I've had a couple of days to cool down from watching Avengers: Age of Ultron. With that time for clarity, I can now reveal how I really feel. (Because I discussed it with my best friend first).
I still think Age of Ultron is a very fun movie. I really liked it, but there are a few things I didn't care for. I know I've become cynical, but we have an embarrassment of riches with comic book based films. I don't have to force myself to like everything now.
We'll start with what I really liked. This movie is one big spectacle. That's not a bad thing, it's just like the first Avengers film, ramped up to a 12. There is a LOT more action in this movie. In fact, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the movie is at least half action scenes. This movie really showcased Captain America's skill set. The last movie he was slighted, but not this time. I loved all the team up moves that were used. It was like a real life version of the "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" game from a few years ago.
Something I've always liked about a Whedon film is the dialogue. This movie is chock full of zingers and good character moments. If I had my choice, I would have loved to see more scenes of everyone sitting around having a good time than all the action scenes. For instance, an extended cut of the dinner party scene at the beginning of the movie. It's always fun to see all of the various characters from all the other movies interacting with each other. To me, this is where the movie shined.
Ultron was creepily played by James Spader. I think he's the perfect villain for the Avengers because once again, you can have multiple bad guys for everyone to have their moment beating up. With all the Ultron clones, this makes sure everyone has something to do. Overall, I do think he was an effective villain.
The actors were all top notch. I don't feel like any one person carried the movie, but there was definitely a lack of Thor. He kind of disappears for half the movie to go on a quest we don't see a lot about.
I won't go into detail about the special effects. I would expect nothing less from ILM.
Now there were a few specific things I did not like in this movie. One of the things that really bugged me was the last act of the movie, that essentially starts with Black Widow being kidnapped. We have had about three movies with the Black Widow up to this point and she has proven to be a strong, independent character. To have her get kidnapped and become a damsel in distress flies against everything they built her up to be. She literally stays trapped until her man comes to save her. It's as if the resourceful spy we all know and loved just completely disappeared. As you can tell, this really bugged me.
I was not a fan of the Hulk/Iron Man fight in the movie. Mostly because we JUST saw all these guys fight against each other in the last movie. It's a scene that didn't need to happen and seemed to bloat this movie. That scene was built around the display of their impressive special effects.
On this last point, I know many will disagree, but this movie felt like it was missing heart. In the first film, I guess it seems more apparent than ever that Agent Coulson provided that. We did not have a Coulson analogue in this film, unless you count Hawkeye, who finally became a real character. Back to my point. It was spectacle after spectacle. Normally that would thrill me, but I guess in the past few years, that kind of thing serves to impress me less. Give me a good hand to hand fight sequence (re: Winter Soldier) and you'll have me eating out of your hands.
This movie also showed that all the addition of new characters has caused this movie to become too bloated. I liked the addition of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, they just felt unnecessary because we already have six people we need to care about, plus all the ancillary people (Maria Hill, Nick Fury).
It may seem like I had really strong feelings against this movie, but I still really enjoyed it. I know it won't last, but I liked the new team of Avengers they form at the end. If only we could get a movie with them before moving onto the Infinity War stuff. I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. You've suffered enough!
I still think Age of Ultron is a very fun movie. I really liked it, but there are a few things I didn't care for. I know I've become cynical, but we have an embarrassment of riches with comic book based films. I don't have to force myself to like everything now.
We'll start with what I really liked. This movie is one big spectacle. That's not a bad thing, it's just like the first Avengers film, ramped up to a 12. There is a LOT more action in this movie. In fact, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the movie is at least half action scenes. This movie really showcased Captain America's skill set. The last movie he was slighted, but not this time. I loved all the team up moves that were used. It was like a real life version of the "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" game from a few years ago.
Something I've always liked about a Whedon film is the dialogue. This movie is chock full of zingers and good character moments. If I had my choice, I would have loved to see more scenes of everyone sitting around having a good time than all the action scenes. For instance, an extended cut of the dinner party scene at the beginning of the movie. It's always fun to see all of the various characters from all the other movies interacting with each other. To me, this is where the movie shined.
Ultron was creepily played by James Spader. I think he's the perfect villain for the Avengers because once again, you can have multiple bad guys for everyone to have their moment beating up. With all the Ultron clones, this makes sure everyone has something to do. Overall, I do think he was an effective villain.
The actors were all top notch. I don't feel like any one person carried the movie, but there was definitely a lack of Thor. He kind of disappears for half the movie to go on a quest we don't see a lot about.
I won't go into detail about the special effects. I would expect nothing less from ILM.
Now there were a few specific things I did not like in this movie. One of the things that really bugged me was the last act of the movie, that essentially starts with Black Widow being kidnapped. We have had about three movies with the Black Widow up to this point and she has proven to be a strong, independent character. To have her get kidnapped and become a damsel in distress flies against everything they built her up to be. She literally stays trapped until her man comes to save her. It's as if the resourceful spy we all know and loved just completely disappeared. As you can tell, this really bugged me.
I was not a fan of the Hulk/Iron Man fight in the movie. Mostly because we JUST saw all these guys fight against each other in the last movie. It's a scene that didn't need to happen and seemed to bloat this movie. That scene was built around the display of their impressive special effects.
On this last point, I know many will disagree, but this movie felt like it was missing heart. In the first film, I guess it seems more apparent than ever that Agent Coulson provided that. We did not have a Coulson analogue in this film, unless you count Hawkeye, who finally became a real character. Back to my point. It was spectacle after spectacle. Normally that would thrill me, but I guess in the past few years, that kind of thing serves to impress me less. Give me a good hand to hand fight sequence (re: Winter Soldier) and you'll have me eating out of your hands.
This movie also showed that all the addition of new characters has caused this movie to become too bloated. I liked the addition of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, they just felt unnecessary because we already have six people we need to care about, plus all the ancillary people (Maria Hill, Nick Fury).
It may seem like I had really strong feelings against this movie, but I still really enjoyed it. I know it won't last, but I liked the new team of Avengers they form at the end. If only we could get a movie with them before moving onto the Infinity War stuff. I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. You've suffered enough!
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