The Avengers (Again). Three Grabby Shots
Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 3:18PM The Avengers: Age of Ultron is nearing Spider-Man 3 levels of giving the game away before it opens. Which worries. Why the hard sell with a third trailer when you're going to break records even if you advertised with only the illustration of a turd -- and I don't mean the shitty poster, but an actual turd. This hard sell combined with the bleak tone of all the trailers (where's the fun of the megahit original?) combined with Joss Whedon calling the production "a nightmare" has me suddenly worried. Because, true story: I want it to be great. I love The Avengers (in comic and movie form). Yes, TFE complains about the glut of superhero movies but that doesn't mean they should've have a place in the movie ecosystem. They just shouldn't dominate it is all. They're dessert, not a balanced meal.
So at the risk of obvious spoilers (hey Marvel provided them not us) here are the three moments we must discuss...
We'll start with the superwomen because ACTRESSES. Is it too much to hope that The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) have a conversation in this movie so that The Avengers: Age of Ultron can pass The Bechdel Test? The Marvel movies do a horrible job of passing it. It's easy to pass but I think only Iron Man 3 does, right? All you need is an exchange between two named female characters that's not about a man for chrissakes. That's NOT too much to ask.
As for this image, the Witch is clearly possessing the Widow which would account for the heroes fighting each other in the trailer including the eagerly anticipating Hulk vs. Iron Man's Hulkbuster Armor. But wasn't this a plot point in the first film too with Hawkeye's eyes gone all possessy? Worrisome.
The second image is the trailer's money shot... already gif'ed and memed by the internet because it's so grabby what with all The Avengers leaping, biking, jumping or flying through the air to do battle. (Bet you anything that's our interviewee stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton in Thor costume right there!). Imagine layers they had to composite in the VFX department for that shot. I can't imagine the cost of just that one image. Anyway, it's the best "ripped straight from comic book page" big screen image ever... or at least since the merry go round money shot from the first team-up when we circled all the Avengers, assembled in the city rubble.
I think Ryan from Sorta That Guy says it best.
Still haven't seen the new Ultron trailer, but that gif of the Avengers all jumping in action I've seen. It's both RIDICULOUS and AWESOME.
— Ryan (@sortathatguy) March 5, 2015
Ridiculous and Awesome. That just about perfectly describes the appeal of superheroes, doesn't it?
P.S. We also got our first glimpse of The Vision (The computer Jarvis in humanoid form -- played by Paul Bettany. Hooray -- who will eventually fall in love with The Scarlet Witch if they stick to comic book mythology). See they're not holding anything back before release.
Reader Comments (12)
Thor: Dark World passes the test too :)
It's not exactly possessing her supposedly. And I didn't really see any spoilers. I don't really know what you would consider "giving everything away".
Paco -- i just mean, we know approximately what each action scene will look like, which characters will fight with each other, how (possibly) the fights with each other will come about, who the villain and his henchmen are, where the action takes place, that captain america's shield is lost once and broken another time... i just feel like two many beats have already been spoiled and i love being surprised in the theater.
sati -- good to know.
Oh yeah I agree, and I think that's a problem with most movie trailers nowadays, where they have to advertise the set pieces to get butts in seats. But I have so much hope in Marvel that they have stuff that's going to be surprising. Considering how surprised I was with the whole Hydra thing in Captain America last year. Anyways, I'm still so excited.
I actually think both Thor films pass the The Bechdel Test. Anyway, I admire Disney for putting the effort into a third trailer. Sure, the film will make money but you can't just assume that all the people you want to show up will. Hell, some would say Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I lost out on more money because it didn't put a lot of effort into the marketing. As for the trailer showing too much; I can't necessarily disagree with that but I'm not too bothered by it as I don't know HOW it all fits together (which is the most important thing).
Added Note: I'm glad the tone for this film is darker. I just hope it's more character/story-centric as well (which was the biggest weakness of the first film... not that I didn't enjoy it).
It gets me excited to see a Marvel movie. That's an accomplishment.
Looks like another horde of disposable CGI bad guys again.... Maybe I missed the plot.
Elizabeth Olsen is just so intriguing... great casting.
Oh wow. Hey, my tweet. Weird to see yourself in a post of a film blog you read daily. :)
ANYWAYS, I'm not "worried" yet. But they do seem to be trying TOO hard to advertise this film. I guess it's just par for the course. They did make ALL that $$$ with the first film. So what's another $100mil for promoting the sequel?
Definitely still think that's a damn cool shot though.
That's it. The Scarlet Witch will be my Comic-Con costume this year. I'm already in love with Paul Bettany.
"we know approximately what each action scene will look like"
Let's be honest. Didn't we kind of know that already before they released any footage? All the Marvel movies (fun as they can be) pretty much look the same. The only action scene that stands out is the elevator battle from the second Captain America movie.
I actually feel like they've been holding back. There's still a helluva lot we haven't seen. They've barely shown anything of the new characters except for Ultron.