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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Started by Trevor, April 22, 2015, 02:11:38 AM

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Ted C

Quote from: dean on May 03, 2015, 10:01:50 AM
Haven't seen Ultron yet but the comments about the next Avengers film and building up Thanos, well, how can you build a character up who has done NOTHING yet? I mean they're trying to build him up and make him into some big threat but it'd be nice if it involved more than him in a floating chair to be honest.

I think the teaser was meant to imply that Thanos will be taking a more active role. We may see the results in Thor 3 and Guardians 2 before Avengers 3 rolls around.
"Slugs?  He created slugs? I would have started with lasers, six o'clock, day one!" -- Evil, Time Bandits

indianasmith

I finally saw this last Friday night with my wife.
I haven't read a comic book since the 1980's, but I must say overall it was a
thoroughly enjoyable popcorn flick.  I have no idea who some of these characters
are, nor how they fit into the mythos.  I just enjoy watching them blow up androids!
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"

Trevor

Quote from: indianasmith on May 11, 2015, 06:50:05 PM
I finally saw this last Friday night with my wife.
I haven't read a comic book since the 1980's, but I must say overall it was a
thoroughly enjoyable popcorn flick.  I have no idea who some of these characters
are, nor how they fit into the mythos.  I just enjoy watching them blow up androids!

When the Avengers fought in Johannesburg, destroying several landmarks, including the City Hall  :buggedout:, the audience cheered when Hulk knocked a police van flying.
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

retrorussell

Just took my mom to it for Mother's Day.. great action flick!  Glad they introduced The Vision.  Kind of surprised Loki didn't make an appearance.
"O the legend they say, on a Valentine's Day, is a curse that'll live on and on.."

BoyScoutKevin

Quote from: retrorussell on May 12, 2015, 04:05:35 AM
Just took my mom to it for Mother's Day.. great action flick!  Glad they introduced The Vision.  Kind of surprised Loki didn't make an appearance.

Vision, as a New Avenger, is set to appear in next year's "Captain America : Civil War," where he'll again be played by Paul Bettany. (A nice gig if you can get it.)

And Loki is scheduled to appear in the next Thor film "Thor : Ragnarok" in 2017, where he'll again be played by Tom Hiddleston. (Again a nice gig, if you can get it.)

I don't know the storyline for the film, but I do hope they follow the storyline that I have seen in the comic books, where Loki buys the farm trying to save Valhalla, and is then brought back as an young boy. Because, I find Loki a far more interesting character, when he is a boy, then the adult version of Loki.

Anyway . . .?!

This is a review, not so much of the film, which we'll get to later, but . . .?! of myself, as the films we see can act as a mirror to ourselves and a reflection of ourselves to others.

I was a DC baby. I was born and bred on "Superman," then on "Batman," and then on "Superman" again, and then something strange happened. Some 3 and a half decades after I started watching my Superheroes, I just stopped. I wouldn't watch them in the theater. I wouldn't watch them on TV. I just stopped. Then something strange happened again. Some 3 decades after I stopped, I started up again, watching them, with "The Avengers." Now I'm Marvel, having switched my allegiance from DC to Marvel. Which does bring up . . .?!

Once upon a time . . . I can remember, being old enough, a time when films that were highly praised were also big box office draws. Now . . .?! We seemingly have two types of films.

Type A film
Highly praised, but little seen, relatively speaking, which we'll call "Birdman." and . . .

Type B film
Mildly praised, but much seen, relatively speaking, which we'll call "Avengers : Age of Ultron."

Anyway . . .?!

I want to thank everyone who posts here for keeping his board an "Isle of Intelligence" in a "Sea of Stupidity." I swear. I read the postings on some of the other boards, and I feel my I.Q. beginning to drop, and it was never that high to begin with.

Next time: 16 reasons I like the film. 2 reasons I dislike the film. And we'll try to respond to Trevor's questions, which I'm glad he asked, as they gave me something to think about, as I watched the film.

WingedSerpent

#35
Quote from: dean on May 03, 2015, 10:01:50 AM
Haven't seen Ultron yet but the comments about the next Avengers film and building up Thanos, well, how can you build a character up who has done NOTHING yet? I mean they're trying to build him up and make him into some big threat but it'd be nice if it involved more than him in a floating chair to be honest.

That comment made me realize something I hadn't really thought about until now.  For a lot of people, these movies are their introduction to these characters.  I mean I know what a big deal Thanos is, and the threat the Infinity Gauntlet pose but for some just now getting into comics, they might be thinking "Who is this big purple guy and why should I care".  

I think I liked the first movie just a bit more then AoU, this was still a great fun film.  

Seeing Hawkeye get some real character development was good.  Considering he's the main Avenger who probably won't get his own feature film, I'm glad they utilized him here.  

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen played a brother and sister in this summer's big action move when they played husband and wife  in last year's Godzilla (2015).  Anyone who has read Marvel's Ultimates comics knows there is an  unfortunate parallel.

Ultron was a better villain than Loki.   While Loki may have been a more charismatic bad guy Ultron was by far a more competent bad guy.  Able to strike at the team emotionally/mentally thanks to the Scarlett Witch and far more physically threatening able to hold off Iron, Captain America and even fighting Thor and holding his own.  

Some Spoilers below.

Wish that Baron Strucker wasn't just such a small side player in the film.  Yeah, they've taken care of the Hydra storyline in Agents of SHIELD-but it felt like a big final battle to end a major plot point in the MCU didn't occur.


At least, that's what Gary Busey told me...

Leah

It is a nice film to watch with your brain turned off. One thing though Trev, you said there was the 9/11 scene, but I'm having trouble seeing how 9/11 and that scene are connected. It felt like any other monster fight scene that has a building involved. As for me, I'm glad Joss took out the Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch incest theme that is in the Ultimate Marvel's universe (because being edgy means you have to write some dumb stuff to get noticed. -_-) Also, I wished that they wrote Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver a bit better, to me they felt like a generic revenge story villains. It's one thing for them to have that as a driving force, but not the main character reasoning.
yeah no.

Trevor

Quote from: El Misfit on May 17, 2015, 08:28:24 PM
One thing though Trev, you said there was the 9/11 scene, but I'm having trouble seeing how 9/11 and that scene are connected. It felt like any other monster fight scene that has a building involved. As for me,

To explain why I said that: there is footage of the 9/11 survivors emerging from the dust cloud after the two towers collapsed. Almost almost of them are covered in dust and some are bleeding: when I saw the Johannesburg scene in AAOU and the same thing happened, I got up and walked out.
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

Trevor

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

BoyScoutKevin

Quote from: Trevor on April 23, 2015, 12:54:08 AM
OK, I did eventually go back.

Verdict: the film will make a lot of money, it is technically good but most of it left me gobsmacked and not in a good way.

Slight spoilers:

Two of the Avengers fall in love. One wants it and the other doesn't. :tongueout:
Johannesburg's city centre gets trashed in a major way.  :buggedout: :buggedout:
Hulk has to have a building dropped on him to try and calm him down.  :buggedout:
The film was 150 minutes long: where was the editor?
One of the Avengers has a wife and kids: when did that happen?
The 3D used in the film was not needed: go see the 2D version instead.
Ultron as a villain? All I can say is  :tongueout:

The scene that put me off of the movie was when the building collapses and the survivors stagger out, covered in white dust and bleeding. I walked out then.  :buggedout:




We'll start with the Dislikes, as that list is shorter.

2 Dislikes

1. Disjointed story line

2. The visions did not really work for me.

17 Likes

1. A full crowd. I grabbed the last ticket available for my showing. I have not seen that many people, since I saw 1979's "Moon raker," when they oversold and had people sitting in the aisle.

2. Story and characters 100% fictional. Attitudes expressed 100% factual.

3. More and better Hawkeye.

4. Better Villain.

5. More and better Black Widow.

6. Better music.

7. More and better action.

8. More humor.

9. More and better bonding.

10. More emotion.

11. Best pre-credits opening in over a thousand films seen.

12. "Here come the Marines!"

13. Best Stan Lee cameo to date.

14. Proud to be a New Avenger. SIGN ME UP!

15. Best use of profanity since 1969's "True Grit."

16. "He gave his life for tourism!"

17. And here comes the brunette b.i.t.c.h. Never p**s off a brunette. They are slow to anger, but . . .?! When they do, they come out smoking with both hands.

As for Trevor's remarks

"Two Avengers . . ."
No answer to that one.

"Johannesburg . . ."
Who can now take its place among the other great cities in film, such as . . .
Washington (D.C.) -- Tokyo (Japan) -- San Francisco (California) -- Rome (Italy) -- New York (New York) -- Los Angeles (California) -- London (England) -- and Copenhagen (Denmark.) Well, maybe not Copenhagen.

"Hulk . . ."
It's called humor. Of course, humor varies from person to person. My favorite humorous moment comes when the Avengers come upon an enemy bunker that stops their assault on Hydra's headquarters. Black Widow: "Would someone take out this bunker?" Hulk, hearing this, just runs straight through it, destroying the bunker. She: "Thank-you." Me: ROTFL! A simple thank-you will suffice.

"The film . . ."
It may have ran that long, but it did not seem that long to me.

"One of the Avengers . . ."
Yeah, I wondered about that. Not from the last film, and as far as I can tell, not from the comic books, but . . .?! When you get ready to "buy the big 1," you want to be around people you respect and who respect you, and there is no greater sign of respect than naming your child for the man or woman who gives their life for yours. For every time you look at that child, your remember. And your pass that remembrance along to the next generation. "Son, I want to tell you the tale of the man who saved your Dad's life."

And that is not a new concept. It dates back more than a century. If not longer. For in Bram Stoker's "Dracula," the novel, not the film, when one of their friends dies in pursuit of Dracula, the couple in the novel name their child after their dead friend.

"The 3-D . . ."
Just a way to upping the take at the box office for most films. Still . . . There are times I wish I had seen a film in 3-D. Such as the recent "Mad Max : Fury Road."

"Ultron . . ."
I agree.