dhampyresa: (Natasha and red)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
(I am having way too much fun translating French movie titles back into English. Is this what being a Babel fish feels like?)

Anyway, I saw Age of Ultron with a group of fannish friends yesterday.

The version I saw is the 2D VOSTFR one (if there are differences between the versions different countries got, the way there was for Winter Soldier, I saw the French version). As usual, I can't speak for any other versions.

Short version: I was entertained, but I have some reservations.

Spoilers ahead of here, don't say I didn't warn you.

I apparently scoffed pretty loudly every time the words "artificial intelligence" were uttered on-screen. I am not even sorry. That was just bullshit. Look, I am already not a big fan of the way 'artifical intelligence' is bandied about in SFF because it is more often a misnomer for 'artificial sentience', but genre convention, fine, whatever. But here? No. The movie was clearly trying to have its cake and eat it too when it came to artificial intelligence. On the one hand, it made a huge deal of Ultron being the first artificial intelligence, but on the other hand, it clearly expected JARVIS's death to have an impact and you can't have both. Either Ultron is the first, in which case JARVIS is not a person and so has not died (due to not being alive in the first place). Or else JARVIS did die and so was alive in the first place and so Ultron was not the first artificial intelligence. I am also side-eye the entire creation of Vision, but I am willing to grant that I have no experience in programming anything involving THE POWER COSMIC and so can't speak to that.

I think Vision getting a cape because Thor has a cape is cute. I do wish they'd borrowed from Ultimates in making Vision female, though. (She could have looked like Doctor Cho, okay.)

I wish we'd gotten to see more of Doctor Cho.

Although, in that case, I doubt there would have been so much Wanda/Vision groundwork laid down (sadly), as the MCU has yet to have any explicitly LGBT characters.

Speaking of Wanda/Vision, I actually don't care about it. I don't ship it, but I don't not ship it, either. Honestly, I think I kind of imprinted on Wanda/Doom and Wanda/Carol as my Wanda ships of choice (and Wanda/Rogue over in X-Men:Evolution) so Wanda/Vision gets a great MEH from me. It does open the possibility of Billy and Tommy existing in the future, which is something I'm really looking forward to, especially Tommy.

(Ant-Man is bring us Cassie. MY KINGDOM FOR ONSCREEN TOMMY + CASSIE BONDING)

((MY OTHER KINGDOM FOR WANDA AND CAROL BEING A COUPLE IN MCU.))

FUCK SOKOVIA MAN FUCK IT HARD. I really disliked that the movie made up an Eastern European country for, what, shit and giggles? LOL I GUESS EASTER EUROPE IS ALL INTERCHANGEABLE LMAO except, you know, it's really really not. Given the size of the country (FRIDAY implies that the city that gets lifted at the end is most of Sokovia), I'm going to say it's probably in the Balkans. It's bad enough when the comics make up countries, but I can understand why you would say Doctor Doom rules Latveria and not Romania. What really gets me though is that Sokovia doesn't exist in the comics. WHY. Why would you pass up the opportunity to be able to point at comics canon and say "see, it's right there?". It's UScentrism and stupid UScentrism at that. I DON'T LIKE IT.

Oh, hey, they namedropped Wakanda too.

One of the people I saw teh movie with is a big Steve fan and she expressed the desire to know whetehr Whedon had even watched Winter Soldier, because Steve entire character act (what little of it there was, imho) felt like a retread of his arc in that movie.

Thor's subplot with the visions and the waters and Selvig was either cut too much or not enough. As it is, it brings nothing but confusion to the plot. (I have with Thor the same problem I have with Steve: I like them in their own movies, not so much in Whedon's.)

There was a brief Bucky reference by Sam. I am chosing to believe, based on nothing at all, that Sam found Bucky and, being the amazing therapist that he is, decided that Bucky didn't need (or even want) to see Steve now. So Sam and Bucky were sharing a beer and watching Steve be an idiot on live TV during the climax of the movie.

Tony and Bruce's debate(s) on Ultron felt a bit hollow to me. I guess it's because, at the end of everything, Tony Stark is an engineer, with an engineer's mind and an engineer's flaw. He didn't make Ultron to protect the world even though that was probably the incentive for the idea, but once he had the idea? He did it to see if he could.

The movie didn't really deal with that, imho, and so it rang hollow to me. Idk, I guess most people aren't interested on hearing the version of the debate that boils down to "scientist vs engineer", even though I think that was really what was going on with Bruce and Tony.

Tony already has 'a suit of armour around the world', after all. It's called the Iron Legion and shows up during the very first fight scene. (By the by, can I say "police state"? POLICE STATE. There. Kind of surprised Steve would go from 'Project Insight is bad!' to 'it's totally cool that this dude I work with can send walking talking WMDs anywhere in the world at his own discretion'. Goes back to wondering if Whedon watched Winter Soldier.)

I am glad Clint's family made it out okay. I really enjoyed their dynamic with Nat. You have no idea how much I love that Nat and Clint are BFFs. No disrespect to anyone who ships them, but it is so rare to see male-female friendship that doesn't turn romantic, especially one where they are so clearly Very Important to each other, that I am going to treasure it. (Nat whispering 'traitor' to the baby who turned out to be Nathaniel instead of Natasha was adorable.)

I have zero feelings on Nat/bruce, either way. I will just say that I thought the lullaby looked an awful lot like neurolinguistic programming. I am also of two minds over Natasha's speech that calls her a monster. My gut feeling in the theater was that she was using her infertility as the reason she's as much of a monster as Bruce is, but while talking it over, I can see why other people thought otherwise. I still think the line could have been better written.

This aside, I think Natasha was super amazing, omg. SHE IS THE BEST I LOVE HER SO MUCH. So many hearts in my eyes, omg. I like that she didn't even try to pick up Mjolnir. It doesn't matter if she (thinks she) is worthy, because either was she's confident in herself enough to give zero shits about the approval of a piece of weaponry from the medieval era.

(Side note: Of people who took part in the final people the only ones who didn't try to lift the hammer at any time are Nat and Wanda.)

I really loved all of Nat so much. WHERE IS MY BLACK WIDOW MOVIE OMG

Without any transition, let's talk about something else that bugged me about the movie: how much Christian imagery there was. Off the top of my head I could remember two (all dialogue) and was told another by the fandom folk afterwards (Vision taking a Christ/cross like pose). The three lines I remember where: Ultron making an explicit reference to Noah's ark ("ask Noah" in a conversation about extinction events) (Old Testament) and Ultron going on about how cool it is that the church is in the center of the city so everyone can be equally distant from god (church, presumably orthodix, and Ultron equating himself with god with the framing of it). I think there were more, but I can't remember them right now. It felt really off to me.

I really enjoyed Rhodey in the movie, even though he should have been an Avengers way back in the first one. I liked his joke and him getting his moments of awesome in the fight at the end. Loved his friendship with Maria Hill, ngl.

But hey, now that Sam and Rhodey are officially Avengers, the team is only 7/9 white! (Not counting Vision either way, because synthezoid.)

It is also only 8/10 male! (Counting Vision this time, because he's referred to with "he" pronouns, as are JARVIS and Ultron.)

It is still 0/10 explicitly and canonly LGBT, though.

I guess it's time to talk about the twins, then? Let's talk about the twins!

There's a conversation early on that outlines their powers as "he's fast and she's weird", which lol no that is not what you just said, Hill, and also neither what you said earlier nor "weird" is Wanda's comic powerset, but okay, I'll roll with it, I suppose it's close-ish enough to her early powerset that I can see how one can look like the other.

Then there's this exchange, between Steve and Hill:
Steve: Yeah, what kind of madman would let a German scientist experiment on him to fight for his country?
Hill: We're not at war.
Steve: They are.

This loses a lot of impact on account of Sokovia being fictional and no history being given, but I chose to interpret it as the twins signing up for Strucker's human experimentation program shortly after they became orphans, presumably while their country was still at war.

I did not hate Pietro! I am as surprised as you are, tbh. Iiirc, House of M is the first comic storyline I read with Wanda and/or Pietro in it and while it cemented my an undying love of all things Wanda Maximoff, it also gave me an undying hatred of comics!Pietro. I could tangent this whole post to explain why, but suffice to say I went in there fully expecting to hate Pietro's guts, but I did not. I mostly cared about him inasmuch as Wanda cared about him, but I did care about him, a little.

WANDA THOUGH! I LOVED HER! I mean, I have loved each and every incarnation of Wanda I have ever seen, from the one in X-Men:Evolution to the one in the comics (yes, because of House of M), so it is probably no surprise that I loved her here, but I did. GOSH DRAN SHE WAS AMAZING AND THE BEST AND I LOVE HER SO MUCH. I like that she was an avenger before she was an Avenger, but that as soon as she realised that Ultron was very badly designed she switched her allegiance immediately.

I really liked her interaction with Hawkeye, how he was "not a fan [of the mind-messing-with]" and how he didn't try to guilt her into fighting Ultron, just told her that if she didn't fight, he'd sent Pietro get her to safety. And you know, you just know, that if Wanda had stopped fighting, Pietro would have, too. The whole movie he keeps helping ehr and protecting her.

(Tbh, I enjoyed the Hawkeye + the twins dynamic a lot.)

The only moment Pietro doesn't act to further Wanda's goals or protect her is when he saves Hawkeye (and dies). I was very confused by his death: surely he could have gotten Hawkeye and the kid to safety and/or taken the bullets out of the air? He's fast enough for that.

How Wanda reacted to his death, however, was heartbreaking. OH NO WANDA BABY NO (She makes terrible decisions under emotional duress.)

I am not convinced that Pietro is dead, though. Because COMICS.

ALSO! His last "You didn't see that coming?" is totally meta commentary on this being a Joss Whedon movie: of course someone dies, you really should have seen that coming.

Wanda's straight hair was bothering me, but at the end she got her curly hair back, so that was alright. (Is it me or did her costume call back to Hawkeye's a little?) I know it's not just me, because one of the fandom folk mentionned it too, but I have to admit that I was extremely confused at the end, because she looked East Asian. Also OMG SHE CAN FLY NOW YAY

I want all the fic of Clint taking Wanda under his wing and making her part of his family/adopting her. I would also love the fic where Wanda confronts Tony over her parents' death and how he's still making weapons (hello Iron Legion, hello Ultron). In my heart of hearts, I think the fic I want most is Wanda and Natasha working together with Wanda helping Natasha make sense of what memories are real and which are not.

So there you have it, those are my thoughts on Age of Ultron.

Most of the conversation I had with the fandom folk revolved around the movie, but we did talk about some other things, like ongoing fandom events and dead Romans. Me and one of the fandom folk have taken to texting each other whenever we spot dead Romans in the wild, it's great fun.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-27 01:29 am (UTC)
yuuago: (DenNor - I won't say)
From: [personal profile] yuuago
Scrolled through most of this as I haven't seen the film yet, but... made-up EE countries? Ugh. This is one thing that annoys me so much. It's just - lazy, I would say. And unnecessary, since other real-life countries exist in the films (either make up all of them, or make up none, says I). And US-centric, of course. If the place existed in the comics, I could brush it off, but you mentioned that it doesn't (and I would trust that you'd know), so I'll grump about it.

While I'm here - Do you think that someone who hasn't seen Winter Soldier and IM3 would be able to understand this film, or are there some things that wouldn't make sense if pne hasn't seen those two? They're the only ones I've currently not seen yet, I think.

Anyway, I'm glad you had a good outing. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-27 09:26 am (UTC)
schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (Default)
From: [personal profile] schneefink
I like your thoughts!

Wait, Wanda got her curly hair back? I didn't notice that! I was too annoyed by Sam suddenly being an Avengers recruit for no reason.

I absolutely hated Sokovia. They made up a country for no reason, simply because they were too lazy to use a real one, wtf. And its not-even-mentioned history is supposed to explain the twins' motivations? Fuck that.

So it's "Iron Legion", I didn't catch/remember that. Didn't Tony decide not to do that after IM3, or is my memory wrong? The continuity was bad in general.

I loved that for a moment after Ultron killed Jarvis we got to see Tony legitimately grieve about him. I didn't see the emphasis on Ultron as "first" AI so much, but I can imagine that he's more developed than Jarvis because of the mind gem.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-27 10:39 am (UTC)
minutia_r: (Default)
From: [personal profile] minutia_r
Mr. R-- and I were having a conversation about made-up countries in comics the other day. Since it's not really possible to get rid of Latveria and Wakanda and so on, we were wondering whether it would be better to invent a small country between the US and Canada, or just a couple of extra US states, like in the Great Plains or something. Squirrel Girl could be governor of one of them.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-29 10:28 am (UTC)
schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (Default)
From: [personal profile] schneefink
I saw an interesting perspective on Sokovia somewhere, that it's good that they invented a country because they'd inevitably screw up any portrayal of a real one. Which is a) sad but likely true but it shouldn't be, and b) then they at least have to give us more details about Sokovia instead of leaving it totally generic.

Oh yeah, totally people, I was thinking more in terms of child/adult in terms of independence.
I read the summary of that book and it sounds interesting, but also creepy.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-27 11:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/
I went yay Cassie too! :-)
And I liked the twins -- like you, I don't much like comics Pietro and this was a much more interesting version. And Wanda was 80% good -- the lost 20% is for Elizabeth Olsen's attempt at an Eastern European accent, which wandered all over the place and really distracted me.

And I am with you 100% on yet another imaginary country. I swear I'm going to invent a US state for a fic one of these days.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-27 11:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/
Ah, je me suis aussi dit que c'était bizarre que JARVIS ne soit pas considéré comme une IA dans le film. Je n'ai pas vu les films Iron Man, mais en tout cas, il l'a toujours été dans les fics.
Mais je n'étais pas inquiète pour lui parce que Paul Bettany qui se mettait à avoir un rôle physique était un gros spoiler, même pour moi qui ne connaissais pas les comics.

Pour la mort d'un perso, je sais que tout le monde s'inquiétait pour Clint, mais pour moi, c'était 50/50 Clint ou Pietro. Je suis agacée quand même, parce que je l'aimais bien.

Mon post (principalement sur mes pairings) est ici.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-27 12:01 pm (UTC)
ext_2023: (Default)
From: [identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com
I agree that Natasha was awesome!!

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-28 10:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
I LOVE CASSIE SO MUCH OMG /obligatory Cassie icon is obligatory

Comics Pietro is a trainwreck, but now that I think about it, he's the only incaranation of Pietro I don't like. (I suspect this is because none of the other versions have ever manipulate their sister into a having a reality-warping mental breakdown. I may be slightly bitter that everyone is blaming Wanda for House of M and not Pietro.)

I am (un?)fortunate enough to have a tin ear for accents -- to the point where some accents just do not register for me (I literally do not hear them) -- so her accent didn't bother me. I can see that it would bother other people, though.

Appalachia is totally an US state, right? The governor is Squirrel Girl!

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-28 11:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
JARVIS est plus ou moins considéré comme une IA dans les Iron Man? Je ne crois pas que ce soi

JARVIS n'est pas la Vision. C'est pas parce qu'ils sont tous les deux des IA qu'ils sont interchangeables >:(

Bizarrement, autant j'aime pas Pietro dans les comics, autant je l'aime bien dans les films.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-28 11:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
She is the best.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-29 07:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/
Cassie is fabulous. So good to see her in the film :-)
If Appalachia isn't a state, it should be. And definitely led by Squirrel Girl!
And absolutely on House of M. Pietro gets away with all sorts of rubbish, while writers pile on Wanda. (And on most of the other female characters.)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-29 12:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/
Oui, en voyant le film, j'ai bien compris que JARVIS n'était pas la Vision, mais avant de voir le film, tout ce que je savais, c'est que le rôle de Paul Bettany avait changé de forme.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-29 10:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
I am so looking forward to it! I love her so much.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the idea of Squirrel Girl as an US senator goes to minutia-r.

I am forever amazed/appaled with how much Pietro gets away with. (Somewhere inside me lurks a post on Wanda Maximoff and House of M.)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-04-30 11:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/
Ooh! I hope you write that. I'd love to read it.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-05-02 01:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sineala.livejournal.com
I will have to think more about all the things you have said (though I agree on WTF IMAGINARY COUNTRY WHEN YOU HAD PERFECTLY GOOD OTHER IMAGINARY COUNTRIES) but this was a lovely review. Wanda was way better than I was expecting. I was so afraid Joss would ruin her.

(Also why does everyone in Sokovia speak English? Why does Hydra speak English but with nefarious probably-intended-to-be-German accents? I think Daredevil's handling of languages actually might have spoiled me for this because, wow, that was one of the best things about Daredevil.)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-05-02 01:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sineala.livejournal.com
*jumps in*

I am sorry but Sam Guthrie is clearly the governor of the state of Appalachia. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-05-02 10:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
Fine.

Can Squirrel Girl be Empress of San Fransisco, in that case?

(no subject)

Date: 2015-05-02 11:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sineala.livejournal.com
Does that mean she time-travels and marries Emperor Norton? :)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-05-03 01:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
Thank you.

I was so afraid about Wanda! I love her so much in the comics (and in X-Men:Evolution) and I was so afraid that Whedon would go all whedon on her. I was happy with Wanda in the movie (love her <3) even though her powerset is not the one she has in the comics.

(Mysteriously English-speaking Sokovia was hilarious, ngl. I'm currently watch episode 6 of Daredevil, but I am loving so much the way it handles language, seriously. AMAZING.)

(no subject)

Date: 2015-05-04 10:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
No, she time-travelled and had a coup!

(no subject)

Date: 2015-06-01 10:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhampyresa.livejournal.com
I did write it! It' here.

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