Ultimate Avengers

[Xuzaf D]

I kind of sucks. It takes an hour before there is any good action and the movie is only an hour and ten minutes. As for that good action, it really feels anti-climatic since the bad guys (a group of aliens) get wasted in a minute and the rest of the final battle sequence has the Avengers fighting the Hulk.

I can only guess the reason for the lengthy set up is because they wanted to make a line of these movies as the sequel is advertised in the special features. I'm not interested in seeing more though. It's  50-50 that the next movie is going to go through the same 1 part action and 6 part backstory formula.

[Darkmoon]

I had heard it was pretty bad.

[Destina Faroda]

Though so far from the actual comics it's laughable from a purist perspective, I actually thought this was one of the better animated action films, easily the best I've seen in a while.  Heck, did you even see the opening?  That's a brillant action squence there. There's a reason for the backstory.  You have a cast of about eight main characters to feature.  Without any set up there's be no reason for a casual viewer to even watch.

*SPOILERS*

The resolution I feel was appropriate for the tone of the movie.  After all the aliens, while potraying ruthlessness, aren't exactly the most interesting of villains.  I was gladly surprised that the Hulk was not only saved for last, but that he turned out to be the final adversary.  How many times in comic adaptations has the Hulk been shown not just to be potentially dangerous but an actual threat that cannot be assuaged?  I liked the multi-layered approach to the Banner/Hulk dynamic, and it was done without wasting dialogue.

[Xuzaf D]

Well, I think I'm going to have to argue on the set up area. I mean, why do we as the viewer have to meet everybody, and have a scene where everybody is introduced to each other back at the base? Then there's the first mission that they fail, that easily could have gone in place of the charactor ability demonstrations that we see before hand aswell. I think the only charactor moments that were needed were the Tony Stark (not the Iron Man) intro and the intro for Thor since he doesn't show up till the end. Why do we need to see Ant Man bat Iron Man out of the sky? Because it's cool or something?

Oh, and the Bruce Banner moments seemed really out of place. He doesn't have any real relevance for the first hour, so why go in to so much detail about his life's work?  The story also talks about how Hulk has already gone on a rampage, so it spoils any shock value from the final scene. It also sucks that the movie starts with Capn' and ends with the Hulk as more the main charactor.

[Destina Faroda]

The individual interactions are to show off their powers.  The introduction scene at the base is to show how they'll get along.  It would be hard to do both at the same time.  Remember that most of these characters aren't household names and putting them in an ensemble piece only antes the confusion factor.

Iron Man's intro was necessary to for two critical factors.  One to showcase the power of Iron Man and answer the obvious cartoon question of why no one can recognize Tony Hawk's voice when in that suit.  As for Giant Man and Iron Man, the physical  violence sets up the tension these two will experience.  If you just go in with their mission failure, then there's no context to the action at all.

Banner's placement in this film was critical.  First of all, other than Captain America, he's the only name that would certainly be familiar to a non-comic book geek audience.  Second, throughout the movie they're teasing whether the Hulk would end up emerging and saving the day.  Instead Hulk ends up being a danger than a hero.  Banner/Hulk also serves as the foil to Captain America.  It might not be original, but it's executed very well.  But it's just my opinion.

[Xuzaf D]

I'm pissed, but not at you. It turns out Ultimate Avengers will be on Toonami next week. I had the damn movie on my netflix list before it was even out and by the time it gets to me it's already on TV. Even if I enjoyed the movie this would suck. 

Anyway, I'm saying that certain points could have been boiled down a bit so that the plot could move faster. The introductions didn't even help my stepmother, who was completely lossed in the first 30 minutes she just stopped watching.

[Xuzaf D]

...It's on TV right now...

"This! [burps] And this! [burps again]"

...excellence at its best.