Avengers: Age of Ultron

[I'm Murrin]

Well, that was pretty good, wasn't it?

Assorted thoughts!

Spoiler

We seem to be missing a small chunk of backstory between the last few movies and this one, vis a vis the Avengers Tower, the Legion, and Tony not being retired.

The opening sequence almost put me off, with the very earliest action scenes as they ride in looking extremely fake.

Why did Ultron need to build that first scrap body rather than just controlling one of the others?

Ulysses Klaw was made to seem like a big deal, but then he just disappeared after that one part of the film.

Barton has a wife and kids? Is that something he's had in the comics? I've never heard about it if so.

I'm not sure if I liked the way Ultron talks. He was very casual, very human.

Deus ex Helicarrier. Does this mean Fury's no longer in hiding? Why was he hiding for this long, if he could pull together this kind of stuff anyway?

I was surprised they killed Pietro off in his first film.

The Vision saving Wanda could point at them setting up their relationship from the comics.

The Vision and Scarlet Witch are a bit weird and powerful for these films. The MCU is edging up toward the point where it stops being as accessible to non fans.

The Avengers, as of the end of this film, are: Captain America, Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, and probably Hawkeye. These are the people in play for Civil War (well, we don't know about Ant-Man or Spider-Man yet), with Stark likely turning to politics in his retirement from heroing.

Things I want to see Marvel do:

Spoiler

1) A Black Widow/Hulk duology, or single movie with both of them. Banner off in the wilderness trying to hide and getting caught up in trouble; Natasha trying to track hmi down and getting caught up in related stuff because of it. Won't happen because they have their next five years already planned out.

2) House of M. I say set up Scarlet Witch/Vision, kill The Vision at the end of Infinity War, and have Wanda trigger the House of M event due to her grief. Use this event to fold the X-Men continuity into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (you could even handwave it to bring Pietro back to life).

[Fist and Faith]

Damn! Not out here until a week from today!

[I'm Murrin]

Clearly you're living in the wrong country.

[Fist and Faith]

I'm sayin'!

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

I confess, I get goose bumps now when I hear the Marvel Studios theme during the credits. You know whatever comes next is going to be excellent. Who'd have thought that a comic book company would one day take over the movie industry.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Marvel Studios was floundering--badly--before Iron Man.

Blade, although only tangentially Marvel Studios, was not a big hit (1 and 2 are pretty good but 3 fell very flat).

Ghost Rider was pretty good, I thought, since they captured the character correctly but they ruined their own ride with Spirit of Vengeance.

Daredevil was decent but the bad CGI made it difficult to watch in spots and Colin Ferrel's over-the-top accent really ruined Bullseye as a character.

Punisher was actually pretty good and I really hope Tom Jane's desire to come back into that role becomes a reality; did not see Ray Stephenson's sequel.

Elektra....did anyone other than Ben Affleck like it? She didn't even seem to be playing the same character she did in Daredevil. Poor Scarlett--she still hasn't gotten a green light for a solo Black Widow movie. *shrug*

The first Hulk, the one with Eric Bana, was really good but a) no one liked Ang Lee's attempt to make the movie look like comic book panels on the screen and b) it went on about 30 minutes too long--it should have ended after the confrontation between Bruce and his father.

Anyway, they started doing things correctly at that time by placing one person in charge of the overall plot and content. The MCU has set the bar but despite having a wealth of characters, themselves, DC will never surpass them. I know this because they aren't translating their creative and active team from the small screen (Arrow, Flash, and the upcoming Rogues' Gallery spin-off) to the big screen.

As far as I know we will have our current Avengers-based MCU up through whenever Infinity War Part 2 comes out, after which MCU will have to go in different directions or become something which used to be a thing.

[I'm Murrin]

It started working when they set up their own company to make the films themselves; pre-Iron Man, they'd been getting the scripts and the talent together and selling it as a package to other studios to make.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

If only they could fold X-Men back into the MCU. Then you could have Secret Wars etc.

[sgt.null]

won't they get the X-Men rights back at some point? and the FF as well.

as for DC - I really, really, really am looking forward to the Suicide Squad movie.

[Orlion]

They could easily have Secret Wars without the X-Men... what they would really need is Doctor Doom.

Just have to get through work, and I'll be seeing this tonight! Hoo-ray! Time to punch some robots!

[Hashi Lebwohl]

won't they get the X-Men rights back at some point? and the FF as well.

20th Century Fox will never let go of the X-Men movie rights, especially now that First Class and Days of Future Past performed so well at the box office even though they retroactively cancelled out all their own previous movies...unless Disney/Marvel coughs up at least $5 billion. It cost them only $2 billion for Star Wars, if you recall.
If the new Fantastic Four reboot doesn't perform very well--and its success is very uncertain at this time, in my opinion--then Fox won't mind selling or leasing the movie rights back to Marvel. Even if that happened, though, if this current reboot fails to measure up then it will be at least another 10 years before any other reboot is tried. That would really be a shame because I always liked the Fantastic Four.

Sony had already decided to hitch its wagon to the MCU by allowing Spiderman to be in Captain America 3 and there is an outside chance that he might actually make Avenger status in the movies, as well, which would put him in a position to throw some wisecracks into Thanos' face (that should teach him not to monkey around with Infinity Stones).

DC's problem with movies is that they never seem to find the best screenplay writers or the best directors. They have just as much a wealth of source material as Marvel so you would think that they could make blockbusters but no, their poor choices put out movies which fail to live up to hype. Consider Guardians of the Galaxy. Here is a Marvel movie featuring characters which the average audience has never heard of but the producers managed to get just the right actors, just the right screenwriters, and just the right director and the movie clicked, becoming the number 1 box office draw for 2014. If DC could manage to cobble together a team with synergy like that then they could turn what might be a flop--Suicide Squad--into a massive success. Most fans are going to go to the Squad movie only for Joker and Harley and, quite frankly, I am sick and tired of those characters. In fact, I am sick of Batman everything but we'll discuss that later.

Back on topic....I'll be getting our Age of Ultron tickets today. Movie Tavern--how can you not love it?

[I'm Murrin]

I think part of the problem with DC is they go for big names in terms of writers, directors, and cast. Those people can exert a lot of influence on the final product (Suicide Squad will absolutely be put through the hands of a screenwriter attached to Will Smith, for example, for final say on his dialogue at the very least (it's why he sounds the same in every movie)).

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Yeah, Will Smith as Deadshot--I simply don't see it. Deadshot isn't supposed to be a wise-cracking smart ass; instead, he is a weary man who has seen too much and, depending upon what characterization is being used, being part of the Squad is just a way for him to funnel money to his daughter. I would have gone with Michael Madsen or whats-his-name who played The Comedian, myself, but I am not the casting director.

Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam, though....that's a good choice.

[Orlion]

Just came back from watching it. I went in with lowered expectations. I wanted:

1) Avengers fighting a whole bunch of robots.
2) For Ultron to be a more engaging villain then Malekith, Ronan, or Generic SHIELD villain.

I would say that the film achieved both aims, so this was a success!

Now, for the nitty-gritty:

Spoiler

I didn't have trouble following the story at the beginning. I just thought it was incredibly rushed. This is forgiven, since the actual Ultron story is much more interesting.

The main critique I have for this film is that it suffers from "transitional film syndrome". There is some build up, but there's also a whole lot of setting up for future films. Like the cameo of Klaw and Thanos at the end putting on the Gauntlet saying, "Guess I'll have to do it myself". It's an entertaining film in its own right, but it is also a huge "coming attractions" advertisement.

One question I have:

Spoiler

I thought they filmed a scene with Hiddleston, but I did not see Loki at all... maybe the US got Thanos and you other folks got a Loki bonus scene?

And further:

Spoiler

Maybe it's just me, but the Vision gave me a very Adam Warlock vibe... almost like they are combining characters.

[sgt.null]

Will Smith did play Hancock - so I am hoping the director of SS pushes him.

so Marvel didn't lease the rights to their characters?

[I'm Murrin]

Reading the wikipedia page for the studio, it's interesting to see one bit suggesting that Marvel actually owns TV rights to Spider-Man.

[Fist and Faith]

Went today. Annoying family next to us. Girl of maybe 2yo kept humming and talking. Unbelievable how some parents are. I finally said, "Can you stop?" The father said, "That's my baby! You don't like it go sit somewhere else." I'm not kidding. The mother took her out a few minutes later. She came back after maybe fifteen minutes. Several minutes later, the father took her out. Then they all left.

All was good?

No, it was not.

Almost an hour before the movie ended, the fire alarm goes off. I, and several others, thought it was part of the movie. Thor had just come crashing into the fight, so we thought Stark's alarms went off. So there we all are out in the parking lot. (All the time I'm thinking it's that s.o.b. father thinking, "If I can't watch the movie, nobody can!!" ) As the fire trucks started to arrive (never saw any smoke or anything), my son and I decided to call it a day. Maybe another time.

[Orlion]

That sucks, hope it doesn't ruin the movie for you.

[Fist and Faith]

No, it'll be fine. We really liked what we saw.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Will Smith did play Hancock - so I am hoping the director of SS pushes him.

Hancock was an okay movie but has been relegated to "meh" or "forgettable" status already. I wouldn't suggest it as one of Mr. Smith's or Ms. Theron's finest work.

Spoiler

We seem to be missing a small chunk of backstory between the last few movies and this one, vis a vis the Avengers Tower, the Legion, and Tony not being retired.

Why did Ultron need to build that first scrap body rather than just controlling one of the others?

I'm not sure if I liked the way Ultron talks. He was very casual, very human.

Deus ex Helicarrier. Does this mean Fury's no longer in hiding? Why was he hiding for this long, if he could pull together this kind of stuff anyway?

I was surprised they killed Pietro off in his first film.

Spoiler

I never saw Iron Man 3 but wasn't the Iron Legion something he developed at that time as backup for the Avengers? Also, the TV show with Agent Coulson has some run-up to the movie--they closed in on Strucker's location and are apparently the ones who called the Avengers to go in after him.

The scrap body was for dramatic effect.

I liked the way Ultron spoke, myself; that was merely James Spader infusing himself into the character. I didn't mind the voice at all but the way Ultron's mouth moved...ugh. I would have preferred a non-moving mouth, possibly with a little light flashing in it while dialogue is being spoken would be more realistic.

I guess he figured his cover story of "oops--I died" from Winter Soldier isn't needed any more. It is a shame that Phil Coulson doesn't get that luxury.

Yeah, I didn't see that coming, either.

Spoiler

The main critique I have for this film is that it suffers from "transitional film syndrome". There is some build up, but there's also a whole lot of setting up for future films. Like the cameo of Klaw and Thanos at the end putting on the Gauntlet saying, "Guess I'll have to do it myself". It's an entertaining film in its own right, but it is also a huge "coming attractions" advertisement.

Maybe it's just me, but the Vision gave me a very Adam Warlock vibe... almost like they are combining characters.

Spoiler

Isn't Klaw going to the main bad guy in the Black Panter movie? He is already dealing in black market vibranium and Wakanda is the only place to find it. Besides, he is already a billionaire thanks to Ultron so he has the resources to do pretty much what he wants.

I presume that "crushing Earth" is the thing Thanos has realized that he has to do for himself. Why would that lackluster backwater planet concern him so much? It blipped on his radar only because Loki suggested it--presuming that the Tesseract didn't translate Red Skull to Sanctuary--but I suppose being 0-2 via proxies at this point aggravates him.

Incidentally, I now have vindication--Loki's Staff was confirmed as being the Mind Stone. What I didn't know, though, was that the crystal in the Staff was merely the housing for the Stone. Tesseract = Space (now in Asgard), Loki's Staff = Mind (now on Earth with Vision), Aether = Power (still in The Collection), and Orb = Soul (unknown but definitely *not* on Xandar; probably in Rocket's underwear drawer because *no one* will ever want to look there). This leaves only Time and Reality; I presume that Thanos has at least one of these in his possession already, which will make getting the others pretty darned easy.

I concur--decent plot and action here but primarily the vehicle for setting up Civil War and Infinity War parts 1 and 2.

Also, I agree with your assessment that Vision is, for now, pretty much taking the place of Adam Warlock, including wearing an Infinity Stone on his forehead as well as being an artificially-created being.

Now....did Vision kill Ultron or merely absorb his mind via the Gem? His personality doesn't appear to have a vengeful streak and he correctly identified Ultron as scared (at that time). This also sets up a potential variation of Adam Warlock/Magus in Vision/Ultron as a plot device for Infinity War: Thanos has the Gauntlet, Vision gets hold of it, Ultron takes over, and so on and so forth until Vision reasserts control.

If you really wanted to Deus Ex the people out of the city to safety then why not have Heimdall open the Bifrost and have everyone run through it?

Fans of the MCU will get Ant-Man in July but then they will have to wait until next May to get Civil War and the beginning of Phase 3, which lasts until 2019. As far as I know, no one has made any plans past that but that is four years out so they have plenty of time to pull things together. Infinity War Part 1 is 2018, so they have 3 years during which to introduce two more Stones. In my opinion, Reality should show up in the Dr. Strange movie (and I still don't like Cumberbatch as the lead, but whatever) and Time in Guardians 2 but no one knows right now--not enough plot details yet.