Avengers: Age of Ultron
May. 1st, 2015 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mysticalchild_isisIn brief: I went in with some reservations, and came out feeling that it was problematic, but still worth seeing. My over-arching umbrella complaint is that too much of the movie felt rushed and disjointed.
I feel like they skipped a whole movie to get to this one. We left the first Avengers movie with them all going their separate ways, barely knowing each other. We got a brief glimpse of Tony and Bruce hanging out in IM3, and Natasha and Steve working together in Cap 2. And then suddenly, Avengers 2 opens with them all going on missions together, familiar and comfortable and having worked together regularly. What the hell? Where's all the back story? There was no lead-in or explanation.
I felt the same way about the Bruce/Natasha thing, too. It was awkward and it kind of came out of nowhere, plus it led to several cringe-worthy moments in the film. I hate shoehorned-in romance plots that aren't earned, and while I have no problem with Bruce/Natasha, I thought that this was poorly done. Especially because it included the most rage-inducing moment of the film- Natasha describing herself as a monster because she was sterilized by the Red Room. WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK, JOSS WHEDON? WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK?!? That was offensive, out of character, and generally fucked up. Natasha was so well done in Cap 2, and then Joss just pissed all over her character in a stupid, ridiculous, offensive way. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
Moving on, Clint's out-of-the-blue family, again- not something I really have a problem with (though it's a little too Ultimates for me, and I hated the majority of the Ultimates, and much prefer 616 Hawkguy Clint)- but it wasn't earned, and it wasn't integrated well. It felt like Joss was trying to do a "Haha, surprise plot-twist motherfuckers!" moment, but it failed, because it just seemed random, and took up screen time that could have been better used elsewhere.
I think James Spader made an excellent Ultron, but again, Ultron felt perfunctory, and he wasn't explored as thoroughly as he should have been. A good movie requires a dynamic, well-written villain, and they didn't quite succeed this time. Ultron could have been so much better, and I'm upset that his potential was rather wasted.
I had gone in quite worried about the Maximoff twins (nothing like taking a set of Jewish Romani characters and tying them to a new-Nazi group!), but I was actually generally pleased. Their origin was decently handled, they were dynamic, and their development arc was decent. I totally loved that one moment where Vision scooped up Wanda- very nice character beat there and a nod to their 616 selves. I was rather unmoved by Pietro's death, however, and found it more pointless Joss BS.
I liked how many of the characters got into this movie- Rhodey was great, I was glad to see Sam (though wish he had a little more screen time), Fury's appearance was good, the Stan Lee cameo was funny (the party in general was good times)- but yet again, it felt slipshod.
So many of the character beats that should have been in this movie were completely absent or rather cursory. For Tony- the fact that he was back in the suit at all (how did we get from IM3 to here?), the lack of a reaction moment for the death of Jarvis, the sudden "so long, I'm quitting the Avengers" moment at the end, even the fights about Ultron and Vision- the emotional resonance was pretty much non-existent.
Vision, however, was one of the things I thought they did very right. I had gone in very excited that we were getting him in this, and that Paul Bettany was playing him, and I came out very satisfied. I liked the costume design (close enough to the comics Vision without being too 70s garish), I liked the origin they chose, and I loved his final moment with Ultron.
Hawkeye (other than the random family and farm out of the blue) was also one of the best things about this one. He was rather cheated in the first one, and he got some of the best lines and best moments here.
I like that the ending was a bit of a nod to Cap's Kooky Quartet (minus the randomly dead Pietro, of course), and I thought that they did a fairly decent job of lining up the next couple movies without feeling cliffhanger-y.
And of course, my shipper self enjoyed Natasha's comment about Steve and Tony staring longingly into each other's eyes (though these days, I tend to fear queer baiting situations).
And for last thoughts, really, at the heart of it all, I just wanted the Avengers together as a team interacting, and this provided, so while it was a problematic movie, it was still one worth seeing, and one I will watch again.
I feel like they skipped a whole movie to get to this one. We left the first Avengers movie with them all going their separate ways, barely knowing each other. We got a brief glimpse of Tony and Bruce hanging out in IM3, and Natasha and Steve working together in Cap 2. And then suddenly, Avengers 2 opens with them all going on missions together, familiar and comfortable and having worked together regularly. What the hell? Where's all the back story? There was no lead-in or explanation.
I felt the same way about the Bruce/Natasha thing, too. It was awkward and it kind of came out of nowhere, plus it led to several cringe-worthy moments in the film. I hate shoehorned-in romance plots that aren't earned, and while I have no problem with Bruce/Natasha, I thought that this was poorly done. Especially because it included the most rage-inducing moment of the film- Natasha describing herself as a monster because she was sterilized by the Red Room. WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK, JOSS WHEDON? WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK?!? That was offensive, out of character, and generally fucked up. Natasha was so well done in Cap 2, and then Joss just pissed all over her character in a stupid, ridiculous, offensive way. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
Moving on, Clint's out-of-the-blue family, again- not something I really have a problem with (though it's a little too Ultimates for me, and I hated the majority of the Ultimates, and much prefer 616 Hawkguy Clint)- but it wasn't earned, and it wasn't integrated well. It felt like Joss was trying to do a "Haha, surprise plot-twist motherfuckers!" moment, but it failed, because it just seemed random, and took up screen time that could have been better used elsewhere.
I think James Spader made an excellent Ultron, but again, Ultron felt perfunctory, and he wasn't explored as thoroughly as he should have been. A good movie requires a dynamic, well-written villain, and they didn't quite succeed this time. Ultron could have been so much better, and I'm upset that his potential was rather wasted.
I had gone in quite worried about the Maximoff twins (nothing like taking a set of Jewish Romani characters and tying them to a new-Nazi group!), but I was actually generally pleased. Their origin was decently handled, they were dynamic, and their development arc was decent. I totally loved that one moment where Vision scooped up Wanda- very nice character beat there and a nod to their 616 selves. I was rather unmoved by Pietro's death, however, and found it more pointless Joss BS.
I liked how many of the characters got into this movie- Rhodey was great, I was glad to see Sam (though wish he had a little more screen time), Fury's appearance was good, the Stan Lee cameo was funny (the party in general was good times)- but yet again, it felt slipshod.
So many of the character beats that should have been in this movie were completely absent or rather cursory. For Tony- the fact that he was back in the suit at all (how did we get from IM3 to here?), the lack of a reaction moment for the death of Jarvis, the sudden "so long, I'm quitting the Avengers" moment at the end, even the fights about Ultron and Vision- the emotional resonance was pretty much non-existent.
Vision, however, was one of the things I thought they did very right. I had gone in very excited that we were getting him in this, and that Paul Bettany was playing him, and I came out very satisfied. I liked the costume design (close enough to the comics Vision without being too 70s garish), I liked the origin they chose, and I loved his final moment with Ultron.
Hawkeye (other than the random family and farm out of the blue) was also one of the best things about this one. He was rather cheated in the first one, and he got some of the best lines and best moments here.
I like that the ending was a bit of a nod to Cap's Kooky Quartet (minus the randomly dead Pietro, of course), and I thought that they did a fairly decent job of lining up the next couple movies without feeling cliffhanger-y.
And of course, my shipper self enjoyed Natasha's comment about Steve and Tony staring longingly into each other's eyes (though these days, I tend to fear queer baiting situations).
And for last thoughts, really, at the heart of it all, I just wanted the Avengers together as a team interacting, and this provided, so while it was a problematic movie, it was still one worth seeing, and one I will watch again.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-01 07:09 pm (UTC)I very much agree with everything you said and when I wrote my review on Tumblr the day after seeing the movie I touched several of your points. Honestly, I was so angry at the Bruce / Natasha mishandling that it nearly blinded me to some of the movie's good aspects. It just... it felt very personal, you know? I'm at that point in life when people start asking whether I plan to have kids or not, and DEAR GOD JOSS WHEDON HOW MUCH MORE INSENSITIVE COULD YOU BE?
Now I've cooled off a bit, I think I'm ready to see it again. I really liked Ultron, I just loved Vision (he's just so perfectly handled, I'm glad we'll be seeing more of him) and I was relieved the twins came out rather nicely. But I was angry at Pietro's death. It was senseless and meaningless.
Also, while it does feel there's a lot missing from the film, I liked Tony and Cap's dynamic and I'm still laughing at that "Language!" running gag :D
no subject
Date: 2015-05-01 07:14 pm (UTC)I have so much love for Vision, and I'm so glad, because he was one of the things I was most excited about. I look forward to Vision fic of all sorts.
And I think some good Steve/Tony fic can come out of this movie, too, which is nice. It would be good to have some people filling in all those characters beats that were missing.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-01 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-02 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-01 07:50 pm (UTC)Also the ending makes me want to go write Cap's Kooky Quartet fic. :P
no subject
Date: 2015-05-01 08:03 pm (UTC)Do it!!! (Including Steve's whining about Tony/Iron Man never being around anymore...)
no subject
Date: 2015-05-02 04:08 am (UTC)That said, I am looking forward to seeing Age of Ultron again when I'm not delirious.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-02 12:45 pm (UTC)