"Avengers: Age of Ultron" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Avaitor]

A new age begins

Release Date: May 1, 2015
Studio: Disney
Director: Joss Whedon
Aspect Ratio:  2.35 : 1
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, James Spader, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson

Plot Summary: When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth's Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for a global adventure.

COMMENTS?

Wow, it's been a while since I've done one of these.

But no, this isn't better than the first. But no, this is hardly a trainwreck. If you enjoyed the first, you're likely to dig this one as well. There are issues in plot, but I'll probably wait until tomorrow til I get into them. You guys should see it first, though!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just saw it. Thought it was better than the first.

Fun action movie and a good superhero team up. Particularly liked Ultron and

Spoiler

Vision

[close]

but the whole cast was pretty great. Lots of cameos, too.

Good swansong for Whedon, because I honestly don't think he could do another one of these.

[Daikun]

Here's what was missing from the movie.

[Peanutbutter]

Going to see it this afternoon with a friend I haven't seen in a while. Out of the blue, he texted and asked if I wanted to see it. Such is the power of the Avengers. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, after seeing it, I just don't get most of the criticism. I'm with Desensitized, I thought it was great. As an action ensemble piece it's just as fun as the first movie, but this time the story feels more cohesive, rather than loosely stringing together set-piece battles. Also, I love Loki, but Ultron really topped him for me, with just as much wit and twice as much of a threat. He's easily one of the better MCU villains to date.

The movie isn't without flaws, naturally, but hardly any of them rose above the level of "nit-pick" for me, and once again, I could easily point out problems with most other MCU films as well that are similar. Sometimes people tend to focus too much on what's wrong with a film than what it does right.

I don't think that it's on par with Winter Soldier or DOFP,  but I honestly found it to be just as good as GOTG, which is saying a lot.

I'll elaborate more on my thoughts later, but overall:

This was a fun as hell movie with a bit more nuance than the original, and I loved just about every minute of it. I hope that I can get a chance to watch it again, soon, to see how I feel about it on a repeat viewing.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I wouldn't say it was one of the best, but then, on further reflection I wouldn't put the first one at the top either. The Avengers movies are pure fun team ups and this one outdid the original in pretty much every way in that respect.

It's not perfect, no, but I'm glad with what we got.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Right, that's about how I feel. I just feel that a lot of people get blinded by the spectacle of the first movie and end up forgetting that it was far from perfect to begin with. No matter what, this wasn't going to capture that same feeling twice, so people were more open to criticizing it, which is fine, but I can't help but feel that a lot of the negative reviews take relatively small problems with the movie and make them serm bigger than they really are. It's one of those cases where people over-praise the previous film and are overly-critical about the sequel. It was the same thing with TDKR, IMO.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Also, I now believe that it's safe to say that even if Ant-Man turns out to suck:

Phase Two > Phase One

[Spark Of Spirit]

Also, I now believe that it's safe to say that even if Ant-Man turns out to suck:

Phase Two > Phase One

I agree. As a whole, these all feel like a step up from the Phase One films.

I actually don't think Ant-Man will suck. At worst it'll probably just be generic or average, but I doubt it will have any of the issues Iron Man 2 had.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Here's what was missing from the movie.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I don't expect it to suck, either. I simply mean that even in the off chance that it does, it won't be enough to detract from how good Winter Soldier, GOTG, and Ultron make Phase Two.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I thought it was fun, though the movie probably could have been a bit more serious.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Admittedly I was expecting it to be a bit darker than it was, but I think it struck a pretty good balance between fun and serious, myself, especially in the second act.

On an unrelated note, one minor gripe that I had with the movie was how Thor's sub-plot clearly had little to do with the main story. It was just build-up to Ragnarok. I also felt that, as fun as they were, we really didn't get enough of Scarlett Witch, Quicksilver, or Vision to get attached to any of them (but Vision himself was a really well-done character).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh, and since nobody mentioned any of the extremely quotable lines from this movie, here are some of my personsl favorites:

-"Language...." (It was a cute running gag)

-Tony's exchange with Ultron in Ulysses's base: "He beat me by 1-second!"

-"That's a great idea. Let me tell you all about my evil plan."

-Hawkeye's quip about how ridiculous this whole movie's scenario is as a nod to the audience: "None of this makes any sense."

Just to name a few.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Ultron's dialogue. Just so good.

But yeah, I can see wanting it to be darker. It was a bit darker in some places, but as a whole it was basically More Avengers. I think the previews played up the dark stuff a bit too much.

All the visions and sub-plots from the visions seem to be for tying in to upcoming movies. I think what was more important in this specific one was that it shook them up and caused a problem. Tony and Steve apparently getting closer as friends, Thor worried about his home, and so on seem to be setting up for Phase Three.

By the way, did any of you have the audience react to the teaser during the credits? I thought that was a really simple but powerful one.