Avengers: Age of Ultron - 10/10

I loved this movie when I first saw it and loved it on the rewatch as well. Subjectively upto this point it was the best Id seen in the MCU (winter soldier has gone up now though) .
I love the storyline and the character , dont mind the future setups at all or the romance. My favourite part is definitely James Spader as Ultron , perfect casting and the rest of the cast is great as usual.
Just a fun movie to watch any time.

A lot of people would disagree with you, but I'm not one of them. Pre-rewatch I have Age of Ultron as one of three 10/10 earners in the franchise. I am going to rewatch it soon and see if it holds up, but prior to this I loved it a smidge more than the original Avengers! 

Starting Ant-Man soon. I actually liked this one on the first watch. The non-action scenes are flat and by-the-numbers, but the action was fun and inventive.

See you on the flip side...

Just finished watching Thor: The Dark World, and I'm having a very difficult time understanding why people hate it so much. Every time I try to think of a reason to deduct it marks, I pause and think, "No, that's not right at all."

So, for the sake of this thread, I'm giving it a 5/10. I put it here because I gave the three Iron Man films a 6, and I think it's just a hint below those films.

The only con I could truly think of certainly hurt the film's value, but it was also a simple con. There really were no themes or deeper meanings at play, it was 'just' a well done and entertaining superhero tale.

With Iron Man, those films discussed the importance of legacy, battling personal demons, and dealing with anxiety/stress. Captain America was about doing the right thing and sacrifice. The original Thor was about honor and worthiness and maturity. The Avengers was about camaraderie and putting aside your differences to work together and defeat evil.

And holy shit, I think I just figured out the answers to my questions concerning why people find some movies to be lesser than others! I've been trying to find the key to understanding why movies I love in this franchise aren't loved by most, and until just now as I'm writing this I had never been able to figure it out!

This movie lacks a theme. It's not a movie ABOUT anything, unlike the movies listed above. There is no unifying theme here of any sort, it's just a good vs evil story about a hero protecting the world during a potentially disastrous event.

The same can be said about all the movies in the MCU that follow this pattern. There seems to be a direct correlation between what critics and audiences think about a movie and how well it does, in that regard. The films in the MCU that have weaker themes or that are 'just' good movies get the lower scores. Hulk was 'just' a cool movie about rage monsters fighting with little thematic depth or emotion, and it got the lowest box office. Thor 1 and 2 both were rather limited in regards to their themes (1 was weak, 2 was nonexistent), Age of Ultron wasn't universally loved and I can't think of a single theme that unified that which wasn't already used in the first avengers, etc. Hell, even Ant-Man and Doctor Strange were 'weaker' modern entries in the franchise (At least according to box office) because they were very similar to prior entries in the franchise (Namely Iron Man).

It all makes sense, now!

That said, I think that this movie is truly great, if you look at it from the right angle. If you go into the movie knowing it's not about themes and is just a popcorn flick about good vs evil, then all of the film's faults are pretty briskly compensated for.

Shoddy villain? That's fine, he was more of an evil force than a character anyway. The movie isn't about the villain, it's about the hero fighting evil, and The Kursed/Malekith was a power for evil.

No themes? Again, it's not going for that. (It could be better, since that's why I gave it a 5)

But on the bright side, here are the pros:

Cinematography/Art direction were both fantastic, giving us plenty of pretty things to look at with some impressive visuals and many gorgeous shots.

The action scenes were plentiful and fun, all of them. The opening battle was well done if redundant, the assault on Asgard by the remaining dark elves (Especially Heimdall's taking down of the one ship and subsequent framing as the major ship revealed itself) was epic in all the right ways, the escape from the prison scene was menacing and engaging, the escape from asgard was a lot of fun, the fight through and around the dark world was good, and the fight for greenwich through the portals was inventive, original, and a tonne of fun.

Seriously, the action sequences in this movie were all outstanding. No idea how people could disregard them. I'd give this movie an 8 based solely on that. (8 on the global scale, not the marvel scale).

But if that wasn't enough, the humor was there, the characters were all fun (Aside from Iain the intern's intern, who I though was too much), it linked back to Avengers well, and...seriously, It was a really well made movie.

I mean, compared to the other marvel movies it does lack that depth, so I get why it's one of the lower grossing and least praiseworthy, but damn people are missing out by hating or disliking this movie. There's so much here to like.

Here's my ranking by the global scale:

9.5 The Avengers
9.3 Black Panther
9.2 Captain America: The First Avenger
9.1 Iron Man 3
9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
8.7 Thor: The Dark World
8.3 Thor
6.1 The Incredible Hulk

So, Ant-Man. Why did I used to think this was good? I must've blacked out during the non-action scenes.

Let's start with the good. I really like that Ant-Man is basically a heist movie. It's a different take on the usual power fantasies we get in superhero flicks. Douglas gives a nice performance. The action is extraordinary. It's weird and funny, and, thanks to its playful use of everyday objects, visually inventive. Two men in shrinking suits fighting atop a Thomas the Tank Engine toy? That's great stuff. Basically, whenever Scott is tiny the movie works.

Conversely, whenever he's NOT in the suit, the movie is mediocre at best. I really hate the look of this movie; it's shot like a TV show. The framing is so flat, the sets are so lifeless, the camerawork so basic. It all feels utilitarian. Man, I wish Edgar Wright has stayed on the project. Imagine Wright behind the camera and someone like Paul Machliss in the editing room? This could have been one of the best MCU movies.

What else? The characters are thinly-sketched and uninteresting. Rudd is wasted in the role. Corey Stoll is laughably evil. Lilly stands around and does nothing, although her reaction to hearing the story of her mother's fate is very raw and believable. The standouts are the two Michaels: Douglas and Pena. I would have liked more character development and conflict -- more stuff on Scott trying to be a good father, or Pym mentoring Scott, or really anything. Honestly, I think the best sub-plot in the movie is the estranged relationship between Pym and Hope, but it's underdeveloped.

In the end, Ant-Man is a flat-looking, no-frills movie with forgettable characters and clever action sequences.

This is somewhere between a 5 and a 6, but I used up all my generosity with Age of Ultron.

5/10

Updated rankings:

GREAT
1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2) Iron Man

GOOD
3) Guardians of the Galaxy
4) The Avengers
5) Iron Man 3

DECENT
6) Black Panther
7) Captain America
8) The Incredible Hulk
9) Avengers: Age of Ultron

MEDIOCRE
10) Ant-Man
11) Iron Man 2

POOR
12) Thor
13) Thor: The Dark World 

Scores updated to this point.

And new poll!

Captain America: Civil War

And so Phase 3 begins.  If Avengers 4 is going to finish phase 3, then this is a hell of a worthy bookend to start things off.  Below are my thoughts and as always there are spoilers, so if you haven't seen this movie, STOP reading this and go watch the movie right now!  It's awesome!!


Pluses:

The airport scene.  I have quite literally been waiting for this movie most of my life just for that airport scene.  It's not really that it is hero vs. hero, so much as I've just always wanted to see a bunch of super powered beings fight it out like a huge splash page in a comic book.  As a kid, I was just frustrated that there were no good Marvel movies at all.  Then when the first X-Men movie came out in 2000 I was disappointed that the action was no where as good as I had been imagining it would be.  The special effects and film making skill were just not there.  For a long time, I didn't think I'd ever seen movie action that rivaled something like the Secret Wars comic.  Civil War finally made it happen.  Movies can finally do everything comic books can do.  It's amazing!

All of the action in this movie is fantastic.  This may feel like I am repeating my first point, but I can't emphasize this enough.  This is the best action movie ever made.  I said before that Avengers 2 had the best action in the MCU up to that point, but this movie takes it to a whole new level.  On top of that Civil War has some more visceral, street level action scenes that are at least as good as the Winter Soldier movie, like the opening Lagos scene or the chase scene with Bucky, Cap and Black Panther.  The ending battle really feels like a life and death fight.  This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

Even if you take out all of the action, this is still a hell of an enjoyable movie.  Cap, Bucky, and Falcon all have great chemistry.  "Can you move your seat up?"  "No."  Then they both nod approvingly as Cap kisses Sharon.  Iron Man and War Machine also have great chemistry.  Hell Cap and Iron Man have great chemistry.  And the storytelling in this film is masterful.  They set up the ending perfectly, but then they throw in a red herring so that you don't see it coming (at least I didn't).  And the best part is that both Cap and Iron Man have very valid perspectives, so you can see how the heroes might choose either side.

Baron Zemo is my favorite MCU villain.  He isn't some generic villain who goes, "I'm evil and super powered so I'm going to kill you...muhahahah!"  He isn't trying to take over the world either.  Instead he's out for revenge, cold, calculated revenge, and he pulls it off masterfully.  I love that he basically succeeds in his plan which is another thing that you don't see coming.  He also is a more realistic super spy than even Black Widow.  She's more of a female James Bond, where Zemo is more about disguising himself, hiding in plain sight and keeping a low profile.  That is more what I imagine a real spy is like.  He also destabilizes the Avengers by using their conflicting loyalties against one another, another trait of a real spy.


Minuses:

None.


In conclusion, Civil War is the new gold standard in action film making, and at the same time it will enthrall you with it's great acting, intricate plot and clever villain.

10/10


My rankings going into Phase 3 look like this:

AMAZING
1) Captain America: Civil War
2) Captain America: The First Avenger
3) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4) Guardians of the Galaxy

GREAT
5) Iron Man
6) Avengers: Age of Ultron
7) Black Panther

GOOD
8) Avengers
9) Ant Man

AVERAGE
10) Iron Man 3
11) Thor
12) The Incredible Hulk

POOR
13) Thor: The Dark World
14) Iron Man 2

Ant-Man - 5/10 - I thought this was going to be awful and it ended up being okay and possibly could set up some interesting characters and set pieces. Shame Wright fought with Marvel and it ended up being okay when I think his vision and style are what kept it from being entirely forgettable.

Civil War - 9/10 - This is what put my mind at ease for Infinity War until I see it. This many characters and story lines and yet it still felt satisfying. My favorite part is getting the airport scene for spectacle and then smaller scale climax with real emotional weight with Tony and Steve. My only complaint is Zemo gets little time, I hope he gets to come back and shine in costume at some point.

Ant-Man is both the first MCU film in this rewatch I have only seen once and the last MCU film I did not see in the theatre. I was iffy on the premise and when Wright left, it seemed like any hope for a quirky, oddball MCU film went out the window. I also had issues with Ant-Man coming so close to Avengers: Age of Ultron (the Avengers should end the Phase) and was still disappointed from that film being so underwhelming. I thought it was the laziest written film in the entire MCU. The villain had no real motivation. The romance is an after-thought. Hell, even HYDRA makes an odd, random appearance. This was more offensive to me than a film that set out with high goals but failed in the attempt. Because of that, I’ve been pretty harsh on Ant-Man since then. For me the film peaked in the teaser with Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Hank Pym having an argument. I wanted THAT film. We’ll see how this goes. See you on the other side!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

9/10

Damn, I forgot how good this movie was. When going back and rewatching them I knew I liked this movie, but I didn't realize just HOW much I liked it. The action was crisp and well done, the character stuff was top notch, I loved how it was a superhero action movie but also a spy thriller of sorts while also linking it into other movies in the franchise.

One of the reasons I kept this a step below other movies was that I was under the wrong impression that the action wasn't as exciting, but that's not true at all! Of all the films in the franchise, this may have had the most action scenes so far! Nick Fury's scene was great, the elevator escape was great, the winter soldier chase was great, the final fights in the helicarrier were all great, and the highway chase was also great.

I honestly can't think of any real faults. Well, I probably could, but while I was watching it there were no glaring issues that detracted from the experience.

Seriously, top score! This actually went up in a rank upon rewatch.

Personal scores so far:

9.5 The Avengers
9.4 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
9.3 Black Panther
9.2 Captain America: The First Avenger
9.1 Iron Man 3
9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
8.7 Thor: The Dark World
8.3 Thor
6.1 The Incredible Hulk