Avengers: Age of Ultron
Just went to see Age of Ultron. Enjoyed it! Made an effort to go in wholly unspoiled, but still managed to pick up a couple of character/relationship things by accident.
* To begin with a gripe - though it's more of a general issue than with this film in particular - I am so over the tendency of movies to open with an action sequence before we get any character stuff. I guess it's supposed to be immediately engaging, but it's the complete opposite for me. So I didn't really start clicking with the film until the scene where one of the group of guys Tony mows down mutters, "No, it wasn't," in response to his quip. (I am sucker for giving the enemy's random canon fodder goons a touch of personality.)
* Overall I'm pretty impressed with how well the Avengers movies manage to juggle a large cast plus quite a number of cameos without the story getting incoherent or giving the impression of characters popping up just to be checked off the list. (Which I feel has been the number one big problem with other bloated superhero sequels, where it seemed like the writers were trying to fit in as many comics characters as possible despite not having time to use them properly.) I also like that the non-appearance of Pepper and Jane was referenced and explained by them being busy people with awesome jobs who've got more important things to do than hang with their boyfriends.
* On the other hand, I did feel like the new characters of the twins were a bit bland. Quicksilver was just starting to show a bit of personality and then, well, spoiler happened. Plus it doesn't help that the issue of their grudge against Stark was left unresolved; I was at least expecting Tony to be the one to go back to help Wanda at the end, but there was really no interaction at all between him and the twins after they switched sides, so that whole plotline felt rather unfinished.
* Bummed that JARVIS had to be sacrificed that the Vision might live - I liked his relationship with Tony as an AI, so I hope he can still return in that capacity somehow. Though the scenes of Tony realising he was 'dead' when nobody else understood how there could be any casualties were good. (That said, I called the mystery hacker being JARVIS and his taking over Ultron's intended body immediately despite being unspoiled, though I did think the latter was going to be a surprise to the team rather than Tony and Bruce knowingly and intentionally playing mad scientist.)
* Bruce/Natasha was one of the things I was inadvertently spoiled for. I found it inoffensive but unengaging up until the point she threw him off the edge to make him Hulk out, and then it worked much better for me.
* I was also spoiled for the existence of Clint's family. I like that his wife was allowed to be pretty chill about his job instead of the cliché of pressuring him to leave it, and I especially like that the family were at no point threatened or killed off. (Low bar, I know, but I was pleasantly surprised that they and Dr Cho and the random supporting characters drafted in from previous Marvel movies all made it out alive, because it's so common for this genre of movies to kill off some supporting cast to Raise The Stakes.)
* On a semi-related note, I also appreciate how the primary focus of the heroes in Marvel movies is always on saving bystanders in danger rather than just beating up the bad guys. Far too many superhero/general action movies are just interested in as much explosive devastation as possible with maybe a brief lip service nod to evacuating people as an afterthought. (This was particularly on my mind going into AoU because every single trailer before the movie - and there were about six - featured big action set pieces of buildings being destroyed.)
* So, overall, yes, fun! Not particularly clamouring to rush straight back and see it again, but I definitely enjoyed it.
* To begin with a gripe - though it's more of a general issue than with this film in particular - I am so over the tendency of movies to open with an action sequence before we get any character stuff. I guess it's supposed to be immediately engaging, but it's the complete opposite for me. So I didn't really start clicking with the film until the scene where one of the group of guys Tony mows down mutters, "No, it wasn't," in response to his quip. (I am sucker for giving the enemy's random canon fodder goons a touch of personality.)
* Overall I'm pretty impressed with how well the Avengers movies manage to juggle a large cast plus quite a number of cameos without the story getting incoherent or giving the impression of characters popping up just to be checked off the list. (Which I feel has been the number one big problem with other bloated superhero sequels, where it seemed like the writers were trying to fit in as many comics characters as possible despite not having time to use them properly.) I also like that the non-appearance of Pepper and Jane was referenced and explained by them being busy people with awesome jobs who've got more important things to do than hang with their boyfriends.
* On the other hand, I did feel like the new characters of the twins were a bit bland. Quicksilver was just starting to show a bit of personality and then, well, spoiler happened. Plus it doesn't help that the issue of their grudge against Stark was left unresolved; I was at least expecting Tony to be the one to go back to help Wanda at the end, but there was really no interaction at all between him and the twins after they switched sides, so that whole plotline felt rather unfinished.
* Bummed that JARVIS had to be sacrificed that the Vision might live - I liked his relationship with Tony as an AI, so I hope he can still return in that capacity somehow. Though the scenes of Tony realising he was 'dead' when nobody else understood how there could be any casualties were good. (That said, I called the mystery hacker being JARVIS and his taking over Ultron's intended body immediately despite being unspoiled, though I did think the latter was going to be a surprise to the team rather than Tony and Bruce knowingly and intentionally playing mad scientist.)
* Bruce/Natasha was one of the things I was inadvertently spoiled for. I found it inoffensive but unengaging up until the point she threw him off the edge to make him Hulk out, and then it worked much better for me.
* I was also spoiled for the existence of Clint's family. I like that his wife was allowed to be pretty chill about his job instead of the cliché of pressuring him to leave it, and I especially like that the family were at no point threatened or killed off. (Low bar, I know, but I was pleasantly surprised that they and Dr Cho and the random supporting characters drafted in from previous Marvel movies all made it out alive, because it's so common for this genre of movies to kill off some supporting cast to Raise The Stakes.)
* On a semi-related note, I also appreciate how the primary focus of the heroes in Marvel movies is always on saving bystanders in danger rather than just beating up the bad guys. Far too many superhero/general action movies are just interested in as much explosive devastation as possible with maybe a brief lip service nod to evacuating people as an afterthought. (This was particularly on my mind going into AoU because every single trailer before the movie - and there were about six - featured big action set pieces of buildings being destroyed.)
* So, overall, yes, fun! Not particularly clamouring to rush straight back and see it again, but I definitely enjoyed it.