This post is a breakdown and review of the movie. It is NOT spoiler-free. There are spoilers in this post. Photos, gifs, words all may contain spoilers. If you have not seen Age of Ultron yet, stop reading this and GO SEE IT. Then come back and read this post.
Spoilers Abound Below, You Have Been Warned.
Favorite Parts!
Okay, before we jump into any debates or negatives, we wanted to list our favorite moments of the movie!
Lorena: I loooooved when the Vision looks at Thor and decides that he too wants a cape. It’s just like in his eyes this flicker of, “Oh, I like that! I want a cape.” before he mentally creates one. I basically fell in love with him right then.
“Thor’s cape is pretty cool. I want a cape. I’m gonna have a cape!” #done
Jamie: I think I’m going to have to go with Clint’s pep talk to Wanda towards the end of the movie. The Maximoff twins have my favorite character arc in the movie, starting out hating the Avengers and wanting to tear the team apart due to what they went through as children but then coming around and fighting together with the Avengers instead for the last big battle of the movie. But I think it’s totally natural that Wanda would freak the hell out a little bit about everything that’s going on and her role in it. So when Clint tells her, “If you step out that door, you are an Avenger,” and then a few minutes later she busts out of that building and starts slaying with all her whooshy red magic I was like, “YES. I WANT TO BE HER.” Bonus: Stan Lee’s cameo in this one is my favorite so far. Him being all, “These pretty boys aren’t going to out drink me. Hand over that Asgardian alcohol!” Plus I love the implication that the only people Steve invited to this big party were Sam Wilson and a bunch of WWII veterans in their nineties.
Emily: I giggled out loud at the cape and everyone looked at me! I loved Hawkeye’s pep talk to Wanda too but I’m going to go with “Let’s pick up Mjölnir!” I loved that everyone has a go and Thor is completely confident in everyone’s inability to pick it up but his face when Cap moves it! Cap is a teeny bit #worthy
The Major Fandom Drama
There’s been complaints about two plot points in the film that felt really forced or completely without background for their development. One was the relationship with Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff and the other was Clint Barton having a secret family.
Bruce + Natasha = Yay or Nay?
Jamie: I do not feel them together. At all. I’m sure the people who ship them together are thrilled, but it totally came out of nowhere for me. Like when Natasha says “I adore you” and kisses Bruce right before they go off to the big battle together? Like when did that happen? I didn’t pick up on any kind of romantic tension in the first Avengers, and all throughout Cap 2, Natasha wore an arrow necklace that Scarlett Johansson said in an interview was a nod to Clint, and now she “adores” Bruce? It’s just not at all what I would have expected as far as a potential love interest for Natasha. I wasn’t super set on her ending up with Clint either, and the only person I ship her with for sure is Bucky (which I know is a storyline in the comics somewhere, so they could have gone that route), but definitely not Bruce. Does that happen in the comics anywhere?
Lorena: I wish they’d not included any hint at Bruce and Natasha in the trailer so that there wasn’t a shipper fandom explosion that was hating on them before they even began. I feel like we had the idea planted before it was in the movie, so there’s no way to decide if it felt forced or not from just the movie alone. That said, I liked them together just fine and I felt like they both behaved naturally about the interest. Bruce’s story in this film is extremely sad, but I’ll get to that in the Right in the Feels section later. Suffice it to say that this love story is closed out in my opinion, but was well conceived and I did not feel forced at all. Plus the Romanogers shippers can take a page from Cap and see that he really just wants friends right now. Maybe Steve and Nat can make it in the future, but I’m okay with their BFF co-leaders status. I don’t think Natasha is moving on from Bruce’s abandonment any time soon.
Emily: I don’t mind that they are together. I think there was no real feelings for Cap or Clint in past movies even though everyone wants it. I feel that some of ScarJo’s best acting comes when she is telling Banner about the “ceremony.” What I did feel was contrived and a little wired was the lullaby trigger.
Lorena: you know I agree about the trigger… didn’t he figure out how to control it last movie?
Clint Barton DAD?!
Jamie: First and foremost, why is the house where his wife and children live a “safe house”? What if they’re found somehow?! Maybe I missed something, but that seems like a big chance to take. But anyway, I don’t object to the idea of Clint having a family, and I like that he had much more to do in this movie as opposed to the first one. At least for now I’m kinda “eh” about it. I’ll have to let it settle and see the movie a few more times and see how I feel about it a little later.
Lorena: I think it’s a safe house because no one knows it exists (or that they exists). But, it seems like you’d have, I don’t know, an actual safe house to go to that isn’t your wife and kids when you’re running from everything. Especially after HYDRA! The whole thing was a little weird and his wife was sooooo blase, stereotypical wife. It was just weird. Like it’s Hawkeye. Is he really rocking plaid and ripping up flooring? No one eats in the dining room, I realize, but still.
PLUS! Loki distinctly states in Avengers 1 that he READ BARTON’S MIND. Pretty sure those kids were ALIVE in 2012 when Loki was reading his mind. Also, he used the mind gem to do it, which Ultron had access to at that point, would there be no memory stored in there from Loki’s mind reading with the gem? Seems like a lot of convenience just to give Hawkeye a back-story that isn’t related to anything at all. I can only say that I adored how NOT INTO CHILDREN Thor was. He was just like, “What is this small mortal creature peering at me? I am uncomfortable.”
Emily: I have no issues with Clint having a family but I agree with Lorena that the mindstone would have had access to anything, no matter how deeply buried. I like that we have a little bit more of who Clint is and why he’s important to the team. He’s more than just their Legolas! I also like that he wants to remodel the dining room. This is something Jeremy does in real life, buys houses and them flips them… I like that they put that “real” part of him in there.
Plot Overstuffed?
Lorena: Holy tamale so much stuff happens in this movie! I could mentally divide it easily into three arcs with about 3 acts within each arc, which is like… basically that’s like 3 films in one. I definitely felt like the whole Wakanda shout-out became way detailed for this movie. Introducing a whole character that then has literally no relevance to this plot (other than supplying vibranium, which Ultron could’ve just stolen w/out a character’s involvement) was a little unnecessary imo. Also it meant that shirtless Thor shots and Loki’s cameo scene were cut. W.T.F. Joss!!! Who do you think is going to your movies anyway?!!
Jamie: Oh see, I loved all the little set ups for the future movies! Andy Serkis’ character and the introduction of Wakanda, Thanos putting on the Infinity Gauntlet*, and even the little conversation between Steve and Tony at the end of the movie seemed like it might be trying to set the stage a bit for Cap 3 when they’re going to be on opposite sides of a pretty big issue.
For real, what is Steve trying to accomplish with this quintuple corkscrew move?
Lorena: To me the focus was really on the mind gem and the Vision. So far all the infinity gems are associated with evil, but integrating the Vision to the gems makes us understand them differently. I felt like Thor’s vision was the most critical part of the viewer understanding this, and they zoomed through it! And we know they shot way more than what we saw because there was more in the previews. I wish they’d spent more time on those plot elements and less on the extras. Even Dr. Cho was more interesting to me than, say, Hawkeye’s family.
Emily: Can we talk about Dr. Cho for a second? Where did she come from? Is she in the comics? It seemed like everyone knew who she was and what she could do. And while we’re talking packed full, can we discuss what ended up on the cutting room floor? LOKI! I know Joss explained to MTV News that the “movie has so much. It’s so filled. We didn’t want it to feel overstuffed.” Too much for Loki?? Really?
Lorena: Cho’s randomness didn’t bother me. SHIELD (and secret SHIELD) know all the important peeps in the world, and she is a groundbreaking scientist… like Jane Foster and Bruce Banner. They have tabs on those two for sure. Plus maybe she can replace tissue of a certain multiple bullet wounds victim.
*We initially asked how Thanos even got the gauntlet, but Lorena did some internet research and found an interview with Kevin Feige who explains that just like we have two hands, there are two gauntlets. So, the one in Asgard’s vault is legit and still in the vault. The one Thanos grabs at the end is the other hand.
The Twins
Jamie: Going in I didn’t know how much I was going to care about the Maximoff twins, but I ended up liking them a lot. To the point that I was actually really sad when Pietro died. My whole theater went “Aww, no!” and as much as Marvel needed to kill a character and actually have them stay dead, I’m a sap who wants all the good guys to stick around so I got a little misty when Clint was laying next to his body on the transporter thingy. But we still have Wanda, and I think she’s gonna be able to do some awesome stuff in the future (plus I’m always on board for another quality female character.)
Lorena: But is Pietro actually dead? remember how Coulson died in Avengers 1? Apparently Wanda’s powers extend well beyond what we saw in this film… including resurrecting her big bro from the dead like it’s no big thing. I guess we’ll find out in Cap3 if MCU is pursuing that. I LOVE WANDA though. She’s so awesome and her character development was the actual best in this film. I super duper hope she and the Vision become a thing with some telepathic flirting in the next movies like they do in the comics. They are my new ship.
Emily: Did you see Godzilla last year? I know movies do this all the time, cast someone as romantic interests, then make them be siblings (See Fault in our Stars & Divergent) but did you know that Aaron and Elizabeth were husband and wife in Godzilla?
Lorena: No, I did not see Gozilla because nothing will top my Eric Bana Godzilla experience. Also, the “You didn’t see that coming” rule of three was OMG SO SAD.
James Spader Always Delivers
Jamie: James Spader actually had some of the funnier lines in the movie, and I still think he was the perfect choice for a villain that relied almost entirely on the voice. Interesting that the Avengers have to fight against a villain whose motives are entirely opposite from Loki’s. Ultron’s whole “I had strings, but now I’m free,” versus Loki’s “Freedom is life’s great lie” thing. Kinda cool.
Hi I’m really Tony Stark, and I think I want to build an AI modeled after you.
Right in the Feels
This movie was pretty violent and somewhat dark when you get right down to it. We three are basically Jude Law’s character in The Holiday–we cry at EVERYTHING. So, what was the really, really sadz part for each of us?
Lorena: For me it was when Bruce leaves at the end. When he reaches out to Natasha’s face on the screen and then swipes it away. I teared up for sure. But in retrospect, it should have been when Natasha pushes Bruce over the cavernous hole inside the HYDRA base. He has offered her what she wants, to run away with him and disappear, and it’s what he requires now that the media is hunting him again and he has become the monster he fears in himself again. She says she adores him, but then she forces him to change into the one thing he hates the most. Because she needs to finish the mission, because that’s who she is. When he leaves her at the end, it’s understandable. She can’t quit the mission and he can’t stay part of the mission life any longer.
It’s pretty heartbreaking that they are both unable to change, despite that they care for the other person and would like to change. These two characters are extremely lonely, and they could have been together, but they were unable to change, ultimately. It’s really, really sad. Steve Rogers is lonely too though, so I really hope this new leadership role he has alongside Nat will be the push to them being BFFs and fulfilling an emptiness they both face.
Jamie: Mine of course was Pietro dying. I said it earlier, but I’ll always repeat it: I hate it when the good guys die. I know that it’s not realistic for the whole group to go out and fight in this huge battle and for everyone to make it out alive, but I don’t care. Like Cap said, “If you get killed, shake it off.” Shake off those multiple bullet wounds to the chest Pietro, we all adore you! Some of Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s line reads and little looks were so saucy and hilarious. JARVIS take the wheel, because I’m in total denial about it.
Emily: I’m with Jamie here… Hawkeye’s presumed death, I was going flip out that they kept that a secret and then when it was revealed that Pietro saved him, I mean I know I wasn’t the only one crying! The audible gasp in the theater when you see him, people yelled and all said NOOOO!
Overall Thoughts?
Emily: Second films usually suffer the curse of only being transition and not having a story. I didn’t feel this with AoU. While I can’t wait for all of the set ups for new Avengers, Civil War and even the Infinity Wars, I felt this was a really story-full film. I can’t wait to see it again.
Lorena: Agreed. I really enjoyed this movie even though so much is happening. I like having a lot to follow… I do wish they’d elongated Thor’s vision, but Joss has said a few times that [Loki’s scene] will be in the DVD extras. Fingers crossed. I guess I’m just wondering now if Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Hulk are done avenging. Feels like defeating Thanos is going to take everyone’s skill.
What did you guys think of Avengers: Age of Ultron? Favorite parts? Would you change anything? Are you mad Chris Hemsworth wasn’t shirtless?! Do you think elevators are worthy of mjölnir? Let us know!
