because everyone else has got something to say about it
Whedon’s particular brand of snarky humor works better for some characters than others, in my opinion. “GO TO SLEEP GO TO SLEEP GO TO SLEEP” and “...nobody would know!” both made me laugh out loud. Less so the “Language” gag and “beep beep!” Stark and Barton were great, but Rogers’ and Romanoff’s characterization felt subtly off to me.
And oh, god, this was at its worst with Ultron. Say what you will about Hiddleston’s Loki, but he was convincing in every scene. Ultron just felt like something out of a Buffy filler episode, and not even one of the good filler episodes. It might have worked if the parallel with Tony Stark had been elaborated beyond the superficial speech patterns, but it wasn’t, and it didn’t. The villain should not be the weakest part of the movie.
I felt like trying to fit Vision, Ultron, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver into a single movie made it kind of rushed and crowded. Ensemble films suffer from lack of character development as it is.
As far as That Infamous Conversation, I am only going to say this. There’s a much better reason for Widow and Hulk to share fears of monsterhood. They’re the Avengers with the highest (implied) innocent body count. (Except, arguably, Tony Stark, and if that had come up, Bruce and Tony would have been much better foils for each other in this movie. Instead of their relationship being “Bruce argues for five minutes before giving in and helping Tony, twice.”) “Can’t make babies” was a really odd parallel to highlight, in light of all that, especially since it was something done to both of them without their consent. Though the Red Room and the green guy make their agency in all those killings dubious, it’s a lot less clear cut than sterilization.
All right, the whole Bruce/Natasha thing seemed forced. Like there had to be a romantic interest to make Bruce’s departure more Tragique.
ALL THAT SAID:
This was a really fun movie to watch.
I loved the increased focus on Hawkeye and Black Widow (albeit with the caveats above -- not fond of elements of Natasha’s characterization).
The moment when Cap shifts the hammer a millimeter and Thor’s expression goes from >:D to O___O -- that alone was worth the price of admission.
Even with the aforesaid characterization problems, I loved every little callback to Winter Soldier. The last scene where Cap and Widow walk out to become the leaders of the new team put a smile on my face.
I liked Tony’s characterization (though Joss’s Favorite Syndrome was obviously present). People I follow have said it suffers in comparison to Iron Man 3. This just makes me want to watch Iron Man 3 now.
