I saw the Avengers twice this weekend. I knew I would, because even if the movie were not so good, I wanted Joss Whedon to get the credit he deserved, even if the credit was purely financial in this particular vehicle (forget you Michael Bay!).
However, I was right in having nothing to fear. And both of the credit endings were the epitome of my hopes and expectations of what I could expected in Whedon, Marvel, and super hero movies alike. In fact the consumption of Swarma was the entire reason that the States had a later release than the rest of the world!
This review will contain spoilers. I will try my best to cut them or hide them behind a color to be highlighted. But this is my first Blogger post.
On to the review
From the start we learn that the fight will be fought not merely on our world and its dimension. But the opposition is from another corner of the universe entirely. This is only news if you have not kept up with the Marvel films preceding this. NOTE: Do NOT confuse those with Fox’s ultra-bastardized-X-Men-franchise/money-maker, or Sony’s sloppy Spider-Man—who, thank God, is back in Marvel’s hands.
The opening shot of Nick “Bad-A$$ Mutha’ F**ka’” Fury (played by Samuel L. “Bad-A$$ Mutha’ F**kin’” Jackson) was to me a big sign of the adventures in store! I knew I was in for a ride! This was followed by Hawkeye’s (played by the “new” Jason Bourne: Jeremy Renner) spinning glide-down from his rope after he had been watching from a far
Right away VERY BIG THINGS are happening!
The Tesseract or, in comics, the Cosmic Cube (the shiny inter-dimension-opening cube that reminds me of how I envisioned the Andalite Escafil Device) which we have seen high-lighted most strongly in Thor, is acting up like a K-Mart blue light special on crack.
Just as Fury begins to investigate with Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) the Cosmic Cu…I mean—the Tesseract bursts in blue and opens a gateway where the Norse god of mischief Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) bursts through in a hostile way. People shoot, Loki scepters, and he takes the Tesseract. Nick then calls on his Avengers initiative, bringing together Earth’s (and and Asgard’s) mightiest heroes…that are available to Marvel studios (seriously, I would like to again stress how important you NOT PAYING IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM—DVD or movie ticket—for any of Fox’s further outputs in the X-continent of the Marvel world are for some GREAT story-telling). And JUST SO you know, Deadpool should be brought to marvel cause of THANOS! I am just saying…look it up if you need to.
Anyway…
The movie unfolds with the gathering of our hero’s the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans…seen in Fantastic Four as Johnny “Human Torch” Storm, but smart-actor-guy left that horrible FOX franchise…Marvel needs to reboot!) and the loveable green giant (hey, it could help in getting your kids to eat vegetables) known as Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). We also get to see Maria Hill. A Spidey cameo would have been cherry, but alas, that must wait until summer (please Jesus: let there be an Avengers 2 tease after Spider man…he’s played with the gang).
Shortly after the finding of Cap, we are off on adventure to Sweden. Cap engages Loki, Iron Man helps out, and Loki…allows his capture. Odd, seeing as how he has the Tesseract Whilst on a plane ride to the good old US of A, suddenly its thunder and rainclouds. Loki looks a bit nervous, the only possible genuine emotion from him in the plane ride.
A rumble between Iron Man (the socs) and Thor (I think he’s the greaser here, as he has groovy hair *le sigh*) happens. Cap intervenes and Loki by stands.
While on the S.H.E.I.L.D. Helicarrier, Thor tells our team of Loki’s army known as the Chitauri awaiting a massacre of earth-kind. Jokes are made, things blow up, and Black Widow proves to be a real bad-a$$ in interrogation in getting Loki to be the sexist jerk he is, and spill the essential beans as to why he really is there: HULK!
Loki’s goons help him escape the Helicarrier leaving it nearly incapacitated. And then…the showdown starts. Everything culminates into a battle in New York, in an effort to make sure Loki’s aspirations for Earth domination are foiled because of his sheer arrogance really, and because he wasn’t really destined to win, but to test. He was there to test what would happen if earth went to war!
The main thing I LOVED about the Avengers was that it felt like a comic! Panel for panel the shots focused on centering on the characters. You know those “movie” comics, where they take stills and make it comic? This could be done easily with The Avengers. Normally, that would scare me, and make me fear for extreme cheesiness in execution. But it was done wonderfully. And, like the comics, there was humor! I cannot tell you how important that is…to me! Iron Man was snarky, Thor & Cap were ignorant much to my bliss, and Bruce Banner was self-deprecating…I am such a giddy fan girl for this movie!!!
Also, like the comic Avengers, all the characters were there. It wasn’t “Iron Man…and the Avengers” It was THE Avengers. This was my second greatest fear. But—and my “faith” in one human is frightening—Joss Whedon once again showed his aptitude for brining dynamic people/characters into one world.
I also enjoyed that it was not a “kids” nor and “adult” super hero movie, it was very balanced and recognized the familial audience attending, but it didn’t really dumb it down.
And as a woman, I loved that Scarlett Johansson stayed clothed! No lingerie shots, no extreme cleavage. Just a bad, butt-kicking woman!!! She’s gorgeous, and it shows! I also loved that she wasn’t “weaker” than the guys, and she was key! Loved her as Black Widow so much, that my husband is only allowed to fancy her in this movie :P
And, to my extreme delight: a proper portrayal of the Hulk! Edward Norton did a great job, but I was still reeling from Eric Bana and Ang Lee (I spit on your grave Ang Lee…when you die I mean) in that HORRIBLE interpretation. Mark Ruffalo is a perfect Banner, and the Hulk was back to the loveable-green-rage-a-holic I grew up liking!
Lastly:
THANOS! My brother had a freaking action figure of Thanos! I would call him “California Raisin Man” to tick of David…though I am sure he doesn’t remember. Anyway, the part that would be most exciting is also one of the saddest parts of the movie for me.
You see kids, Thanos is the reason Deadpool cannot die! It’s not merely regeneration!!! And guess who we WON’T see in the Next Avengers movie? Not only will we NOT see Wolverine (who personally, is my least favorite X-Man, but me, I like mash-ups…darn you Fox!!!). Anyway, long story short: Thanos, is in love with Death…not just “death you dead” but the grim reaper persona essentially. He shows his love for Death by destroying life. I doubt this is the story they will go into…but, it would be really nice. Romantic even LOL!
The other thing I hated was the CGI aliens. Not very believable at all! This almost killed the movie for me. I want to go back to Make up, and stop motion. CGI was anti-climatic for me.
But those are my only real complaints.
That’s it.
In the name of the moon, I give this movie a:
6 out of 7 stars – the missing star being the CGI flub…but that’s my opinion…we really need to catch up with cameras…