Avengers: Age of Ultron (Heck Yeah!)

*Warning: The following post contains multiple spoilers.*

I just got back from Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

Yeah. That's right. The movie I raved about before it even hit theaters. The movie I've been waiting months for. The movie I was so excited for.

Was it all I hoped and dreamed it would be?

To an extent, yes.

Age of Ultron was good. It had its great moments, and I'd say it lived up to the first Avengers film. But it had its downsides, too... and I guess that's what I'm here to talk about. And believe me, I've got a lot to talk about. So get up, grab a tasty beverage, use the bathroom, and find a comfy seat, 'cause this is going to be a long post.

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Age of Ultron: The Good

• The action scenes were amazing--but then, I suppose that's par for the course with a Marvel movie. From the Hulk to Scarlet Witch, those scenes were beautifully animated and great the watch. I wish Quicksilver had gotten more scenes, but overall it was awesome. 
• Ultron and the Vision were both very well-characterized. It was really highlighted that Ultron had all of Tony Stark's flaws and none of his qualities, and the Vision felt--poignant. Clear. And the extremely human-like AI of both characters kept them very interesting, moreso than the usual robot characters you find in sci-fi.
• The dialogue was, as with the previous movie, quite entertaining. The "language" running gag was particularly great. 
• Speaking of dialogue, I just loved the pep talk that Hawkeye gave to Scarlet Witch during the final battle. It ranged from inspiring ("You stay in here, you're good, I'll send your brother back for you... but if you step outside, then you fight and you fight to the death...") to hilarious and very on-point ("We're fighting robots. In a flying city. And I've got a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense!"). It was just... beautiful... and I really loved it. 
• I was thrilled to see War Machine and Maria Hill as a part of the Avengers. Though I really, really wish that the Falcon could've gotten more than one appearance during the party... why didn't he stay?
• And on that note, I loved the bit at the end implying that the Avengers will now include the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and War Machine. 
• I did like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, too... but more on them later. 
• And Dr. Helen Cho. I loved her, and I'm so glad she's not dead. Hopefully she'll be in later installments, because she was great and somewhat-underutilised character. 
• The fact that the Avengers were desperately trying to save civilian lives was a fantastic touch; a good counterbalance to the obvious death and destruction that was all around. 
• And I enjoyed seeing Hawkeye's family... but again, more on that later. 

Age of Ultron: The Bad

• I liked Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, I really did. They were fun to watch and they were pretty well characterized. But... I don't feel that they were as well done as they could have been.
  For one thing, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were Jewish and Romani in the comics. That doesn't seem to have carried over to the movie universe; there was nothing that might have indicated that they were anything other than Eastern European and white. (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the actors in these roles, are both white, though Taylor-Johnson is, apparently, Jewish.) 
• I'm still mad about the apparent erasure of Hawkeye's deafness. In the comics he is (was? I'm pretty sure he is) 80% deaf. In the movies, nope, apparently he's 100% able-bodied and able to hear. And that irks me. The reveal that he does have a family, that he's got this sort of other life... that could've been the perfect place to show him practicing sign language with his kids, or something... anything. But no. There was nothing, and at this point, this far into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I'm starting to resign myself to the fact that we aren't going to get 80% deaf Clint Barton. 
• Okay, this point right here is long and complicated and somewhat spoilery, so if you feel like skipping it... actually, don't skip it, because I think this is important.
  Awhile back I did a review of Bramblestar's Storm, one of the more recent installments in the Warriors series. If you've read that review, you'll remember that I was quite disgruntled about the reveal that Squirrelflight really can have kits.
  Well, I never thought that I would see the same problem in a Marvel movie and a Warriors book, but there it is and here we are.
  You see, in this movie there's a blossoming subplot that details a romance between Natasha Romanov (Black Widow) and Bruce Banner (the Hulk, obviously). In one of their scenes, Banner mentions that he wouldn't be able to father children if they were married. Natasha then reveals (in conjunction with a memory/flashback she had earlier) that she was forcibly sterilized as part of her training--that she physically cannot have children, either. She then asks Bruce, "Still think you're the only monster on the team?"--implying that she is a monster... because she can't have children.
  I don't like the implications here.
  Watching the scene, I got the feeling that Natasha Romanov has seen herself as monster for a long time; because of all that she's gone through and all that she's done. But the highlight in this scene--and, indeed, in her flashback--was the sterilization. In this scene, there is a very real implication that because she cannot have children, Natasha considers herself a monster.
  And I don't like that.
  As I stated in the Bramblestar's Storm review, there are women all over the world who can't have children, for one reason or another. Not only is this insulting and dismissive towards them, it's basically saying that real women who have been forcibly sterilized are, if not monsters, then something unnatural. That's not right. And while Age of Ultron doesn't outright equate children with a happy, loving marriage (the way Bramblestar's Storm did), the implications behind this scene are not good. 
• I kind of feel that Helen Cho was shoved aside and not allowed to play a huge part in the plot. Don't get me wrong; I was thrilled with her character, and honestly she had a bigger role to play than I thought she would. But then she was brainwashed by Ultron. And (literally) shoved to the side so that he could head out and enact his plans. And wounded so she couldn't help the Avengers anymore. (On the one hand, I was so scared she would die, and I'm thrilled she didn't, but really. I'm seriously hoping she comes back and does more in later movies.)

***

Conclusion

I really, really liked Avengers: Age of Ultron, for all the reasons listed. It had action, it had humor (Maria Hill's "*cough*Testosterone*cough*" comment...), the plot was pretty good, Ultron was well characterized...

And yet. 

And yet Wanda and Pietro Maximoff had their race (apparently) changed, for no reason that I can see. And yet Joss Whedon (the writer of this film) is still ignoring Hawkeye's disability. And yet Helen Cho was pushed to the side to make room for Ultron and Vision and Thor and Quicksilver's death. And yet Natasha is called--calls herself--a monster for having been sterilized. 

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a good movie--maybe even a great one, in terms of entertainment value and fun. But it had its flaws. And for those, I give it three and a half stars out of five. 

I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I really do. And for that reason, I hope that the movies will only improve from here. For they have their flaws and their failings. But then--as the Vision tells Ultron in the film--perhaps there is grace in their failings. For that, I can always hope.