^My only complaint about the movie. Way, WAY too many wisecracks going on. I had reached my breaking point when Clint & Nat were talking about a dining room amid the chaos.

Hulk/Widow was about to be a complaint, but I loved how that relationship concluded. Didn't see that coming (Great. Now I sound like Quicksliver) Speaking of which, I can see how some could be underwhelmed by the twins, but I didn't mind them. And I know that Wanda will grow well with the sequels.

I agree with others about Spader as Ultron. I thought I would eventually get tired of him but he just kept pulling me in with
that constantly cocky delivery. Brilliant performance. I grew to like the voice too. I was nervous how it sounded on some of the clips.

I, myself, almost did the same thing (Scrap the "Holy" bit though)

Bettany's Vision was a thing of absolute beauty (Any other longtime fans get the goosebumps on his birth?) That forest scene with him and you-know-who might...Just might...be my most favorite sequence of all MCU movies so far. That sequence reminded me so much of those quiet, compelling comic-book moments that a reader can never forget. EDIT-I bet my repeated viewing of this movie will recieve an even bigger impact considering how this sequence mirrors Ultron's birth scene.

Lastly, I thought Danny Elfman did a swell job here. Some very rousing stuff in the team moments. Especially the triple-team beating.

One little wtf? tidbit-moment: Avengers in hoodies. We've seen Cap, Nat and now Thor(!) wear one. Didn't Tony wear one in IM3?

And who was the female "Jarvis" at the end? I thought it was Cho at first, but I didn't hear an accent. Was it the chick in Norway?

Did anybody spot Bucky, btw?

I agree about the cheesy jokes. That Iron Man vs Hulk scene was great! Nice to see lots of people from the other movies, but I wish Coulson or some of the others from the TV show could have made an appearance.

Kerry Condon (if you watch Better Call Saul, she's Mike's daughter-in-law)

Mixed review by Manohla Dargis in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/mo...dayspaper&_r=0

From the opening section:

Thinking about it more I still wish Ultron would have done a lot more. He was in the net, he could've taken out power stations, launch missiles, really bring about some chaos to keep the team busy. Instead he went to the Cobra Commander school of villainy and let his robots fight while he stood around.

I enjoyed it overall. I wasn't too engaged in the beginning. Was it just me, or was the CGI not that great in this one? It looked kind of shoddy in some of the action scenes. The third act was pretty damn fun and engaging though.

All the new additions were great. Vision was amazing to look at. Scarlett Witch was great. I really like how the left things with the Hulk. And the end scene was a great lead in to whats to come.

Hawkeye had some great lines (the bit about none of this making sense made me laugh out loud so hard), as did Thor. Someone mentioned earlier how much better Thor is in these movies, and I agree. But I think what makes him funnier here is that he is out of his element.

In the end, I think I enjoyed the first one more, probably because of the novelty of it. But this is a worthy addition to the MCU. The Winter Soldier is still my favorite.

Is the beginning as unengaging as the first Avengers though is the real question.

Saw a 10:30p IMAX showing last night. Really liked it, didn't love it, and mainly because the movie didn't do a great job introducing Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, or Vision. And a certain S.H.I.E.L.D. character seemed to be MIA for way too long (was that because of the events in Winter Soldier?), but I'm also glad that element from the last movie was dropped for the most part. For me the movie moved at a very brisk pace, so much so that I lost track of what exactly was going on. Hawkeye's subplot dragged the movie down for me (I actually took a bathroom break during that scene, I've seen enough scenes like that on this season's Arrow.). I thought Hawkeye's lady was fine, but totally unnecessary. A lot of good laughs, the audience I saw it with laughed quite a bit, as did I.

I didn't think it was filler at all. Maybe that's because there are end title/mid title sequences of things to come, but how is that any different than the end of a lot of real comic books? They are just teasers anyway. And the mid title scene got a huge response in the theater, so I say mission accomplished on that end.

Upon reflection, I still like the movie a lot , but don't love it as I did the first one.

That's my reaction as well. Winter Soldier is still the best of the MCU movies. I loved Spader as Ultron, he was engaging throughout, and the creation of Vision was the most interesting part of the movie IMO. I didn't get sick of the jokes, I thought they were more entertaining than the action.

Not really movie related: three kids (about 8-9 years old) sat next to me and my friends. They were loud during the previews, and kept talking as the movie started, but settled down pretty quickly as the movie went on. After one action sequence there was a lull in the soundtrack, and one of the kids said quietly "that was dramatic." I burst out laughing.

Winter Soldier is my favorite as well. I can't wait for the Infinity War since it will be headed up by the guys that did WS.

Piling on the Winter Soldier bandwagon. I find that to be far and away the best MCU movie, followed by the First Avenger.

Winter Soldier is probably 3rd on my list, behind Guardians (#1) and Iron Man (#2). Had some nice action set pieces here and there and just the right amount of cheese (alright maybe a little too much), still am not entirely sold on the brothers' directing ability though, though that may be more from a few poor editing choices than actual directing.

I'd also want to reiterate that I wish they would take like 60 mil or so and throw into a Black Widow/Hawkeye solo film. Give the stars percentage on the return. So what, they already have their slate for the next few years. Big deal. They could do this as a small thing that doesn't need to be apart of the overall story. Maybe just a side mission, a prequel, etc. Release it within the next 2 years or so. Get a cool director, give it an independent feel.

Lucy kind of proved ScarJo can carry an action flick on her own too. And that movie was batshit crazy.

Exactly.

Saw it last night, I enjoyed it, however parts seemed a bit rushed, and I would welcome an extended cut down the road sometime.

Quickly want to point out that I was led to believe by certain reviews that this was going to lead into Civil War, but I saw more Infinity War than that. Not just because of the mid-credits scene, but because of Thor's last lines of the film. The Cap/Tony confrontation did build manage to build throughout, but it looked like it was all immediately put on hold at the very end.

Gonna try to see it again in 2D this weekend. A lot of the 3D did turn out really good, but the scenes that took place in corridors or caves were just TOO dark through my glasses.

There were well-behaved kids at my showing too. Probably the cutest moment was, at the end of the ANT-MAN trailer, one of them blurted out "Heeth an Avenja!"

Not thrilled to hear Hawkeye gets more story; which I am sure took away from the characters I care more about. That character means nothing to me...

Damn right he is, a founding member to boot.



I personally can't wait to see them on the screen together. Pretty exciting for me since I grew up reading The Avengers in the 70s.



Man, it was a good time to grow up and read these books, and to now see them on screen, well that's pretty cool.
I hope I don't get teary.

Looking back at past Whedon efforts , mostly TV, the guy always seems to struggle with wrapping stories after he develops so many characters. The fact that he had to allegedly cut 30 minutes from this movie means he probably shot like one would a three episode arc of a TV series, but then got rushed when faced with more or less removing half an episode.

Saw it.

I think it was a better movie than the first one but it wasn't as entertaining. And I'm fine w/ that. Loved the Twins, Viz, and Ultron. I actually like Hawkeye the most out of all the heroes cuz he had a damn soul in this one. Even though the appreciation came from beyond the action aspect, it was nice to see that kind of depth from a character that had no existence in the last one. In this one, he felt like there was a reason why he was on this team.

Dunno how the lower scores are hitting it as hard but I thought it had a much better handle on its world and characters.

The only things I didn't like was the Thor bit w/ him away, not enough knowledge to WHAT the villain's existence was, and

I really liked how by this point the characters feel like they live beyond their films. Phase 2 has done well w/ that... except for Thor. Easily the worst Avenger to hold his own films. His "world" is just so detached in the narrative that it always feels like we just jump in and out without really feeling like they have an impact on the universe.

At the same time, I can see how an extended cut would flesh it out better in giving it more depth.

It also looked like the ratio helped out a lot. Whedon also upped his direction, so that's nice. Seemed like he had more confidence to flex his muscles w/ the visual. CGI was very well done too. Everything really looked good in the visual to me.

Saying all that. I'm MUCH MORE excited w/ the Russos directing the next Avengers films. Winter Soldier upped the ante a lot w/ giving this world some grit and great action.

EDIT: Forgot to Mention Serkis. I really dug w/ how little he was in it. I hope they reuse that character whenever T'Challa comes around. Serkis is a always a joy for me when he's out of the MoCap suits.

Really like this a lot. Not as fresh or novel as the first, but a fun ride none the less. The final battle against an army of Ultrons was a little bit "been there, done that." I didn't mind the humor at all, it's not as forced and over the top as I have been hearing. And the set up at the end for the next Cap film is terrific. Definitely another Marvel winner.

I think I may be in the minority who think this was better than the first film. Loki was a more vibrant villain than Ultron, but this movie at least made the Avengers themselves interesting, gave them each solid character moments, and the whole film just seemed to gel a little better than the first.