch said:

But that's a recurring theme. Thor's an actual god, for crying out loud, but still they only ever seem to just win the day.

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Because their facing threats that even Asgardian would find daunting.

In the future they go up against Thanos and if he has the infinity Gauntlet and stones , he'll be more then a match of all of them.

And ... watched again, and enjoyed again. The ending drags on somewhat, but I still love the epic scale of the film and the fact we saw the Avengers trying to protect the world, not just America.

And, although CGI makes for a big part of the film, it was believably used - when we see buildings collapse toward the end they look like buildings collapsing, and not obviously generated ones.

Foxbat said:

Another point is Natasha referring to herself as a monster because she can't have children...a monster...really?

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I suspect it's because she trained to be an assassin.