Avengers 2: Age of Ultron

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I saw this with the lady. I preferred this to the first one, actually. There were two elements that I particularly appreciated:

1. A better villain. Loki was pretty lame. His whole thing is that he's a nerd who never got over being envious of his jocky brother... that's not that interesting to me. It makes him more likeable than the heroes without coming off as particularly threatening or tapping into some kind of aspect of the id. He's not especially powerful, just petty.
   
   Ultron was more like a shadow of Tony Stark, and this was much more interesting to watch. It also presented a dark reflection of the zeitgeist (much like Bane or the Joker did at the time), and that also helps. Notice that he boasts of how he has no strings, and can't tell the difference between ending the world and saving it....
   
   
2. The romantic subplot between the Hulk and Black Widow. I think of all the Avengers, I've always found the Hulk the most relatable. I think that character is an INTP. I found the conversation about not having children to be interesting. And then, there's the image of the ballerina. (What is it with gory or violent ballerinas within the last few years? Hmmm....)

 

[chubber]

I saw this with the lady. I preferred this to the first one, actually. There were two elements that I particularly appreciated:

1. A better villain. Loki was pretty lame. His whole thing is that he's a nerd who never got over being envious of his jocky brother... that's not that interesting to me. It makes him more likeable than the heroes without coming off as particularly threatening. Ultron was more like a shadow of Tony Stark, and this was much more interesting to watch. It also presented a dark reflection of the zeitgeist (much like Bane or the Joker did at the time), and that also helps. Notice that he boasts of how he has no strings, and can't tell the difference between ending the world and saving it....
   
2. The romantic subplot between the Hulk and Black Widow. I think of all the Avengers, I've always found the Hulk the most relatable. I think that character is an INTP. I found the conversation about not having children to be interesting. And then, there's the image of the ballerina. (What is it with gory stuff about ballerinas within the last few years? Hmmm.)

Ah yes, the Hulk and Black Widow was interesting. (the most interesting thing) thumbs up.

 

[Totenkindly]

I wish they had done more with it; it still sat around on a more superficial level. Oh well.

OTOH, we might see a little android-on-Sokovian action next time out.

EDIT: Intersting factoid about "Veronica"...cute.

"Veronica" is the name of the Hulkbuster Iron Man armor deployment system and containment cell used to subdue the Hulk, a subtle reference to the character Veronica Lodge from Archie Comics. Director Joss Whedon made the reference, saying, "I just decided to call it Veronica because [Bruce Banner] used to be in love with a girl named Betty [Betty Ross] and Veronica is the opposite of that," making the connection to Archie's love interest, Betty Cooper

 

[Totenkindly]

ARticle bemoaning the probable loss of Ultron:
The worst thing about Avengers: Age of Ultron is Ultron - Vox

(Honestly, if they wanted to bring him back, they could. There's a zillion ways Ultron could still be alive, whether it's in a robot body buried under rubble at the end, or some inert "hard drive" somewhere storing a copy of his mind. AKA a backup.)

----

I think one of the coolest things for me was the contrast between Ultron and The Vision. Two "robots" coming to life (although The Vision is an android, a mesh of human and machine).

When Ultron wakes up, he tries to kill Jarvis, and then he totters out like some kind of grotesque mechanical zombie (only half-whole) to attack the people who created him, since he views them as a threat. Humanity in fact is a threat to peace.

The Vision wakes up, he is attacked BY the Avengers briefly and knocked across the flat towards the glass side of the building... and there he pauses, gazing out into the night at all the beauty of the human city belong him, the tall shadows of buildings, the various lights and signs of life. And he just hovers there, naked, looking around, experiencing the first moments of his incaranate awareness... and finally he turns and embraces his creators (figuratively).

Two births, one full of crying and trouble and aggression and pain, the other full of wonder and joy at merely being alive -- the bad twin / good twin story told all over again but in the guise of mech.

 

[violet_crown]

New movie wasn't as good as old movie. Tried to do too many things. Not enough banter, but Hulk and Iron Man destroying major cities in a developing country was enjoyable to watch.

Unrelated: am I the only person who thinks that Thor is too boring to be attractive? The man does absolutely nothing for me (although he seems very, very nice).

 

[Totenkindly]

New movie wasn't as good as old movie. Tried to do too many things. Not enough banter, but Hulk and Iron Man destroying major cities in a developing country was enjoyable to watch.

Unrelated: am I the only person who thinks that Thor is too boring to be attractive? The man does absolutely nothing for me (although he seems very, very nice).

Yeah, he's really boring.

I was shocked when I was attracted to him for about 5 seconds in the first Thor movie -- that scene where he had his shirt off. I've never been attracted to chests before, so it caught me off-guard -- he just had the perfect proportion of muscle on a balanced frame.

But otherwise he bores me.

 

[Little_Sticks]

...

Ultron was more like a shadow of Tony Stark, and this was much more interesting to watch. It also presented a dark reflection of the zeitgeist (much like Bane or the Joker did at the time), and that also helps. Notice that he boasts of how he has no strings, and can't tell the difference between ending the world and saving it....

...

Was he wrong though? I saw this film. And I don't want to agree with him, but it got me thinking about how the human race is very disconnected from each other. We seem to disagree almost as much as we agree, if not more, a precursor to conflict, to war. His solution or change seemed to be to get rid of the human race and replace it with something more connected in thought. It's drastic, but it would lead directly to peace. Otherwise, do we just fight wars for many centuries before we evolve enough to understand each other and actually come to agreements on things? I mean it is a kind of progress, but it's slow and doesn't always stay on track.

Course, maybe this would mean being more like the borg from Star Trek, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing, if we were all still autonomous beings. Or maybe freedom implies conflict because we could seek opposing ideologies. So Ultron's solution would be more like a prison of life or the consummation of all life into one operating consciousness.

 

[Evil Otter]

Was he wrong though? I saw this film. And I don't want to agree with him, but it got me thinking about how the human race is very disconnected from each other. We seem to disagree almost as much as we agree, if not more, a precursor to conflict, to war. His solution or change seemed to be to get rid of the human race and replace it with something more connected in thought. It's drastic, but it would lead directly to peace. Otherwise, do we just fight wars for many centuries before we evolve enough to understand each other and actually come to agreements on things? I mean it is a kind of progress, but it's slow and doesn't always stay on track.

Course, maybe this would mean being more like the borg from Star Trek, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing, if we were all still autonomous beings. Or maybe freedom implies conflict because we could seek opposing ideologies. So Ultron's solution would be more like a prison of life or the consummation of all life into one operating consciousness.

Even a borg or Ultron-like single minded entity would kill itself off in part once resource constraints came into the picture; better that the part should perish than the whole. Because wars aren't really fought over ideologies (beside those fought for ambitions, which are usually the result of illogical conclusions brought on by some form of misconception or insanity), they are fought over resources.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Was he wrong though? I saw this film. And I don't want to agree with him, but it got me thinking about how the human race is very disconnected from each other. We seem to disagree almost as much as we agree, if not more, a precursor to conflict, to war. His solution or change seemed to be to get rid of the human race and replace it with something more connected in thought. It's drastic, but it would lead directly to peace. Otherwise, do we just fight wars for many centuries before we evolve enough to understand each other and actually come to agreements on things? I mean it is a kind of progress, but it's slow and doesn't always stay on track.

I think the trick is to find a way to disagree without chopping the other guy's head off or ripping his tongue out, at least. I think we have to accept a certain level of disagreements in society. Accepting anything else is unrealistic.

Course, maybe this would mean being more like the borg from Star Trek, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing, if we were all still autonomous beings. Or maybe freedom implies conflict because we could seek opposing ideologies. So Ultron's solution would be more like a prison of life or the consummation of all life into one operating consciousness.

Yeah... freedom to decide for one's self means that people won't always agree, and if you think it's important for people to always agree, that necessitates a reduction in freedom. Personally speaking, that's not something I'm willing to accept, whatever else my values might be.