Monday 29 June 2015

Movie & Opinions: The Avengers 2 - My Belated Review & Questions



Age of Ultron
Image from wallpaperswide.com
Haven't got to watch too many movies these days. Haven't got the time to write too much either.

The Avengers 2 was perhaps the best in terms of casts, CG, story, dialogues. But that doesn't mean it is without flaws. For me, logical flaws are the ones that get onto my nerve the most, luckily, this movie has done enough to cover my logical senses.

Paul Bettany's Vision
Image from mashable
To me, the biggest problem with the storyline is how did Vision manage to lock Ultron in its main body when Ultron literally outpowered JARVIS and tore it into pieces at the beginning? Did the mind stone give Vision the extra computational power? I thought the mind stone didn't work on Tony Stark in The Avengers 1 when Loki pointed the mind-stone scepter to his arc reactor, so how come it works on Ultron -- a fully metallic being? Which brings us to more follow-up questions on this battle of AI. If JARVIS did a backup of himself, why didn't the even-smarter Ultron too? How can Vision be so sure that that was Ultron's final copy near the end.

What made Stark think and Banner agree that they should put an evil-minded stone-powered AI, something even more powerful than the well-developed JARVIS, into the Ultron program? It doesn't take a genius to recognise the danger of this.

Agent Maria Hill and Agent Phil Coulson in The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Image from marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com
It is sad to see Quicksilver died barely after appearing just 1 movie, buthe did he really die? Those of you who watched The Agents of Shield TV drama series know that Agent Phil Coulson has been resurrected using alien technology and working quietly behind The Avengers' back. The TV drama has tiedone very closely with all Marvel's movies so far and it will be ignorant to ignore the fact that agent Coulson will return in future Avengers' sequels. Then how can we be sure that Quicksilver is really dead? On this, since Sif has worked with Agent Coulson in the TV drama, I would expect her to inform Thor about Coulson's resurrection, so Thor will tell the rest of the team. Meaning that the team should know Coulson is still alive.

Black Widow's lullaby for the Hulk
Image from ew.com
Love between Black Widow and the Hulk was a big surprise for me, since she did really kiss Captain America in The Winter Soldier and engage in so much flirting with him (something that Roger himself told Banner at Stark's party). Whoever ends up with Black Widow is not of my greatest interests, but I do want to see how Marvel wants to develop along this line. More romance or just leave it hanging?

Captain America's vibranium shield
Image from Blogger

Now that the team has defeated Ultron, the Avengers should have confiscated literally tonnes of Vibranium. So logically speaking, Iron Man should be able to create the world's toughest suit very soon. Or will he? I suppose nobody wants even the slightest piece of Ultron or Vibranium to be left scattering around Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's home country Sokovia, right?

Broken shield and dead Thor?
Image from Yahoo
The shield doesn't seem to be indestructible though. The part when Stark was subjected to the 'fear' magic of Scarlet Witch, he had visions(?) of all his friends dead, except the almost-dead Captain America who said to him, "why didn't you do more?" Whether his visions are real or not is still a big question, because if it is real, then Captain's shield will surely break, and all Avengers will die. In his vision, there was someone lying on the top of the hill, motionless, but who that really was is still an unknown.

Elizabeth Olsen in Age of Ultron
Image from fanpop.com
Cleavage shots were once the sole property of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, but not any more in the Age of Ultron, as the youngest Olsen's sister basically filled large proportion of her screen time with feminism. Obviously, she is not afraid of showing a little of her body, given her earlier work in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) and Oldboy (2013). But then in a way, Age of Ultron captured her cleavage a little too much for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I don't go against feminism. I celebrate it with all respect, but feminism needs not be overly-portrayed through breasts and cleavages. Particularly that shot right after she felt her brother was killed, when she leaned all the way forward... Man! I was trying to focus on the story you know?

Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow
Image from ScreenSlam
All in all, this is still a fantastic movie, and I can't wait for the DVD to be released as the deleted scenes of the popular villain Loki is expected to be included in it. My baby girl also loves watching the Avengers, and she is already watching all Avengers 2 videos on YouTube, so Marvel, please release that DVD / Blu-ray earlier.


PS: And yes, if you do find the lifting hammer scene funny, how about knowing how heavy Thor's hammer (Mjölnir) really is?



Resources:
Ultron @ Marvel Cinematic Universe Wikia
http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Ultron

The Vision: Everything you need to know before seeing 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' @ Mashable
http://mashable.com/2015/05/01/the-vision-avengers-age-of-ultron-paul-bettany/

Elizabeth Olsen Says ‘No’ to More Nudity @ Fleshbot
http://straight.fleshbot.com/5997883/elizabeth-olsen-says-no-to-more-nudity

Sam Explains The Duct-Taped Shield @ The Sundry Times
http://copperbadge.tumblr.com/post/50046178435/sam-explains-the-duct-taped-shield

How Much Does Thor's Hammer Weigh? @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbdH28prqac

AVENGERS 2 Age of Ultron Movie Clip "Lifting Thor's Hammer" @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viK5I5eYtbo