Author Topic: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)  (Read 9693 times)

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« on: May 04, 2015, 05:44:12 AM »
So, AU has been out for a few days in the US and longer in some other places. I have no idea at this time if it is going to be reviewed on Filmspotting but I thought I might as well create a thread right now since I have just watched it.

In short, I loved the movie. Not only because it deliciously panders to the Marvel fanboy in me -oh, the sweet, sweet Easter eggs- but because I believe it was objectively clever and well made. It transitions smoothly from the previous films if you have been paying attention and quickly creates a unique dynamic that evolves during the course of the entire movie. Broad themes are mentioned but no definitive answers are ever given and there is no overexplaining ; Whedon does'nt take his audience for imbeciles and lets us deduce much from few words (take a hint Nolan). The movie is funny and the action was marvellous, well dosed and fantastically choreographed (though I think na overabundance of characters made it complicated to give everyone something to do at times, as when the Hulk seems to disapear for a while after he escapes the underground tunnels in the final sequence). Plus, the character development is better than ever…I could go on and on really.

I have my qualms with the movie, of course, but my overall impression is decidedly and profusely positive. I will go into further detail as necessary.
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

Sandy

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12075
  • "The life we build, we never stop creating.”
    • Sandy's Cinematic Musings
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2015, 01:45:00 AM »
Welcome, DarkeningHumour. :)

Great write up. Now you've got me interested in what the Easter Eggs are. I'm not a fanboy, so they're probably lost on me. I too enjoyed the character development and the new characters, but you're right, it sure got crowded!


DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2015, 04:03:03 AM »
Thanks.

I guess we could compare notes on the Easter eggs we each found. Personally I remember, in no particular order :
1. The way Wanda (since no one ever calls her Scarlet Witch in the movie) looks at The Vision -twice. In the comics the two end up marrying and having children.
2. The obvious « Assemble » Cap was going to say after « Avengers », the very last word of the movie, « Avengers Assemble » being the official rallying cry of the team in the comics.
3. The Avengers Tower is never actually called by name, but we can reasonably assume they've changed the name since the previous movie from the conspicuous A. In the comics it becomes the official Avengers headquarters after they reassemble after the team is disbanded for the first time.
4. The whole country of Sokovia looks to me like a stand-in for Latveria, which Marvel can't use since it belongs to the Fantastic Four license, currently owned by evil, evil Sony.
5. I don’t know if this counts, but when the vibranium comes into play they discuss its country of origin, Wakanda, introducing the fictional country for first time in the  MCU and laying the ground for the Black Panther movie (Black Panther is the ruler of Wakanda).
6. Thor’s vision also seems to prepare us for a coming movie : Thor Ragnarok. I think this one doesn’t require any explaining.
7. The Victoria suit exists in the comics under the name Hulkbuster.
...and I can't think of anything else for now.
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

verbALs

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9446
  • Snort Life-DOR
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2015, 08:32:12 AM »
I'm enjoying your enthusiasm. I was an Avengers fan around the time George Perez was drawing them.

I liked that the Vision rescued Wanda from the transporter, very gallant and apropos. I didn't like how both of their powers were changed. Vision never changes density (so how can he fly?), and the Witch couldn't mess with people's minds. As I recall, her power was a mix of magic spells and a probability altering mutant power (I think in one battle with Ultron she changes the chance of the nuclear furnace inside him going critical...something like that).

There's that spoiler in the poster for the movie with the silhouette of the Vision flying around amongst the Ultrons.

I found it strange they introduced Wakanda but never introduced the Black Panther. My choice would be Chiwetel Ejiofor when they get round to casting.

Wasn't the Hulkbuster called Veronika? Unlike a lot of people that was my standout scene. I can't remember the line exactly but Stark pleading with Hulk to "go to sleep...please" as he jackhammered his face was my favourite. The floating weapons platform supplying him new gadgets was a terrific sci-fi addition.

Yes I got the impression they were in Latveria as well.

So, given your fanboy-ness which Avengers story would you like to see? A Kang time travel story would be outlandish but fun.

[/geekout]
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2015, 08:58:32 AM »
My favourite Avengers storyline is Civil War, but it would be impossible to bring to screen, however amazing it could be. It is far too complicated and really doesn't make any sense if the US are not filled with dozens of superheroes, which is not about to happen any time soon in the MCU.

I think the best one to make a movie about would be an Avengers V X-Men kind of event. Two teams of relatively equal power going toe to toe would be fantastic from the entertainment point of view, but what about I really like about that situation and Civil War is that each time both sides could be said to be equally right, or at least to have a valid case. No easy Manichean dichotomies between good and bad guys. I would however retain the right to bring up a bad guy at the end that the two teams would have to unite to defeat ; Onslaught seems like the obvious answer. Again though, this is an impossible solution, since Sony (evil, evil Sony) maintains the rights for the X-Men.

So my final answer is War of Kings. Some cosmic elements have already been introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy and GotG 2 could further our knowledge of the galactic MCU. The Inhumans are to appear shortly in their own movie, after having been presented in Marvel Agents of SHIELD. WoK would therefore nicely gather all different teams (assuming the rest of the Earth heroes eventually get into the Avengers) to fight a cosmic enemy, like I imagine Infinity War will do. Besides, in the comic book version, Vulcan is just badass, and I would really like to watch his battle against Black Bolt on screen as they are surrounded by the rest of the characters.

That being taken care of, The Vision does change his density in AoU. It's subtle, but sometimes when he is ripping apart robots, you can see his arms turn ghostly green as they go through his victims before becoming solid again.


As for the SW, that's complicated because her powers are never really completely defined. At some points she is basically able to do anything she wants, so restraining her abilities to a couple of easily understandable ones makes sense to me, though I would agree the ultimate choice wasn't necessarily the best one. I just have trouble understand what on earth the red stuff is supposed to be.
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

philip918

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4580
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2015, 01:57:11 PM »
Civil War is the next Captain America movie.

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2015, 02:10:08 PM »
Indeed, but there is no way it will actually resemble the comic book in any meaningful way, if only because that would require a MCU-wide event whereas this will be a stand-alone movie, therefore featuring two other (minor) Avengers tops.
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

Sandy

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12075
  • "The life we build, we never stop creating.”
    • Sandy's Cinematic Musings
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2015, 02:14:37 PM »
Thanks DarkeningHumour, for the Easter Egg list. The things I'm learning!

The red stuff is girl power. The ability to change hearts and minds, move the immovable, stuff like that. :)

StudentOFilm

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3778
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2015, 08:41:43 PM »
My biggest complaint about the movie is the fatigue. Heroes will win and there's ten more movies in the pipeline that get set up. Everyone is fighting over a gem, a box, a stick. What I did like is the character interaction, the chemistry and the all-around quality of the performances (the comic/movie fanboy in me has felt that blockbuster movie casts are so awesome nowadays). Also the fact that (and The Dissolve wrote a great feature on this, but my friends and I were talking about it on Friday after the movie) in the MCU the heroes are heroes. They want to save the day and put human lives first. The Avengers were willing to die and make no compromise to risk human life. Cap says something to the fact he won't even weigh lives against each other and would rather go down fighting till the end.

The DCCU (?) in Man of Steel had Superman wrecking a city over a blood feud and he does something drastic to end it. It's funny because I always felt from the comics that Marvel heroes had more shades to them and were willing to travel to darker places with DC being the classic icons of heroism. Now with so many different styles of writing, a superhero comic is a superhero comic. (Also Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad don't exactly look like they'll move far away from the bleak nature of Man of Steel)

As for my favorite comic story arc, some Avengers fans might not be too crazy about it just for the fact that it's the current run, but I think Jonathan Hickman is writing the cable-drama of Avengers stories at the moment. It's an auteurist take on the Avengers. Brilliant big ideas carried out in dialogue/character-driven drama! Nothing like it at the big two comic companies. After that would probably come Millar/Hitch's The Ultimates and its sequel (clear inspirations for the MCU).

I found it strange they introduced Wakanda but never introduced the Black Panther. My choice would be Chiwetel Ejiofor when they get round to casting.

I actually thought the exact same thing. He'd be perfect. They did however cast Chadwick Boseman already and he'll be appearing in Captain America: Civil War.

People might want to write him off just because he did two major biopics (42 and Get On Up), but there's no denying his talent. The failings of those moves are more in minor directorial/plot choices than his performance.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2015, 08:45:35 PM by StudentOFilm »
"Be yourself, unless you suck."- Joss Whedon

My Switchboard

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: The Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron (2015)
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2015, 10:36:55 PM »
I'm taking it one film at a time with no knowledge from the comics, but Captain America 3 sounds more like Avengers 3 than what appears to be the line-up for the next Avengers. I saw that ending and thought "this can't be the line-up. It's all sidekicks." Marvel's been pretty good about building the universe, but without Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and the actors who play them, it's just a spinoff.

Matt Singer brought up something I never noticed before, but it seems so obvious now. The overriding theme of these films is being a Sword vs. being a Shield. Tony Stark believes the best defense is a missile you only have to fire once. He creates Ultron to be a shield around the world, but he becomes a sword because of something Stark says. His method of bringing down the Hulk is bashing him with even more force. Meanwhile Captain America is the obvious embodiment of shield. He works for SHIELD. His weapon is a shield. He's more focused on protecting civilians than fighting the bad guy.

 

love