By now, a large percentage of the population has seen the Avengers: Age of Ultron. Unlike the rest of said population, I thought it was the latest addition in another long list of Hollywood films that have imposed the idea of action and destruction equals a good movie.
I love action, death and destruction in all of their cinematic glories but why does it seem if I’m to enjoy most of what the summer blockbusters in this day and age have to offer, I have to check my common sense, curiosities and intelligence at the door?
There were a few issues I had with Age of Ultron.
*Unlike Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, I didn’t care for the Avengers version. I really didn’t see a purpose for him being in the film at all.
*The redundancy of comedic one-liners, attempts at sarcasm and wit through-out the characters dialogue seemed forced and non-authentic.
*Easily the film’s best action sequence, the Hulk v Hulkbuster scene is epic but how the battle ended was completely unbelievable. It was as if to say…”okay let’s wrap this up so we can continue with the movie.”
*Too much focus on Hawk Eye. For some strange reason, viewers didn’t know he was a human being and possibly had a life before this film.
*Non-spoiler. There is a road chase sequence (that is also featured in the trailer of the film) through Korea in which the common citizens who are driving on the roads seem oblivious to the fight between the super powers that is taking place right in front of them. No one is slamming on their brakes or pulling over to the side of the road…nothing. Just think about that for a second. If you see a 9 foot tall robot and a man fighting while throwing his shield around for an extended period of time, would you drive as normal (just a few feet away from them) or would you brake and get the hell out of dodge?
*Speaking of 9 foot tall robots; as a super villain who is hell bent on human extinction, the Ultron character comes off less as a villain but more as a jilted cheerleader who has been cut from the Avengers squad. At one point in the theater a child behind me asked his father “is Ultron the bad guy?” That’s because there is not a sense of dread when he is present on screen. By contrast, the T-800 robot from the Terminator franchise (without the flesh) absolutely looks and feels like an evil robot who will kill you. Ultron feels like if you make him mad, he will put a banana in your tailpipe.
At no point in the film did it feel like Ultron was a real threat or indestructible as it has been presented in the source material that is decades of comics, animated films and television.
Financially and commercially, Age of Ultron is to appeal to the biggest widest audience possible (PG-13) while keeping the viewers entertained with action and fire balls. I get it; if the people consume the same formula over and over again with much success, why change it?
Somehow fans feel if you can’t enjoy a make believe sci-fi-superhero-fantasy film because you as a viewer are using logic, good judgment and reasoning, you’re too serious and need to relax. To me this thought process is disrespectful to comic book, fantasy and sci-fi script writers and directors whose films and television series make sense while offering thought provoking dialogue and not treating the viewer like a 6 year old.
I felt the real goal of this film was to set up all the other Marvel films to come in the next 5-7 years. It should have been less of the coming line ups and more focus on the current film being presented.
2.5 Stars
OckyDub
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This is why you are my favorite trade. The movie sucked. Ultra felt like the main claims sidekick..but he was the main villain. Some red guy with some gem
in his head shows up and feels ridiculous. Thor has some subplot that is never explained. The we thing was a mess. Quicksilver was more like kind of fast silver. Ugh. And the evil plan made no sense. Shield or Iran could have just nuked his plan from orbit. Stupid.
Ocky another good review. I didn’t expect a good story and there was a lot of sciency things spoken that didn’t add up BUT the action was good. and I applaud them for that. 2.5 is harsh maybe 3.1.
I viewed this movie with a group of friends. We laughed and had a good time. Suffice it to say, I checked my logic and common sense at the box office when I bought my ticket. I did realize that the movie makers took short cuts and so many things were totally implausible, such as the creation of hundreds of robots to fight the Avengers. Were they created by spontaneous generation or were there workers busy making them on the assembly line? However, the only way to enjoy this movie is just go with the flow. Again, it is important to turn off any critical thinking, otherwise it will be a miserable two hours plus of noise and torture. It did help much having friends along…
They did kind of address that but it was quick, I think the part where you see a robot laying down and getting worked on was the closes thing to how they were born. I didn’t like how certain parts of the movie were super quick. Like when they showed the vision’s powers…Like I nearly almost missed it.
Honestly. I think the purpose for Quicksilver being in this film is to just bring in the scarlet witch. But the quicksilver character was fun to watch. I’m sure they killed him off because X-men used him first. If they didn’t use quicksilver i think he would have lasted. it sucks that they share rights to that character.
I saw another review that made kinda of some sense about Hawkeye. If you remember from the last avengers, Hawkeye was possessed for most of the movie so his true character didn’t fully show until the end. Plus he was suppose to have a roll in Winter soldier but due to scheduling, he couldn’t play the roll. So it was cool that marvel gave him some screen to make up for the past.
Honestly, I was a little down when I found out Ultron had a bit of personality. I was hoping that he was that actual terrifying robot with the creepy voice obliterating people in his path. They could have made him a lot scarier. Sorry Josh Whedon you kind of failed on that part.
@Nick i’m guessing the stuff you didn’t comment on( The Vision, The avengers tower, The other cameos, Scarlet Witch’s new hair style at the end, LOL,) is the stuff you actually liked, correct? LOL
@Nick told me her hair at the end of the film was fierce and lots of body.
I liked the Hulk flying off into the sunset…AND more importantly, he was shown to be in control and not some raging monster. Which contradicts his character throughout the entire movie. Did anyone else notice this?
Another example of this film’s short comings.
Hahahaha!!!! too funny
I heard that scene was meant for him to turn into the gray hulk which is a more toned down version of the green hulk. But they cut that scene out. They actually cut a lot of scenes out, including captain marvel’s and loki’s cameo.
Yeah I meant to say @Ocky smh lol
At fist I was kinda dissapointed that Ultron was a more quirky and sarcastic Stark creation rather than a serious acting Pym creation,but I feel like it gave him more demensions,personality-wise.I think that was intentional so he’d have different shades to him that make his moments of rage and menace stand out better.Plus,we’ve seen other strictly serious and murderous robots already so having another Terminator or Hal would’ve felt too “been there , done that”.Personally had he been his usual stiffer self I’d have been more bored with him after 2.5 hrs.
Ultimately I think the main failing of this film is run-time.There was a lot that I could easily tell was cut down.A lot needed to be fleshoed out,like Thor’s plotline.
LOL–Seemingly, a few of you all need to petition Disney/Marvel (lets not forget that Disney owns the Marvel Entertainment Group to include distribution of its cinematic universe movies–thus explaining the plot & character simplifications–the running joke about them cursing “language people”–and how dark/gorey the film was not)to get your funds back. That film pretty much was exactly what I thought it was going to be..and if you have read some of the post film interviews with the film’s director–he said he had to fight to keep the Thor & Hawkeye subplots in the movie cuz the studio wanted “more action”….