Avengers: Age of Ultron

Age of Ultron posterI just got back from seeing Avengers: Age of Ultron and have to say that I really liked it. I would not say that it was better than the first, but it was pretty close. I am going to do my bullet points of what I liked, loved, hated, etc. Now, it goes without saying that there will be spoilers. I mean, if you have not seen the movie and think it is a good idea to read this and then get angry when I give away the ending, well then you are probably an idiot.

-I loved that the movie starts off in the middle of action. No need for an explanation of where the team is heading. Just them kicking ass and being a cohesive unit. It turns out that Loki’s scepter is being held in the castle and that Baron Strucker is using it to experiment on humans, which is how Wanda and Pietro Maximoff get their powers.

-I understand the need for the change. I guess if they mention that they are mutants, then Fox would have some issues with the movie. Ugh, this legal shit gets annoying. I was hoping that they would be able to mention their metal controlling father…but I guess not.

-Speaking of the twins, I loved the casting. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson were both great in their roles. I just wish the movie would have done a better job of showing the speedster in action. I loved the scenes with Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, and was really hoping to something similar.

-Also, Hawkeye was fantastic. Some of his lines were just hilarious. When Pietro rescues Wanda and Clint is lying on the ground pointing an arrow at his back saying “I could do it, no one would even know.” The banter between the two characters was great. Also, liked the change from the comics with Clint’s family life. In the comics, he is a bit of a womanizer. And by bit, I mean that he has slept with almost every Marvel Universe female.

-I definitely thought James Spader was cool as hell as Ultron. He took the robot and made him maniacal, humorous, and very scary at times. In fact, he gave a machine a personality.Elizabeth-Olsen-on-The-Avengers -Age-of-Ultron-Set-Photos--15

-Quick gripe. And this is something I never thought I would complain about. Boobs. There were two scenes towards the end when the city was being lifted that just did not fit. The first was some girl was running with her kid (the one that Hawkeye goes to rescue and Pietro takes a bullet for). They kept showing the girl and she has big boobs and she is showing a good bit of cleavage. Then, a little bit later, when Wanda is getting up from the ground, the camera seems to basically focus right down her shirt. It really jarred me out of the action and made me think of those times watching a sporting event when some creepy cameraman finds a hot girl and keeps checking her out. It was just unnecessary and a bit out of place.

-Another thing that bothered me was how easily they could just beat the crap out of Ultron’s drones. If this was Tony’s plan (if Ultron was a good robot), then it was a sucky plan. If aliens attacked the planet and the Ultron Defense League was sent out, all the aliens would need is a bow and arrow and they could take on the entire army of droids.

-Speaking of Ultron and his plan, how would raising the city up into the air and dropping it on the planet be a global killer? Yes, if a meteor that size hit the planet, it would wipe out most life, but that meteor would also be traveling at like 25,000 MPH. That was something else that took me out of the action and made me wonder if they consulted any scientists. I am not saying it would not do damage, but just not the level Ultron (and Tony) claim.

Vision_Avengers_Age_of_ultron-How cool was Vision? Picks up Thor’s hammer (also another hilarious part of the movie, the team trying to pick it up and then the end with Cap and Tony discussing how that does not count since he is a machine. Cap makes a point that if the hammer is in an elevator that is going up, then technically the elevator is lifting it and is therefore worthy) and ends up being the one to finally put a stop to Ultron. And I am guessing will be a big part in the next movie.

-Not sure if I liked the mid-credit scene. We already know that the next movie is Infinity War, so there was really no need to tease us with Thanos again. I thought for sure we would get a little Dr. Strange or Ant-Man action. Or even Black Panther, since the movie visited Wakanda.

Okay, I feel like I am starting to ramble on. Needless to say, I enjoyed this movie.

Comic Book Movie Grade:  A-/B+*

*Note about movie grade system–eventually I will change these and make this into a neat section. Will probably take me twenty years or so, but I promise it will be done!
Author: Ngewo

9 thoughts on “Avengers: Age of Ultron

  1. Am I the nerdiest commentor on this site? Anyway, I took the day off Friday to watch this in IMAX at Pittsburgh Mills. While there, I lost my wallet. That fact may color my opinion of the film because it made me SUPER MAD.

    My bullets on your bullets:

    – OPENING SCENE: So great. I love how Whedon, for the most part, will stay away from the quick cut action scenes. Like here he pieced in the CGI so it all looked like one continuous shot. The quick cuts disorient. When you actually have a consistent point of view and can see what’s happening, super powers look so much more extraordinary. Plus, the sense of weight they give Thor’s hammer when he catches it makes me geek out every time. I would watch two hours of Thor throwing and catching his hammer while talking Asgard-y.

    – MAXIMOFFS AND LAWSUITS: Yeah, dumb. Although Marvel not having the rights to Spider-Man (I guess they do now, though) and the X-Men have thankfully kept him and Wolverine out of these movies.

    – MAXIMOFF CASTING: I thought they were really good, too. I wasn’t expecting much from Kick-Ass since the last thing I saw him in — Godzilla — he was pretty bland.

    These two got me thinking about how inconsistently accents are handled in comic book movies.

    The Maximoffs – Eastern European – Accents
    Magneto – German – English Accent
    Storm – American raised in Egypt – No Accent
    Dr. Doom – Eastern European – No Accent
    Professor X – American – English Accent

    – HAWKEYE: Love Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, even though he seems like a pretty skeezy dude in IRL interviews. Hated the “let’s go meet Hawkeye’s family” stuff. “I’ll redo the kitchen if I don’t die fighting robots! Har har!” I understand it was supposed to give him depth, but I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

    – ULTRON: I love listening to Spader talk, but I couldn’t get into Ultron. Too much clowning. He’s a killer robot trying to wipe out the human race. Also, smartass? I’d have rather they played up Ultron thinking he was doing what was right to save Earth.

    – DIRTBAG CAMERA: So terrible. They kept focusing on that woman at the end, so I was expecting something would happen to her. Nope, not really. Just showing cleavage.

    – LITTLE ULTRONS: Very good point. What a crappy plan by Tony. Kids with sticks and rocks could conquer the whole planet with these guys on guard.

    – EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT: Another good point! What the hell?! That city was a mile up? How much damage would that even do to the surrounding area, let alone the whole planet?

    – VISION: I liked Vision a lot, too, but didn’t like him picking up Mjolnir. If Captain America isn’t worthy to lift it, friggin Vision shouldn’t be able to either. That one really made me push my glasses up on my nose and have a nerd fit.

    – MID-CREDITS THANOS: I get what you’re saying, but any time Thanos’ wrinkly little chin gets screen time, I love it. Plus, we got to see the Infinity Gauntlet! And Thanos wore it! I’ll take that for sure over Dr. Strange or Ant-Man. If they were going to show up, it should have been at the party early on. I’m with you on Wakanda, though. Would have loved Black Panther instead of just dirty Andy Serkis.

    B- for me. Too many jokes that weren’t up to Whedon’s usual quality. Couldn’t get into a clown robot villain. Hawkeye on the Prairie. Loved Thor, Quicksilver, Wanda, Hulk. Action scenes really well done.

  2. That sucks about your wallet.

    Now on to the bullets of your bullets to my bullets…

    -Yes, I know exactly what you mean about that opening scene. And I definitely agree with you, it was great to watch an action film and be able to see and follow the action.

    -How come in the first X-Men movies, Magneto has an English accent, but then when you go back in time, it is some sort of amalgamation of english/german/american. I guess Michael F. Assbender cannot do a good Gandalf impression. Also, I feel like their needs to be a joke in a comic with Quicksilver at some point where they point out how in the different movies he is either young and American in the 70s or young and Eastern European in the 21st century…

    -Kick-Ass was pretty bland in Godzilla (I pretty much forgot he was in that). Godzilla would have been even better had they swapped out Kick-Ass with Walt Jr. (codename: Flynn).

    -I will have to disagree with you on the redoing the kitchen. I thought it was funny, especially when he is discussing it with Black Widow while making a getaway, rescue, whatever/whenever that happened.

    -Doing what is right to save the Earth is a little too close to I, Robot. Those robots thought they were doing the right thing. Ultron was like the reverse version of Tony Stark. Maybe that is not the right wording. He is the negative side of Tony?

    -Who else has picked up Mjolnir? Beta-Ray Bill, Wonder Woman, Superman…ummm, anyone else? Without consulting wikipedia. I enjoyed in the Ultimate universe when Thor attacks Magneto with it and Magneto takes control of the hammer and defeats him.

    -I did geek out when Thanos put on the gauntlet.

    -The one joke that I really loved and it really reminded me of something you would have seen in Firefly (or maybe it was in Firefly): at the beginning when Tony says something about talking things out to the bad guys and they still shoot at him. After he takes them all out he is like “good talk guys” and as he goes by, the one says “no it wasn’t.”

    -Hawkeye on the Prairie is a great name for an electric bluegrass band (I just made up the genre).

    1. Michael F. Assbender! Cracking me up. I’ll never be able to call him anything else again.

      Which Quicksilver do you like better? Young and goofy or slightly older and serious?

      Walter Jr. in Godzilla would have been fantastic! Can you imagine, he’s an Army explosives expert with cerebal palsy? He’s got the crutches, and he’s doing the exaggerated Walter Jr. voice, going around talking to military men trying to join up with them.

      None of those Mjolnir pickups even count. Marvel/DC crossovers and the Ultimate universe aren’t canon (I decided), and Beta Ray Bill is obviously worthy to do pretty much anything based solely on the fact that he’s a metal horse man alien.

      That Firefly joke (good call, btw, totally reminiscient of Firefly) was pretty good, I agree.

      Electric bluegrass makes me think of the Justified theme, even though there’s nothing electric about that music.

      1. I wish I could take credit for Michael F. Assbender, but I think Filmdrunk is where I read it.

        I think both versions worked. I liked older/serious because that was always the sense I got from him in the comics. Young/goofy reminds me too much of Wally West (especially younger Wally).


        Still my favorite Walt Jr. moment. Godzilla would have stood no chance against that…

        I agree with the Ultimate universe (I just loved the idea of Magneto just destroying a god and if I recall correctly, he makes a joke about the gods of men being pretty weak or something). Oh wait, here it is…
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        I do count the DC/Marvel stuff because, well I like them. Well I wasn’t crazy about JLA/Avengers. I don’t know why, I guess it just seemed like an excuse for George Perez to draw lots of characters.

        I think of the Justified theme as bluegrass hip-hop.

  3. Ahem. I’ll compete for nerdiest commenter here, even if I don’t have time at the moment for a loong comment. You’ll have to read my site for the lengthy stuff.

    I actually liked Vision picking up the hammer, although how Mjollnir decides who’s worthy (loved the elevator joke) is still unclear. Wai… did you say that DC characters have picked up the hammer? What’s with that?

    1. It would be a good battle for Nerdiest Commenter…

      I remember Wonder Woman picking it up during the Marvel vs. DC story. I think Thor dropped it after fighting someone and she picks it up and thus gains his power. Then she relinquishes it when she is sent to battle Storm.

      In the JLA/Avengers book, Superman eventually has to wield it in order to defeat whatever they were fighting against.

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