Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon)

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

We had our first MCer see it- lets do this!

[Peng]

Oh yes haha, I'm relatively new so I'm not sure about making this thread. To add to my original comment in that thread, I liked it less than the first one. Still my second favorite in the MCU, but keep in mind that I'm biased towards superhero films that feature a lot of superheroes and use them well (and Joss Whedon is nothing if not capable of juggling many things at once really well). They just feel more varied and interesting to me. In term of plot construction and general movie-ness, Captain America 2 and Iron Man might be better.

[Dukefrukem]

Early reviews are kinda suggesting the movie is going through the motions here and doesn't do anything particularly great. I'm especially concerned with this line:

That Whedon and company couldn’t think of anything to do with Scarlett Johansson other than give her a romantic subplot is frankly indicative of the overall feeling of indifference that pervades the whole picture. Avengers: Age of Ultron is not an aggressively bad film by any means, but it also doesn’t go out of its way to be aggressively good. It lacks any impact in the overall arc and isn’t all that entertaining on its own merits

Did you find Black Widow was just kinda of there?

[Peng]

I mean, after the focus on her (and Steve) in Captain America 2, this is bound to feel lesser in comparison. Still, I think there's more to her here than just romantic subplot. This is the most they've delved into her past thus far.

I read that Whedon's original cut is three hours, and most of what he has to cut is the character-building stuff. A shame, since it's his main strength, and this encapsulates the problems with this film a little bit: nothing gets to breathe or explored as much as it should. I wish it has been kept, or the reverse (cut the action but keep that stuff).

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

You can really tell who wants to be there.

[DavidSeven]

A shame, since it's his main strength, and this encapsulates the problems with this film a little bit: nothing gets to breathe or explored as much as it should. I wish it has been kept, or the reverse (cut the action but keep that stuff).

Who has time for character building when at least an hour needs to be devoted to leveling CG cities and destroying villainous robots for the umpteenth time.

[Henry Gale]

I think Whedon's 3-hour cut blurb has been too overly emphasized. He said that was his assembly cut length (with everything in place on the page without any rhythmic or other necessary honing), which was about the same as the first movie, and among the actual scenes taken out, it seems to be that a lot of it dealt with backstory on the twins. Otherwise I can't speak to how the movie itself plays, and especially how necessary those unused scenes might be since we won't see any of them for months (or until the Phase 2 box set if Marvel pulls those same tricks as last time).

One junket interview talking about it:

[Sycophant]

142 minutes. That should be more than enough.

[Pop Trash]

Chris Evans is sooo Steve Rogers.

[Pop Trash]

You can really tell who wants to be there.

Not Jeremy Renner.

[Dukefrukem]

Not Jeremy Renner.

Heh exactly. And most of them repeated the questions like the person asking them had six heads. Chris Evans was the only one who kinda played off the questions and answered them seriously. Olsen's head was in the clouds.

[Spun Lepton]

WOW that was awkward. Could not finish it.

[transmogrifier]

Will be seeing this in 4 hours or so. Caught about 20 minutes of the first one (which I thought I had liked quite a bit) a month or so ago on TV, and thought it was cheesy and needlessly busy. So consider me......trepidatious.

[EvilShoe]

Pretty average. Not as thrilling to see these characters together in a movie, this being the second and all. Spader's good, Ultron's not the most impressive threat. Then again, Marvel always seems to struggle in the villain department.

Hawkeye's the standout. Thor has this weird subplot, because? Banter is disappointing coming from Whedon. It doesn't really add up to much in the end, feels like just another Avengers adventure.

[Peng]

Thor has this weird subplot, because?

Setting up his next film and/or the next Avengers, probably.

[transmogrifier]

Flat and joyless, with too much generic speechifying and a lot of poorly staged action. Ultron peaks in his first scene and then just kind of goes through the motions so that there's a reason for another glum, tortured look and follow-up speech.

Marvel ranked:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. The Avengers
3. Iron Man 3
4. Captain America 2
5. Captain America 1
6. Iron Man 2
7. Iron Man 1
8. The Avengers 2
9. Thor

[Dukefrukem]

I haven't seen the movie, but yet somehow I already know you're wrong.

[Winston*]

This one climaxes with The Avengers learning they've got to work together. I thought they learned that in the first one, which kind of sums up how perfunctory this film feels. Aliens swapped for robots, without any of the touches that made the previous installment feel like recognisably the work of its creator (mewling quim etc). They seem to have forgotten that the fun of The Avengers was the way in which these absurd, disparate characters interact with one another.

I agree with trans that most of the action is fairly incoherently staged, though I did enjoy the climax more than the previous 2(!) city sequences.

Also, I can't believe a Joss Whedon film contains the line "hide the zucchini".

[Winston*]

The Flash TV show > Marvel Cinematic Universe

[transmogrifier]

I agree with trans that most of the action is fairly incoherently staged, though I did enjoy the climax more than the previous 2(!) city sequences.

The opening sequence is the worst, I think, because it begins in medias res and its general incoherence cannot be ignored based on at least a general understanding of the context. And the CGI is ropey as all hell, though I generally don't care as much about that.

[number8]

This is funny.

[Dukefrukem]

Can you guys confirm there is no after credits scene so I dont have to sit through the whole credits for nothing?

[transmogrifier]

There is a very short one at the end of the acting credits. It's pretty meh.