Initial Thoughts on Avengers: Age of Ultron

OK… so it’s 1:50am and I should be going to bed because 6:00am is going to come SUPER early. But… I just got out of the 10:30pm showing of Avengers: Age of Ultron and I want to… no, I NEED to… get my thoughts down before I forget them. As with my earlier post, this will be mostly stream of conscience so nothing is in any particular order.

OH… before I forget… THERE WILL BE SPOILERS SO YOU ARE WARNED.

• The Vision was absolutely beautiful and I am extremely proud on how they executed him. I totally saw where he was going to come from when Dr. Cho was healing Clint but it didn’t bother me at all.
• I watched the first Avengers right before going to see this one and while I was watching it, I made the statement that I thought it was weird because so much had happened between then and now. Well, I’m glad that my mini-marathon wasn’t in vain. They did a great job of tying in elements and scenes from that movie into this one. Enough so that anyone who just saw the first one and none of the other supporting films (that’s odd to say that considering how big those other movies were at the time). Those tie-in’s included but are not limited to Dr. Selvig, the Chitauri and the giant armored worm slugs (or whatever it was that destroyed Manhattan).
• I’m wonder why they didn’t explain Tony back in the Iron Man suit. I got the feeling at the end of Iron Man 3 that he was done but yet here he is as if nothing had changed.
• I will say that I LOVED the new suits, especially the one near the end in the final battle.
• James Spader. Nuff said. OK… well just to elaborate a little more… Ultron was a great villian and Spader played him to a tee.
• I thought the use of Quicksilver in this movie was more worthwhile than his use in X-Men: Days of Futures Past. He was in a cool scene in that movie but then it felt like he was done. At least in this film he was integral throughout (and he was great while doing it).
• Speaking of Quicksilver… let’s go ahead and discuss the elephant in the room. WHY THE F*CK DID THEY KILL HIM? Believe me… I totally understand that the Cinematic Universe is different from the Comic Book Universe, but still… some of the changes they are making in the Cinematic U are starting to bug me. This… the death of Ben Ulrich, Hawkeye not being with Mockingbird, Tony creating Ultron… OK… maybe not bug me that much but still. For the most part the changes make sense. I realize why Hank Pym couldn’t make Ultron and Tony was an OBVIOUS choice to replace him, but I guess it’s just the deaths that are bugging me. I really liked Pietro and Ben and I was hoping to see them more.
• Speaking of Hawkeye… WOW… They did a wonderful job of humanizing him and answering all the deeper questions that we had about him. Hell… they even gave him a full blown family for pete’s sake! I loved the dialog between him and his wife about his being a part of the team and making sure that he really belongs there.
• Hulk + Natasha. I really liked the two of them together and was sad to see what they did. So where is the Hulk? Is he somewhere on Earth? I would like to think that SHIELD could find him if that were the case. Is he… somewhere else? Only time will tell.
• I’m SOOOOO glad they kept the humor consistent with the first movie.
• It really was a well balanced film. Enough story and action to really keep it going and keep the audience engaged and excited. It didn’t feel long either like some movies tend to do. If I wore a watch, I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t have looked at it the entire time.
• Thanos mid-credit scene. “I guess I’ll do it myself.” This plus the fact that Thor now has an idea of what is going on with the Infinity Gems = Brilliant!!
• Where there four or six? Comic book lore has six. I though Thor mentioned only four. I need to go back and re-watch Guardians of the Galaxy. They explained it all there.
• I loved the setup for Black Panther. Ulysses Klaw and Wakanda… now they won’t be foreign entities when we go into that movie. And I loved how they made him lose his hand. Sets it up very nicely for the mechanical hand he has in the comics.
• Natasha had some great parts in this film and I really hope that they continue the trend of strong female characters. There is opportunity in Black Panther and obviously in Captain Marvel but I hope it keeps on coming.
• OH! How could I forget the Stan Lee cameo?! Drunk off his ass and saying “Excelsior!” Too damn funny!

I think that’s it for now. Overall I give this movie an A and after second viewing I’ll be able to tell if I think that it is my favorite of them all so far. I’m leaning that way now but, once again, time will tell.

What did you think? Feel free to chime in using the comments below.

Until next time…