Avengers: Age of Ultron
Where I am in Australia, we actually got it a little early - the posters all said the 23rd, my little cinema showed a 3D screening at 8:30 and a 2D one at 9 on the evening of the 22nd, yesterday. It's so weird, I never get to see anything first, since a lot of films and tv shows take months to get here, and I've never seen things when they first come out anyway. I'm used to coming in when the US and the UK have already been flailing for days if not weeks.
On the whole, I loved it. I was worried it was going to be too grim, and it wasn't. I liked the running jokes threaded through the film. The interactions between the characters felt natural. There was so much more depth there to explore in all of them - they're so much deeper characters than they were in Avengers 1. I loved getting to see so much of Ruffalo's acting chops - Bruce felt dark and dangerous and vulnerable, and it felt like the natural progression from his characterisation in Avengers 1, as did his dynamic with Natasha. Speaking of Natasha, did anyone else forget that most of the film was shot with body doubles and face mapping due to Scarlett's pregnancy? It looked amazing. Tony and Bruce's dynamic was everything I could have hoped for. So many beautiful science bros moments. So much walking the edge of ethics and madness in the name of progress. Maria Hill stole the fucking show in only a handful of lines. I liked Pietro and Wanda, though I simultaneously understand why so much of what the writers did is problematic in terms of heritage erasure. Vision was just perfect - the costume and the physical performance and fighting style and his voice - Paul Bettany really knocked it out of the park. Steve was sassy and self-deprecating and driven and a million years from the grim shell-shocked Cap in Avengers 1 who doesn't smile until the very end. He wasn't just one dimensional, he was funny and clever and real and charismatic, openly engaged with his team and the world.
But Hawkeye. ALL THE HAWKEYE. I read a comment on Tumblr that this was Clint's movie, that he's the humanity that holds the team together, that he's the one who keeps his head and pushes forward and comes up with strategies when the others aren't making any progress, that he's the heart and soul of why they're all fighting, and they're right. On the one hand, I'm sad that we won't get Bed-Stuy Clint with his dog, his long list of exes and Kate Bishop as his mentee, but on the other, I'm kind of really happy that if one Avenger was going to get to have a happy life with a family and a fucking picket fence, that it's him. I like that there's a version of Clint out there that gets domesticity, and if a future writer decides to fuck with that to cause manpain, I'm going to Hulk Smash something. I adore that Natasha has a place in that family, and I'm reading between the lines and guessing Phil used to, too. It makes all their scenes in Avengers 1 have more weight for me knowing that Nat and Phil aren't just fighting to get Clint back for themselves, they're fighting to get him home.
On the not-awesome side? Well, Ultron wasn't anything like what I expected, which threw me somewhat. Visually, vocally or combat-wise. I'd gotten used to the cartoon Ultron, who has the glowing red open face and the wrench-like jaw. The Ultron we got had this weird, mobile, incredibly human mouth and these horns that reminded me of the Berserker out of Thor 2, or the Balrog out of Fellowship of the Ring (something only heightened by his scuttling, goblin like drones). I know what made him scary in the cartoons for me was his ability to take over anything electronic and hide there, like a bad seed. Apart from at the very beginning in the Tower, and a short scene at the end where he's apparently purged and locked out of the internet, we never see him do this. Tony and Rhodey's suits still work fine, the jet works fine, the Helicarrier 1.0 does too. The one thing I did pick up on almost immediately was that his speech patterns were based on Tony's, something that isn't explicitly stated until some time later in the film, and when I did work that out, I kind of liked that. It was a pretty good subtle way of showing that Ultron is using data to generate his responses.
Also, the teaser was lacklustre, the lack of post-credits scene disappointing, and the Antman trailer predictably underwhelming. (Not that I'm going to see that anyway.)
But all in all, very happy and excited for the DVD release. (Though not quite as much as I will be for an Agent Carter DVD release! Come on, Marvel!)
This entry was originally posted at http://iamshadow.dreamwidth.org/417658.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
On the whole, I loved it. I was worried it was going to be too grim, and it wasn't. I liked the running jokes threaded through the film. The interactions between the characters felt natural. There was so much more depth there to explore in all of them - they're so much deeper characters than they were in Avengers 1. I loved getting to see so much of Ruffalo's acting chops - Bruce felt dark and dangerous and vulnerable, and it felt like the natural progression from his characterisation in Avengers 1, as did his dynamic with Natasha. Speaking of Natasha, did anyone else forget that most of the film was shot with body doubles and face mapping due to Scarlett's pregnancy? It looked amazing. Tony and Bruce's dynamic was everything I could have hoped for. So many beautiful science bros moments. So much walking the edge of ethics and madness in the name of progress. Maria Hill stole the fucking show in only a handful of lines. I liked Pietro and Wanda, though I simultaneously understand why so much of what the writers did is problematic in terms of heritage erasure. Vision was just perfect - the costume and the physical performance and fighting style and his voice - Paul Bettany really knocked it out of the park. Steve was sassy and self-deprecating and driven and a million years from the grim shell-shocked Cap in Avengers 1 who doesn't smile until the very end. He wasn't just one dimensional, he was funny and clever and real and charismatic, openly engaged with his team and the world.
But Hawkeye. ALL THE HAWKEYE. I read a comment on Tumblr that this was Clint's movie, that he's the humanity that holds the team together, that he's the one who keeps his head and pushes forward and comes up with strategies when the others aren't making any progress, that he's the heart and soul of why they're all fighting, and they're right. On the one hand, I'm sad that we won't get Bed-Stuy Clint with his dog, his long list of exes and Kate Bishop as his mentee, but on the other, I'm kind of really happy that if one Avenger was going to get to have a happy life with a family and a fucking picket fence, that it's him. I like that there's a version of Clint out there that gets domesticity, and if a future writer decides to fuck with that to cause manpain, I'm going to Hulk Smash something. I adore that Natasha has a place in that family, and I'm reading between the lines and guessing Phil used to, too. It makes all their scenes in Avengers 1 have more weight for me knowing that Nat and Phil aren't just fighting to get Clint back for themselves, they're fighting to get him home.
On the not-awesome side? Well, Ultron wasn't anything like what I expected, which threw me somewhat. Visually, vocally or combat-wise. I'd gotten used to the cartoon Ultron, who has the glowing red open face and the wrench-like jaw. The Ultron we got had this weird, mobile, incredibly human mouth and these horns that reminded me of the Berserker out of Thor 2, or the Balrog out of Fellowship of the Ring (something only heightened by his scuttling, goblin like drones). I know what made him scary in the cartoons for me was his ability to take over anything electronic and hide there, like a bad seed. Apart from at the very beginning in the Tower, and a short scene at the end where he's apparently purged and locked out of the internet, we never see him do this. Tony and Rhodey's suits still work fine, the jet works fine, the Helicarrier 1.0 does too. The one thing I did pick up on almost immediately was that his speech patterns were based on Tony's, something that isn't explicitly stated until some time later in the film, and when I did work that out, I kind of liked that. It was a pretty good subtle way of showing that Ultron is using data to generate his responses.
Also, the teaser was lacklustre, the lack of post-credits scene disappointing, and the Antman trailer predictably underwhelming. (Not that I'm going to see that anyway.)
But all in all, very happy and excited for the DVD release. (Though not quite as much as I will be for an Agent Carter DVD release! Come on, Marvel!)
This entry was originally posted at http://iamshadow.dreamwidth.org/417658.html. Please comment there using OpenID.