Avengers: Age of Ultron (spoilers)
I saw this last Wednesday. I've been too lazy to do a write-up. It was okay. I may have hyped myself out of enjoying this movie to its fullest. I only saw the three trailers, and avoided most articles leading up to release. I remember reading that Joss Whedon wanted to make a different kind of movie than first one, and I didn't really get that impression. It was a bunch of big action scenes loosely connected with exposition, much like the original. I heard Whedon was asked to cut like an hour from the run time so that might have something to do with it. Scenes like Thor's cave bath felt disconnected which I figured was due to cuts.
Age of Ultron felt like it was largely setting up Phase Three, rather than acting as the culmination of a phase like the original (I realize Ant-Man is technically closing out Phase Two). Some additional thoughts:
1. Hawkeye is so lame. He's the first and only Avenger taken down in the opening scene. He was being mind-controlled in the first one. In this one, he's the only one who isn't incapacitated by Scarlet Witch yet he was still useless. Iron Man has to take down Hulk on his own. "Ooh, look, I have a farm." And he totally gets Quicksilver killed. Pietro should have used Hawkeye as a shield. Terrible.
2. Speaking of Quicksilver, I feel like he was killed off because Fox also uses Quicksilver (who was also cooler). They didn't even really address it either though I attributed that again to cuts. The main problem is that he didn't do a lot in Age of Ultron so his death didn't have the weight that Agent Coulson's did (which was ruined by resurrecting him for Agents of SHIELD). Quicksilver is apparently not being brought back. I'm not entirely convinced. We'll see whenever the Time Gem is finally addressed and used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It'd be swell if it was used to bring back Ronan the Accuser.
3. The movie could have used more Ultron. He didn't do as much as I expected. I also got the impression that The Vision removed Ultron's access to the internet (more aptly, send his memory/"consciousness" online when he's about to be destroyed). I guess, unlike comics, they can't just keep reusing the same villains, but Ultron's ability to copy himself and return is one of the most important parts of his character. It's what made him such a good villain.
4. I realize it's difficult to do an Ultron story without The Vision, but introducing such an important character in the third act caused some problems. I didn't think The Vision did that much. He ultimately destroyed Ultron at the end (and may be how to bring him back since Ultron uploaded half of himself into The Vision's body).
I think I'll stop there. I didn't hate the movie; I just didn't like it as much as I wanted or expected.