AoU, finally.
Jun. 2nd, 2015 04:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyFinally saw The Avengers: Age of Ultron yesterday.
Short story: It lacked the magic of the first one and even of Thor 2. It wasn't awful by any means, but there was no sense of wow when you left the theater.
Long story: Well... that was a thing. How can a movie that long still manage to not feel long enough and entirely too long all at the same time? I suspect the answer to that question is editing, and this one felt like someone took a hacksaw to it at the strangest moments.
To be fair, I had a weird mix of really high expectations and low expectations since I'd waited so long to see the movie and had, alas, heard things. So on the one hand, I really liked the first one and quite a few of the MCU movies. On the other hand, if you paid any attention at all to Avengers movie news, you had to see Joss Whedon setting his bridge with Marvel aflame. I didn't poke that too hard with a stick because he's always been... special if you look too closely and also spoilers, baby.
But parts of the movie left me saying What The Fuuuuuuuuuuu-
Dge. Becase my mother was present.
We got there early for that viewing (late for the other) and had the theater to ourselves. Yay! A little less yay since originally Widget was supposed to be with us, but that would have been a later showing and also he didn't want to go. Mind you, the only reason I hadn't seen the movie sooner was because he made me promise not to go without him. So I waited a month to see this thing I've been dying for annnnnnd it's literally this little scene:
-ad for Avengers on FX, coming up next-
Widget: I wanna see the new one, I wanna see the new one!
Me: *looks up movie times and theaters, takes like, a minute and a half* Don't make plans after school tomorrow, monkey.
Widget: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...
Me: Don't ask or you don't get to gooooooooooo...
Widget: I don't care, I don't want to go anyway. You're gonna see a movie. The Avengers? Enh, I don't want to go.
Which was followed up throughout the night and yesterday morning. :(
Back to the movie. Did anyone actually ask for Ant Man to be made into a movie? I think I'm asking this as a serious question.
Anyway. Movie itself starts and things look... strange. Like, let's just jump into the chaos is fine, but why go slow-mo for that moment? Weird way to just take you right out of a scene you just started but I guess...
Oh, look. Some German(ish?) accents. And the twins who are most decidedly not Magento's kids because that would infringe on Fox's deal and this whole sharing of Quicksilver is strange but Wanda's fair ish game and why am I babbling about this? Oh, yeah, because I am unable to separate Wanda and Pietro from being Magneto's kids and I don't care how many times the comics try and change that, it's just how things were when I did my time in comic land (such happy memories) and that is HOW THEY ARE. So yeah, let's totally have them team up with the Nazi-Hydra thing, yeah. I mean, since they're no longer Magneto's kids and his whole backstory need not apply but it's still flippin' weird and it's making me overthink things and it's too damn early for this.
Oh, hey, Hawkeye. I'm going to spend the entire movie worrying you're gonna die because I think there are like, six people on this planet who want you still in this thing and I'm not entirely sure any of them work on the movies except maaaaaaaaybe Scarlett Johansson. And yes, I'm going to do this even though I peeked at the who died spoilers. Because you can't trust people.
Annnd it'll be boring if I keep going this way, so let's move along.
On the plus side, I found Ultron more interesting than I thought I would initially. Which kind of sums up how I feel about all of these movies, actually. Maybe it's from not being super invested in any of the characters because I was more of an X-Men girl and they did most of their cross-overs with like, Wolverine in his own book so I could be surprised by a lot and not have any backstory really bringing me down.
In any case, he was just creepy enough that it kept me unsettled at times but not so creepy that I thought I'd wandered into a horror movie which is how some of the trailers played out. Seriously, some of those trailers were scarier than stuff for actual horror movies.
I liked the Science Bros aspect, with Tony tempting Bruce down a path that he might not have taken otherwise. I liked everyone's visions courtesy of Wanda. I liked the twins and would have loved to see more of them. I loved Hawkeye not getting mind warped because he'd been there, done that, didn't like it, thank you.
I... was not as fond of Barton's family life. It was one of those things in the movie that didn't ring true. Like I kept waiting for the edges to blur out and have it be a vision or a lie or a setup, sort of like Tony's disbelief.
I don't know if it's because the first Avengers played around with Black Widow/Hawkeye being a thing or if it's because something about the farm was just... off. Which is weird because it's not the whole thing, because I really liked them strategizing in the kitchen. I liked Fury showing up in the barn. I liked most of the wood chopping scene. I awwed at the Aunt Nat things.
But things didn't gel in other ways and it was distracting.
It was just about as distracting as the Natasha/Bruce ship attempts. I... really? I can ship all kinds of things given just enough ammo, but I'd ship Nat/Cap waaaaaaaaay before I could ship Nat/Bruce. Just... no. It didn't work for me and having them consider running away during a bloody fight, are you on crack why what I'm trying not to rant here now and it's very, very hard so...
Back to things I liked. Thor bringing the lightning to Bruce and Tony's creation and then basically getting to name him. I liked Vision. I really liked Barton's talk with Wanda when she freaked out, and I'll admit I'm partial to the mostly ordinary person on a team with specials being kind of out of their element but finding ways to go on because that's what needs to be done and that's what that scene was in addition to the rest. That and the part where the Avengers (older and new) come together for their fight? The magic I was looking for. It just... didn't last long enough.
It's like someone made a movie and then someone else came along and pasted things over top of certain things and you can tell which bits shouldn't be there. And I'm well aware that what worked for me might not work for you and vice versa. Still, I hope the DVDs fix some of this.
As it is, I'm vexed that the whole damn movie is about the team needing to be a team and needing one another and then it seemingly ends with "So Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye are going off to do their own thing but that's okay because we have The NEW Avengers, coming soon to a theater near you."
Oi, Marvel. Just... oi.
Short story: It lacked the magic of the first one and even of Thor 2. It wasn't awful by any means, but there was no sense of wow when you left the theater.
Long story: Well... that was a thing. How can a movie that long still manage to not feel long enough and entirely too long all at the same time? I suspect the answer to that question is editing, and this one felt like someone took a hacksaw to it at the strangest moments.
To be fair, I had a weird mix of really high expectations and low expectations since I'd waited so long to see the movie and had, alas, heard things. So on the one hand, I really liked the first one and quite a few of the MCU movies. On the other hand, if you paid any attention at all to Avengers movie news, you had to see Joss Whedon setting his bridge with Marvel aflame. I didn't poke that too hard with a stick because he's always been... special if you look too closely and also spoilers, baby.
But parts of the movie left me saying What The Fuuuuuuuuuuu-
Dge. Becase my mother was present.
We got there early for that viewing (late for the other) and had the theater to ourselves. Yay! A little less yay since originally Widget was supposed to be with us, but that would have been a later showing and also he didn't want to go. Mind you, the only reason I hadn't seen the movie sooner was because he made me promise not to go without him. So I waited a month to see this thing I've been dying for annnnnnd it's literally this little scene:
-ad for Avengers on FX, coming up next-
Widget: I wanna see the new one, I wanna see the new one!
Me: *looks up movie times and theaters, takes like, a minute and a half* Don't make plans after school tomorrow, monkey.
Widget: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...
Me: Don't ask or you don't get to gooooooooooo...
Widget: I don't care, I don't want to go anyway. You're gonna see a movie. The Avengers? Enh, I don't want to go.
Which was followed up throughout the night and yesterday morning. :(
Back to the movie. Did anyone actually ask for Ant Man to be made into a movie? I think I'm asking this as a serious question.
Anyway. Movie itself starts and things look... strange. Like, let's just jump into the chaos is fine, but why go slow-mo for that moment? Weird way to just take you right out of a scene you just started but I guess...
Oh, look. Some German(ish?) accents. And the twins who are most decidedly not Magento's kids because that would infringe on Fox's deal and this whole sharing of Quicksilver is strange but Wanda's fair ish game and why am I babbling about this? Oh, yeah, because I am unable to separate Wanda and Pietro from being Magneto's kids and I don't care how many times the comics try and change that, it's just how things were when I did my time in comic land (such happy memories) and that is HOW THEY ARE. So yeah, let's totally have them team up with the Nazi-Hydra thing, yeah. I mean, since they're no longer Magneto's kids and his whole backstory need not apply but it's still flippin' weird and it's making me overthink things and it's too damn early for this.
Oh, hey, Hawkeye. I'm going to spend the entire movie worrying you're gonna die because I think there are like, six people on this planet who want you still in this thing and I'm not entirely sure any of them work on the movies except maaaaaaaaybe Scarlett Johansson. And yes, I'm going to do this even though I peeked at the who died spoilers. Because you can't trust people.
Annnd it'll be boring if I keep going this way, so let's move along.
On the plus side, I found Ultron more interesting than I thought I would initially. Which kind of sums up how I feel about all of these movies, actually. Maybe it's from not being super invested in any of the characters because I was more of an X-Men girl and they did most of their cross-overs with like, Wolverine in his own book so I could be surprised by a lot and not have any backstory really bringing me down.
In any case, he was just creepy enough that it kept me unsettled at times but not so creepy that I thought I'd wandered into a horror movie which is how some of the trailers played out. Seriously, some of those trailers were scarier than stuff for actual horror movies.
I liked the Science Bros aspect, with Tony tempting Bruce down a path that he might not have taken otherwise. I liked everyone's visions courtesy of Wanda. I liked the twins and would have loved to see more of them. I loved Hawkeye not getting mind warped because he'd been there, done that, didn't like it, thank you.
I... was not as fond of Barton's family life. It was one of those things in the movie that didn't ring true. Like I kept waiting for the edges to blur out and have it be a vision or a lie or a setup, sort of like Tony's disbelief.
I don't know if it's because the first Avengers played around with Black Widow/Hawkeye being a thing or if it's because something about the farm was just... off. Which is weird because it's not the whole thing, because I really liked them strategizing in the kitchen. I liked Fury showing up in the barn. I liked most of the wood chopping scene. I awwed at the Aunt Nat things.
But things didn't gel in other ways and it was distracting.
It was just about as distracting as the Natasha/Bruce ship attempts. I... really? I can ship all kinds of things given just enough ammo, but I'd ship Nat/Cap waaaaaaaaay before I could ship Nat/Bruce. Just... no. It didn't work for me and having them consider running away during a bloody fight, are you on crack why what I'm trying not to rant here now and it's very, very hard so...
Back to things I liked. Thor bringing the lightning to Bruce and Tony's creation and then basically getting to name him. I liked Vision. I really liked Barton's talk with Wanda when she freaked out, and I'll admit I'm partial to the mostly ordinary person on a team with specials being kind of out of their element but finding ways to go on because that's what needs to be done and that's what that scene was in addition to the rest. That and the part where the Avengers (older and new) come together for their fight? The magic I was looking for. It just... didn't last long enough.
It's like someone made a movie and then someone else came along and pasted things over top of certain things and you can tell which bits shouldn't be there. And I'm well aware that what worked for me might not work for you and vice versa. Still, I hope the DVDs fix some of this.
As it is, I'm vexed that the whole damn movie is about the team needing to be a team and needing one another and then it seemingly ends with "So Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye are going off to do their own thing but that's okay because we have The NEW Avengers, coming soon to a theater near you."
Oi, Marvel. Just... oi.