It's weird how different a film can feel after a second viewing compared to the first time. When I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron at the cinema, I absolutely loved it. It felt like one of the best MCU films to me. I couldn't understand how the verdict could be so mixed for the film.
Now, having watched it for the second time, a couple of months after the premiere, I have to say that I sadly do not appreciate the film as much as I first did. I'm starting to wondering if I was simply so hyped for the film that it blurred my senses the first time. No, I don't think it's a bad movie now, but watching it again it striked me as oddly mediocre. I felt so sense of tension and things at stake this time around. The pace felt rushed. The evolution of Ultron was too hastily done. It would have been nice to at least get to see him create his new body that we first see in the temple (that could have made for a cool scene actually, having those Iron Legion drones build it). There was a lot of forced exposition. Sometimes less is more, I don't want characters to explain things in a way that too obviously is for the audience and not a natural conversation between the characters. Ultron was not nearly as cool as I remembered him as. He never really had the upper hand against the team. Even the CGI brought the film down a bit for me. The very first action scene is an example where it looked bad enough for me to be taken out of the experience. And a problem I even had the first time - how the final act is about the team vs. hordes of CGI drones - still stands.
Also, am I the only one getting sick of the Tony face cam being overused. Like, everytime he might make any kind of expression they cut to his face inside of the helmet.
Vision is totally awesome though and might become a favourite member in my eyes. I'm super excited to see him in coming films.
While it's definitely not a bad film in my eyes, I'm feeling relief because of the Russo brothers continuing the franchise from now on. Hopefully they will balance the tone better, so that things can feel at stake and the tension not be drowned in witty jokes. Obviously there should be humour, but not so much that it sacrifices any kind of excitement. I hope Civil War will have a tone similar to The Winter Soldier.
Why am I bringing this up here and not just in the AoU section? Well, as I said, I hope Marvel Studios tones down the witty banter a little bit in their coming films. I'm starting to feel that we've had too much of that now. Granted, Guardians of the Galaxy is a great film and while I haven't seen Ant-Man myself, I've heard some great stuff about that one as well. Still, I want more The Winter Soldier and less Thor: The Dark World or Iron Man 3. I want to see villains that feel like threats so that when the heroes overcome them, I can feel at awe. I have high hopes for The Russos to make a great big screen villain of Baron Zemo.
I crack myself up.
