Since I figure most people who were going to see Age of Ultron probably have by now... certainly the geek population at least, I won't really go into a plot summary. I'm also not going to worry about spoilers... so if you haven't seen the movie yet, don't read on or you will be BIG TIME SPOILED!
Bullet-point Observations
- Avengers: Age of Ultron was not as bad as I was worried it
could have been. I probably had my expectations low enough and maybe Joss
Whedon is talented enough as a writer and director to do an admirable job
juggling an overstuffed script and movie... something most other writers would
fail at. Compared to other superhero films that were too full of characters and
plot points, like X-men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spider-man 3
and Amazing Spider-man 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron does a better job than any of
them. That said, there was still too much going on and too many characters
crammed into the film.
- I don't blame Joss Whedon for how overstuffed the film was.
Marvel was clearly trying to make a bunch of new Avengers to take some of the
weight off of their bigger stars whose contracts are running out soon as well
as advance the plot for the Infinity War movies. Unfortunately, that did
confirm what I was worried about in that Age of Ultron was more of a stepping
stone at times than it's own entity. I will give Whedon some credit in that he
tried to give a good chunk of screen time to each character, which could not
have been easy.
- Note to Marvel Films: STOP KILLING OFF YOUR VILLAINS! Iron
Monger, Whiplash, Red Skull (as far as we know), whoever the hell Guy Pearce
was supposed to be, Malekith, Kurse, Ronan the Accuser, Baron Strucker and
Ultron! You know, some of these guys could be useful in the future... and then
there's that whole adage about superheroes not killing (though to be fair only four
of those deaths were inflicted by good guys... maybe Iron Monger too... that's
debatable.)
Why the hell was Baron Strucker even in the film? He did
nothing and brought nothing to the table. The end of Captain America: Winter Soldier made him
seem like big shit and he did nothing at all... then was killed off-screen. I
mean, Baron Strucker was never a top-tier villain, but he was a solid second
tier at times. Hell, the guy in charge of Hydra has to be of some worth, right?
- Why didn't Ultron use the vibranium to make himself an
updated body. Yes, I know that Vision had a hybrid of the Korean scientist's
artificial flesh and vibranium, but that seemed more like a special
experimental project he was doing. Why didn't he right away make an updated
form with a steel and vibranium alloy to ensure his success should anything go
wrong. That's the thing here, Ultron is supposed to be Marvel's analog to
"the singularity" where artificial intelligence surpasses human
intelligence and more or less takes over the world. Ultron should have had
multiple plans in place with contingencies in place. Yes, I know the Avengers
needed to win in the end, but don't try to make a realistic interpretation of
AI run amok and skimp on the reality of it.
- Ultron wasn't quite right. I know Ultron from the comics, he
is a cold, relentless machine bent on killing human life. This Ultron was a
smooth talking, suave, gentlemanly villain... a witty manipulator. I get that
part of his personality was based on Tony Stark's and therefore he would be a
suave smart-ass, but he seemed less like Ultron and more like a robotic Lex
Luthor!
- I want to be the first to predict it: Ultron will turn out to be a better Lex Luthor than Jesse Eisenberg!
- Could Ultron's plan have been anymore outlandish, random and
convoluted? He wants to bring about peace by destroying mankind... sort of. He
wants to cause a cataclysm that will wipe out most of humankind and force
evolution... except that's not how it works. Evidence suggests that the
dinosaurs were not wiped out immediately by the KT impact, but gradually over a
few thousand years. If Ultron's logic was that peace can be attained by
machines that are programmed to live harmoniously, I could buy that, but his
plan was about forcing evolution... which would never bring about peace. Ask
the Cro-Magnons who were most likely killed off by the Neanderthals, who were
most likely killed off by Homo Sapiens. Strangely, Ultron's goal was more in
line with something Apocalypse might do in creating a condition where only the
strongest can survive.
- And in the middle of all that, Ultron had some weird
fixation on making a robotic fleshed upgrade to himself that eventually became
Vision... that whole thing felt forced into the script for the sole purpose of
creating Vision and not a natural plotline. Many things felt forced in Age of
Ultron.
- BIG TIME SPOILER - I am still a little surprised that they
killed Quicksilver. I know why he was killed... Joss Whedon loves consequences
for characters. I once saw a Q & A with him where he said (*and I'm
paraphrasing because this was about ten years ago*) "In war, people die,
that's what happens. It gives gravity to the situation. It can't just be clones
versus robots." Regardless, Quicksilver was a major Avenger character that
now, barring some unforeseen resurrection by ways of his magic sister or a
certain gem covered glove, we will never have the luxury of watching develop.
- That being said, if one had to die, Scarlet Witch was always
the bigger Avenger character anyway. Pietro wasn't always the best team player
and he often would run off (pun possibly intended) to do other wacky things
like join X-Factor or The Knights of Wundagore. Besides, we need the
awkwardness of Scarlet Witch and Vision hooking up.
- In speaking of awkward, I guess this settles the debate
about whether the movie versions of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's will have
the "extremely close" relationship from Ultimates.
- So in the debate of which Quicksilver was better, I think it
goes to Evan Peters from Days of Future Past. His was fun and more memorable
with arguably the best sequence in the film. Aaron Johnson's was probably truer
to the Pietro Maximoff of the comics, a brooding cocky prick that grows on you,
but having to share time in a massive ensemble film (that did not have the
luxury of half the cast set decades into the future to make the film seem less
crowded) and given that he died without being little more than a fun side
character, the Quicksilver of Age of Ultron just wasn't as good. Plus, there was
that fake accent.
- If Ultron is a super smart AI computer, then he would have
had to know that an impact of the level that he was creating (with the chunk of
Sokovia acting as a makeshift meteorite with a vibranium core) would have
created a massibe electro-magnetic pulse that would have fried every version of
himself in the vicinity. He would have certainly had to have had a back-up of
himself somewhere else to ensure his survival... which is exactly what the
comic book version does... which is why he is pretty much impossible to kill.
Meaning... Ultron could probably return in a future film... though I doubt he
will. There are too many villains and storylines and not that many movies for
them to appear.
- I'm hoping the next Avengers films (Infinity War parts 1
& 2) will not follow this same formula of a single big villain with a
generic army that threatens the Earth. In that way, Avengers 2 felt a lot like
the first one... just replace aliens with robots. I would have preferred a
villain team like The Masters of Evil. That way, instead of bland generic
minions that we all know pose no threat to our heroes, the Avengers can face
named villains with unique powers.
- I was really disappointed with the mid-credits scene. Once
again we see Thanos and he has a gem-less gauntlet. Whoopee. And where the hell was my shwarma scene? I sat through
the entire end credits for NOTHING! Captain America: Winter Soldier had a
shwarma scene... so did Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the
Galaxy! In fact, most of the Marvel films have had shwarma scenes. What the
hell Avengers 2?!?!
Final Thoughts: In the end, Avengers: Age of Ultron was entertaining enough
to watch, but isn't anything near as special as the hype would have you
believe. I'll put it this way... Avengers was something special. It was a
culmination of several movies with big actors in one big super superhero
movie that told it's own self-contained story with only subtle hints toward
future films. Avengers: Age of Ultron was just a popcorn flick.
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