Spoilers, probably.
Shyam and I went to see the new Avengers flick last week. We were thinking of waiting for our work schedules to give us a better time, but we both ended up with an evening off last Friday, so we wandered into the town's old theater made new to catch the movie.
First, a couple of quick thoughts....
I was hoping for a larger turnout for our new theater, the remodeled and rebuilt Plaza Twin (now the five-screen
Athens Movie Palace). Our theater was about 2/3 full. I'm really rooting for this theater to do well, if only because it's nice having a theater again 5 minutes from my house. I feel a little bad not supporting it more in its first 3 months of business. Avengers: Age of Ultron was only the second flick we'd gone to see there, but it's also only the second flick either of us has seen in the theater this year. The movie offerings haven't held much for us in the early part of 2015. 2/3 full theater is probably a good enough turnout. I don't know the particulars of the financials there.
Ironically, though, I found myself wishing it was less crowded. I don't like going to crowded movies. People don't know how to behave. Many "grownups" nowadays can't stay off their phones for the duration of a movie, and tend to talk a lot. This flick, as expected, was heavily infested with kids. And I can't get too mad at kids. They were excited. Still, when the five year old girl behind us was squealing loudly any time Thor came on screen, and repeating the dialog back to the screen just short of a shout, we ended up having to move after several minutes. To their credit, the father shushed her, and ended up taking her out of the theater a couple times.
To the movie?
I liked it. I thought it was solid, if not the spectacular I wanted it to be.
Two quibbles (shortly, because I realized it's about a half-hour later than I thought, and I'm going to make myself late for work):
1.) I don't feel as strongly as some (including Shyam) about the Black Widow's short shrift when it comes to back story. While I can't holler about the sexism as strongly, I don't feel like it fit her character in the least, and felt really, really cheap. I like the character enough that if you feel like you have to give her a backstory, then give her own flick to do it. Scarlet Johansson is strong enough by far to carry her own feature. And don't let her origin story be a flashback and a crying jag. Doesn't befit the character. Like I said, felt cheap.
2.) I feel like the Hulk was a missed opportunity here. And his just leaving in a Quinjet felt wrong. And I think it was a missed opportunity. You gotta think Hulk will be back, especially for the Infinity War movies here in a few years. Why not add some mystery or suspense to the story? In my mental rewrite, you have Iron Man and Thor trying to take out Ultron's weapon. Have something happen to Thor (perhaps get taken out by the Hulk?). And in Thor's place, have Hulk detonate the weapon on his end. You could even have a moment where, in leaping in to sacrifice his friend, Hulk becomes worthy to wield Mjolnir. And in the explosion, the Hulk disappears. He would be believed dead. You could have a scene though (perhaps a cut scene in the credits) where Thor calls Mjolnir, and it finally returns to him, after tearing through space. He reveals that Banner isn't dead, but alive somewhere else, and transported via rip in time and space, or perhaps the hammer. And then you leave Hulk open to return in Infinity War, or perhaps even in one of the Marvel Cosmic movies.
Or, the Hulk fan in me says, in a Planet Hulk movie.
Because Planet Hulk still is one of my favorite comic stories.....
Anyway. It wasn't a bad flick. I gave it a 7/10 on IMDB. I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably go see it again in the theater....
