Movie Talk - The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron

Well, it’s finally time to have to talk about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I don’t want to get these movies mixed up with that one Avengers movie that had Uma Thurman and Sean Connery in it. I never saw that one. Also, if you’re wondering why this is in Sci-Fi Month, that answer is simple. We got aliens, evil A.I., mutants (sort of), super soldiers, a guy in a mech suit, and the Hulk. I think that answers it.

Anyway, I first saw The Avengers when it was released in theatres. I saw it with the same friend I saw the first Captain America movie with. I have seen it once since then by renting it. As for Avengers: Age of Ultron, I saw it a couple of weeks ago after church. I was getting tired of avoiding spoilers on the Internet, so I did a solo run. I was planning on going to see it again with a friend but she actually got free tickets to Mad Max: Fury Road (a really fun movie). Besides, I got enough from the first viewing to talk about it.

The Avengers

The Avengers was released in 2012. In the movie, the mischievous god Loki attacks SHIELD and brainwashes most of them to do his will. He also steals the Tesseract (that cube from the first Captain America movie). This leads Nick Fury to find heroes that can face Loki for what he has planned. The team comes together but their personalities butt heads for a bit. When Loki’s plan (an alien invasion) is revealed, the team truly comes together to trounce the “puny god” and his alien soldiers.

You can hit me anytime, Natasha... wait, never mind.

This was a pretty fun movie. There really isn’t anything egregious about it. The story was pretty good. It was basically a culmination of a lot of elements from previous movies. We had the Tesseract popping up, Loki playing the role of the villain, a lot of mayhem at SHIELD, and the Hulk. I liked all of the Avengers. Iron Man, Capt. America, The Hulk, Black Widow, and the rest were cool. I liked the team dynamics and the interplay between them.  Loki made for a cool villain.

The action scenes were pretty awesome. It is an action movie, so you know the production team had to make it all good. The fights at SHIELD headquarters and on the Helicarrier were cool. Of course, the crowning moment goes to the battle for New York especially when the six are all grouped together for that first time. It’s one of those moments where you have to smile, clap, or something. The humor was also really good and on point. This movie is pretty quotable.

:)

While there really isn’t anything horrible about the movie, I do have some nitpicks. First off, Hawkeye got shafted here. With all of the other heroes getting the spotlight, Clint gets left in the dust. To be fair, he’s under a spell through most of the movie. I also didn’t like Captain America’s costume in this. I think it was the mask that makes it not look good. His suits in his movies and even AOU are better than this one. Other than these and a couple of other things, this was really good.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

AOU was just released a couple of weeks ago. It takes place sometime after Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Avengers are taking down the last remnants of HYDRA and find the staff Loki used in the first movie. Tony and Bruce are able to find some sort of AI in the staff and use this work to continue their Ultron program. Ultron comes alive and basically wants to destroy the Avengers. He’s assisted by the Maximoffs, twins who volunteered to be experimented on by HYDRA. It’s a literal chase around the world as The Avengers do their best to stop Ultron from doing even more damage to the world.

Man, this thing could give kids nightmares just by talking.

While it might not be better than the first movie, I enjoyed this one. It might be on par, but it’s too soon to tell. It was fun as usual. I liked the story for the most part. We also get a lot of stuff thrown at us here. I also liked all of the Avengers and the new characters as well. While it tries to be a world-ending type of movie, it also tries to delve into the characters themselves. I thought the Black Widow/Hulk pairing was good even if it came out of nowhere.

Ultron was an alright villain. I will say that he is one of the better villains we’ve had lately in the Marvel movies. James Spader provided an awesome voice. The action and effects were good as usual. We get a lot of action scenes throughout the movie and they were good for the most part. The humor was on par with the previous movie and a lot of it worked.

Steve Rogers definitely wins as the Most Valuable Player.

There are some things that irked me a little bit. I really wish this was longer. It has some pacing issues since there is so much going on and you can tell that lot got cut out. The first movie was 143 minutes while this one is 142 minutes. Isn’t it the rule of thumb that the sequels should be longer than the first installment? Because of this, the new characters don’t get fleshed out that well. Ultron’s origin is also truncated a little bit and it could have been better too. While I liked the action, there were a couple of “meh” spots. Finally, I thought the death of a certain character fell a little flat. Overall, it is a good movie even if it has a couple of faults.

Yes, it came out nowhere and one wonders where Betty is at these days. Still, this was a nice pairing, men and women.

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Overall, the Avengers films have been a lot of fun. They feel like they were ripped out of the comics at times. Hopefully Marvel can keep the films fresh and entertaining. I don’t know what will be happening with Civil War (heck, all of the Avengers are in it to some capacity), but I hope it’s good. The same goes for any future movies featuring the team. Well, I’m out. I have to wrap the month up good. Peace, God Bless, and “Avengers A-“

… I guess I won’t finish it either. Also, here is the Hulk playing with a rag doll.