Giantrobo

Wow. These reviews kinda bumming me out.

Dr. DVD

Reviews saying it's good but not great make you pessimistic? No one here is really outright hating it, we're just a bit underwhelmed. I have a feeling this will be one that works better in the big picture sense, kind of like Iron Man 2.

johnnysd

Saw this today. I managed to be almost completely spoiler or trailer free before seeing it.

I have liked almost all the Marvel movies, I loved GOTG, Iron Man, thought the Cap movies were excellent. I really liked the first Avengers quite a bit as well.

Unfortunately I think this movie is really borderline bad. On a high level it feels like a $250 million TV episode, especially the first 20 minutes or so which feels just like a sequence from Marvel's Agents of Shield. The cut plot lines are REALLY obvious and detract from the movie.

The plot is dumb. I am not a transformers/sentient robot guy, and I found Ultron to be a really dull villain who never really felt dangerous. I liked Spader's performance but he was a snorefest and all the "he's in the internet" dribble makes my eyes glaze over.

I liked Vision and Scarlet Witch quite a bit, on the positive side.

Worse, though the action was seriously boring and bloated and had no impact. Seeing them mow down , was super tedious. Some of the dullest, most repetitive and hard to follow action in all the Marvel films. Plus the way they did it sort of highlighted the ridiculousness of having Thor and Hulk and even Scarlet Witch fighting alongside Hawkeye and Black Widow, often in close combat. The first movie handled this much better.

Even the signature Whedon dialogue felt forced and often disruptive.

So we have a 144 minute movie with easily 40 minutes of bloat (Winter soldier showed bigger is not always better) with and obvious 20 or 30 minutes of plot excised, a boring unthreatening villain a TV episode level plot, special effects overload and repetitive boring action.

I gave it three stars, but now thinking about it, it is the first Marvel movie I will likely never see again, and definitely one of the weaker if not the weakest entry in the series with a real paint by numbers feel. I would say it is really more a 2 star film. I cannot see it having the legs the first had, but it will still make a fortune.

Will they have 2 bad entries in a row with Ant Man? Trailer was iffy and had a generic feel. Glad I saw this in a super matinee and didn't spring for a premier theater to see this.

Double_Oh_7

Uh, no. IM2 doesn't work in any sense.

Matthew Chmiel

Uh, there's no scene of RDJ pissing himself in the suit... so it's already leagues better than Iron Man 2.

I feel like I need to watch it a second time in 2D (rather than IMAX 3D). I felt extremely underwhelmed. It wasn't one of Marvel's lesser efforts, but it wasn't on par with Guardians or Winter Soldier.

Solid Snake

You can feel the issues in IM2 w/ what they were wanting to do w/ the MCU. It didn't feel like a progression. AoU feels like a continuance of living characters.

fumanstan

Got to watch it this morning for a work outing. My opinion is similar to everyone else's here; I enjoyed it quite a bit, but didn't love it as the first Avengers movie. That's hardly a bad thing though, and it's still in the better half of MCU movies released so far.

Highlights -


Lowlights -


Anyway, minor complaints but still a great entry to the franchise and looking forward for what's to come. I know some hate how these movies just seem to lead to something else, but the whole universe is just working for me the way Marvel intended, even including how Agents of SHIELD led up to the opening scene in the movie. Also, loved the way this movie ended with Captain America, Black Widow, and the Avengers team. On that note...

Giantrobo

"Pessimistic" is a strong word. I just said "kinda bummed". I'm sure I'll love it more than most of you because I often love certain films more than most of you. But i did think there would be more positive reviews for AoU than i'm seeing.

Also, all three IM films were "whatever" to me so anything is an improvement over those.

asianxcore

If I remember right



I've only seen it once so far, so that just going by what I heard last night.

Hazel Motes

I thought this was much better than the first one. It was a decent amount of fun. But not all that good of a movie. I'm getting pretty sick of cgi and 3D to tell you the truth. The comedy moments were easily the highlights.

3/5

Hokeyboy

Jesus, that was exhausting. Good movie, enjoyable, fun, but a step down from the straightforward earnest simplicity of the original. Big, loud, overbearing spectacle that was just became punishment over time, but with some interesting character moments. Vision was outstanding.

Elizabeth Olsen is outstanding. My GOD. She was probably more stunning here than she was in that crappy Oldboy remake, and she was the best thing in that because titties.

3.5 out of 5, because of Olsen, Vision, Ultron, and some remarkable comic book onscreen action.

Why did Whedon turn Ultron into Magneto?

Hokeyboy

Oh, and most of the cutesy-poo Whedonisms fell flat this time around.

The Cow

I enjoyed it overall, but didn't care for the casting of Spader as Ultron. It was too Spader - he even had the little head tilts. It took me out of that character. I prefer no-names for things like that (and in animation). I did really like Vision in this.

Hokeyboy

Thor in the pond was a largely useless and almost entirely unnecessary subplot. If you wanted Thor wet and naked and pulsating energy eminating from his largely sculpted chest that looks like Michelangelo carved him out of marble and that hair bouncing off his shoulders and oh shit what a giveaway

Paul_SD

Trying to skim through most of these posts as to stay un-spoiled till I see this, probably Monday. That's why I'm posting this here rather than the main discussion thread.

Given the consistent criticisms of action being overbearing and pummeling, do people think that an extended cut will likely pace things better and give the action a little more room to breathe?
It sounds to me like this film needs to a lot longer- even though that runs counter intuitive to the general feeling that it's overstuffed and overlong now.

lexx2.0

Loved the movie but could have done without AMCTheaters stupid survey to ruin the movie for me...

Brack

I would actually say an extended cut would be welcome. So much happens in so little time that there's not much time for a lot of the plot to "matter", if that makes any sense. I plan to see it again, just to make sure it wasn't just me, but I have a feeling my first reaction was accurate.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Maybe it was the theater i was in but the sound mix felt flat an uneven. Starks dialogue in the first action sequence felt divorced from everything else that was happening until he stepped out of the suit. The IM/Hulk battle sounded flat. Also the Wheadon quips need to go. Way too goddamn many of em this go round.

Also anyone else think it odd that the 2 playing the twins were playing husband and wife last year in Godzilla?

Solid Snake

Hrmm. I think the Whedon nature was much more stronger in the first one. Not just the quips but just the nature of him.

About the twins, we were talking how it was weird/funny that they were cast again in a different relationship.

fumanstan

Regarding an extended cut, for me it would really depend on what scenes its actually adding; I think I would like it if it was more of the Avengers interacting during their downtime or development of either Ultron or the twins, not so much if it was just more action scenes.

RichC2

From what I've read, it would need a Kingdom of Heaven style director's cut. I wonder if the "It's less fun than the original" will dampen down the total gross for the US. Right now it look like it will open in line with the first one. (< $210m) aka it's a total bomb.

Hokeyboy

No one's debating that Age of Ultron will make HUGE bank, and probably outgross the original (worldwide) or, at the very least, come really close.

I think the film needs LESS run time, not more. The story can't support more bloat and extended scenes; it's entirely too straightforward and simple. There's enough throwaway here to cut it down by a good 20 minutes.

Why So Blu?

Saw this a few days ago it was alright. Much better than the first one by a large margin but the editing for part 2 sucks balls. Thor taking a dip in the pool was too abstract and really had no purpose due to them no doubt removing the whole "quest" thing. Another thing that bugged me (unless I missed but don't think so) when Black Widow throws Bruce Banner into that pit he never came back into battle until the cathedral scene. That was 20 minutes or so later. Where the fuck was he?

Th best scene of the film was obviously Hulk Vs. Hulkbuster - it was so anime. I liked that Stark called it in from outer space and then the ship hovered while they fought and even replenished his damaged armor in some parts.

I probably won't see this again until the Blu-ray, though.

I also didn't put spoilers here, because it's the review thread and if you haven't seen the film then you should not be in this thread.

Deftones

I saw it last night. I like it, but I have to think about it a day or so if I liked it as much as the first. Vision was awesome and the best part of the movie, hands down. Rhodie's comment when he phased through a robot was perfect. Him handling Thor's hammer and the look from everyone seeing it was also fantastic. Also the Hulk buster scene was fantastic. Such a great fight scene. I agree with others, the editing was terrible. That whole Thor thing in the pond was unnecessary and done wrong. I know they cut a lot of it, but it was just so out of place with the whole thing. Overall, I'm pleased with the movie. I'm sort of glad that Whedon will be gone. Bring in some new blood for these flicks.

islandclaws

My thoughts echo many others in that, the film just felt like another stepping stone in Marvel's path toward Thanos' big moment. Stakes never felt high, nobody ever truly felt in danger (other than Hawkeye, whose death was telegraphed so perfectly even though it wasn't ever going to happen) and the editing was atrocious.

I really liked Ultron, mostly. His constant quips became a bit much (like virtually everyone else's) but I liked some of the logic and purpose in his actions. What we needed was another scene or two of him not fighting but, rather, talking and building his character to be something more than the Big Bad.

Vision was the film's highlight, easily. My only question is: when he first confronts Ultron and mind melds with him or whatever, why does he then seem to go to sleep for half the fight?

Hulk was used perfectly in the first film. Here, he had no real big moments and the relationship the film tried building between he and Natasha went nowhere, so why even waste time on it?

Honestly, after Winter Soldier proved the MCU can be elevated to something well-written and highly entertaining, I'm glad Whedon is out. Other than quips his writing has been passed over by better names and I think the Russos will totally kill it with Infinity Wars.