Spoiler Alert: Age of Ultron, Part Four · 12:33am Jul 23rd, 2015
: If they had a teaspoon'a personality or any real relevance ta the plot?
: Yes, THAT'S it. That's it exactly. Anyway, Bruce and Natasha have another "romantic" scene. Natasha suggests that they run away from this extremely important, world saving scenario to be together. When Bruce points out that a family life would be impossible for him, Natasha says it's impossible for her, too, since part of her Black Widow training involved being sterilized. Which, somehow, makes her a "monster" like he is.
I'm sorry, but seriously? THIS is where we're going with her?
The Black Widow is one of the most dangerous people on the planet. She has been manipulated into lying, stealing, and murdering for a living since she was a child. And as one of the Avengers without her own film franchise, she has a limited ability to explore the impulses, guilts, and fears that this has given her. And THIS is the part of her character we're planning on exploring? With a character who, as far as I'm aware, has never expressed the desire to be a mother in any of her incarnations? Unless you count Next Avengers, but who would?
Seriously, I come from a planet where feminism was never developed, and this still offends me!
: Howe'er, let's move on 'fore Twi pops a gasket. Thor saw visions 'a the world endin' when Scarlet Witch zapped 'im, so he visits a natural spring that'll give 'im visions, so he can better understand what he saw. It teaches 'im 'bout the details 'a Ragnarok, the Infinity Stones, an' a character named the Vision, an' is pretty important ta the overall story'a the Universe, but it gets kinda lost 'mongst ev'rything else.
Nick Fury shows up like a Spy Ex Machina an' tells th' Avengers that Ultron hasn't been able ta digitally activate nukes or anythin' like that yet. There seems ta be some third party keepin' Ultron outta any important networks.
: The Avengers deduce that Ultron is going to use the Cradle to make a new body. He'll combine the Vibranium with the synthetic body tissue to make himself an indestructible, artificial human. However, as his thoughts are transferred via Loki's scepter to the new body, his new mind is open to Wanda's telepathy, and she realizes, in horror, that Ultron plans on not just killing the Avengers, but wiping out the human race. Ultron tries to defend himself with a speech about God and man and evolution, but....
Religion is something of a running motif in this film. It makes sense in a movie about robots. Ultron loves to talk about it, but he never manages to sell it. There so many questions here. Does he view humans as gods? Is he a god? Does he view god as good? Which god is he talking about? Why would something programmed by Tony Stark even believe in god?! The motif is here but the thought behind it is not!! When Loki talks about the relationship between god and man, it makes sense. When Ultron does it, I'm just left confused.: The Maximoffs, bein' terrorists but not genocidal, disrupt the process an' make a run for it. Ultron, realizing the Avengers are comin', hightails it too, bringin' his incomplete new body wit' 'im.
: The Avengers, now aided by the Maximoffs, manage to drive Ultron off and procure the Cradle, but Ultron takes Black Widow captive in the process. I've heard some complaints of this incident as being sexist. Perhaps I'm not entirely qualified to comment, but I do feel that, as she was taken while doing her job instead of as a helpless victim, that this was not being unfair to her as a woman.
Though I will say that, given that she's supposed to be his love interest, Bruce seems remarkably unfazed by this development.
: And now we reach the point where I gave up on this film entirely. Tony realizes that JARVIS was never actually killed, and that he had been in a state of robotic subconsciousness, fighting Ultron and stopping him from nuking anybody. Tony then convinces Bruce to put JARVIS into the new body, without asking anyone for permission or advice. The other Avengers, naturally upset when they find out, fight Tony until Thor arrives, using his lightning to give the body life and creating the heroic Vision. Vision is even capable of wielding Mjolnir.
There are....SO many things wrong with this moment.
Yeah... I LOVED Ultron in this movie, but one thing I really can't figure out is HOW he came to the wipe out humanity thing. I mean... I COULD understand it if they went more into WHY He thinks humanity needs to be wiped out in bigger detail than
"Oh well there were 3 different mass extinction events before the dinosaurs showed up so no big deal"
I mean.... Honestly? If he thinks humans are so inept and incompetent at ruling, and granted in a lot of areas he's not wrong, but wouldn't it make more sense that he wanted to take over the world and impose martial law? I mean one COULD argue that's closer to what Loki was after, but he just wanted to take over... Never really said much about what he planned on doing AFTER that, which does fit Loki's "god of mischief" nature in that he didn't think THAT far ahead, just to getting there.
3265481 Yeah, and just as importantly, Loki's attack was made in context of Thanos pulling the strings, so it's entirely possible that we'll find out more reasons behind the invasion as time goes on. Furthermore, Loki probably would've done it just to get on Thor's nerves, and was clearly emotionally unstable throughout the film, in spire of his slick performance. Ultron claimed to have some sort of grander plan for all of this, but it never became particularly clear. Did he plan on ruling the Earth his way? Was he planning on forcing the human race to evolve? Did he plan on wasting everyone? He gives different answers throughout the film, and if we had been given the impression that he hadn't planned this out and that sanity was disappearing more and more, it might have been interesting. But Spader, it seems, wasn't told to do that, so he tries to play this slick mastermind while his actions depict him as an emotionally unstable manchild. Which, once again, could've been interesting if I ever got the impression that that was what they were trying to depict. Instead, the way the film tries to depict him feels very disjointed with how he actually is.
3265688 I'll give Spader credit where credit is due..... He DOES pull off a menacing Ultron when those moments come up... And I'll admit he's legit funny when it comes to dark humor in this, but... I think they dropped the ball on 2 things with him
1: Okay they make him an insane robot who's not thinking on terms of what actually IS logical, but what he perceives as logical. Okay THAT can work, since insanity is defined as functioning under a logic that makes sense ONLY to you. However unlike with comic Ultron who makes it clear he wants ALL organic life gone so he and his collective can rule over Earth, then potentially the rest of the universe after he's done that, we never get WHY he thinks this is logical. I mean in The Dark Knight, Joker exposed HIS world view and why he does what he does all throughout that movie.
Ultron never explains WHY he thinks this is a good idea or WHY he thinks he has to do it. I mean what he DOES say is pretty much
"Humans are ruining everything and need to be wiped out"
Which is fine but... He was a PEACEKEEPING program first and foremost... I mean... Next Avengers? At least had an Ultron that fulfilled that directive to what he considered to be the logical conclusion. Total dominion over the world.
2: Aside from a few lines and mentions here or there... I don't think they fully capitalized on the idea that Tony TRULY is in the Hank Pym role. I mean with Hank and Ultron there's this... This almost Frankensteinian trope that Ultron both despises Hank and at the same time deep down DOES see him as a father and not just a mocking name to call him.
Tony and Ultron never really share that dynamic, aside from Ultron picking up a few personality traits from Tony...... Which doesn't make sense since I don't recall them stating they put any of Tony's mind in Ultron..... And the thing is it COULD have been handled SO much better..... But it wasn't.
3265933 Yeah, Spader himself seems to be putting a lot of effort into the role. I have more of an issue with what his lines were than with how he delivered.
We never really understand Ultron. We get rhetoric rationalizing his actions, but we never truly get motivation for why he thinks like this. No comment about a human attempt to replicate a brain being ineffective. No explanation of his issues with Tony. Nothing truly delving into why he's so violent or why he's acting to save humanity from itself instead of protecting against aliens like he's supposed to. So because I never know what's driving Ultron, it's really hard to sympathize with his insanity. Which otherwise would be difficult but totally possible.
And, yeah, while there are token elements, Ultron and Tony don't interact enough to truly understand their conflict or where they split. We know that they're both snarky extremists, but that's about it.
...Crap, I can't like them anymore. Thanks AJ.
Also, I'm supreised no one commented on the "the entire internet flows through this one nexus" part. The internte does not work like that.
3268352 Ironically, I was talking with Phoenix Avalon about that just as I saw your comment.
And science is only a hobby for me. If anyone pointed it out, I didn't see it.