Post by mr. excellent on May 4, 2015 2:06:20 GMT -5
This will be one of my more negative responses to the whole thing. In spite of what I say in the two paragraphs to come, I still really enjoyed AOU. If I could summarize it, I'd say it was like a really cool season finale. For that reason, I both praise it as the most satisfying piece of Marvel Cinema, but also acknowledge criticisms that the film is equal parts product as it is passion.
I think it's better in many ways than it's being given credit for. At this point, I'll concede that you really do have to keep up with stuff outside the film to get a lot of the references though.
It was suggested on Screenrant's podcast that the movie could have been better if it didn't introduce the twins, and focused more on developing Ultron and Vision as two contrasting characters who dissected humanity from two opposing ends. As much as I enjoyed the introduction of Pietro and Wanda, I kind of agree. Especially because the parts with Jarvis and Vision served up some really good sci-fi offerings that were over too fast for my tastes. There were things in this film that could have been further explored that simply weren't. Whedon could have done so much more with Ultron. We might have spent more time on why he wanted the world to evolve so much beyond him simply hating his creator. We might have spent more time on Baron Von Strucker
I think it's better in many ways than it's being given credit for. At this point, I'll concede that you really do have to keep up with stuff outside the film to get a lot of the references though.
Thor's flash forward to Ragnarok, several discussions at the party scene, the significance of Wakanda, the Infinity Stone discussion, etc.
If not, there are a lot of things in there narratively that come out of left field. At this point, Disney is banking on people being familiar with the brand, but if you didn't see Guardians of the Galaxy and/or the First Avengers, the Stone's didn't have much explanation. Heck, some things in the film aren't even explained with knowledge of previous films or what's to come That weird underground spring that Selvig took Thor to for example.
Were these things that bothered me? No, I was definitely too in the moment enjoying my Marvel Kool-Aid to care all that much. But in trying to fully understand the conversation and "controversy" surrounding the film, I've opened my ears the past 2 days and started to see these loose ends as problems.It was suggested on Screenrant's podcast that the movie could have been better if it didn't introduce the twins, and focused more on developing Ultron and Vision as two contrasting characters who dissected humanity from two opposing ends. As much as I enjoyed the introduction of Pietro and Wanda, I kind of agree. Especially because the parts with Jarvis and Vision served up some really good sci-fi offerings that were over too fast for my tastes. There were things in this film that could have been further explored that simply weren't. Whedon could have done so much more with Ultron. We might have spent more time on why he wanted the world to evolve so much beyond him simply hating his creator. We might have spent more time on Baron Von Strucker
a major villain in the comics who was just killed, completely off screen
. We could have focused on how Ultron can upload his consciousness into any of his drones. There were hints of those abilities that were on display in the final battle, but they were moments that came and went without much impact. The Ultron drones didn't have to be like the Chitauri, "faceless enemies". Whedon could have done more with how the world is reacting to super human activity. That's what Civil War will be about in a way, but by exploring that more in AOU, Civil War wouldn't have so much to establish, which would have helped considering how big that story is. So, those are the main issues I'm seeing with the film. I'll be singing the films praises on what I did like in no time though. It's late, so for now I'm out.