The Avengers (2012) Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlet Johannson, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Hiddleston
I never thought this day would come. I can remember being a young child and hoping I would see live action versions of my favorite heroes…The X-men, The Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America…it all seemed like a fantasy. Little did I know that years later all of these hero films would become a reality. While all of their incarnations may not have been classics, they were brought to life none the less. If someone told me that in 2012 we would be seeing the ultimate marvel-team up movie, I would have laughed in their face. Now I am sitting here trying to wrap my brain around what I just witnessed. My entire childhood wrapped into 2 hours and 35 minutes. The film I am referring to is of course “The Avengers”, which is being released nationwide in 2-D, and 3-D IMAX. The film collects all of the major Marvel Film Stars (aside from War Machine’s unexcused absence). Robert Downey Jr. returns as the very charismatic Tony Stark (Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor, Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, Chris Evans returns as Captain America (not his human torch alternate personality), Scarlett Johansson returns as The Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, and Jeremy Rinner as Hawkeye. That is quite the all-star list if you ask me. One cast member that I believe deserves the most credit is Tim Hiddleston as the unstoppable mega villain LOKI! Now I am going to try my absolute best to avoid any spoilers, I will be giving away some basic storyline elements but to be honest you probably picked up that much from the trailers.
The conflict begins when Loki, who survived at the end of Thor, is shown making a deal with an alien race called The Chitauri. The deal involves him leading an army through a portal connected to Earth and ultimately conquering it. This idea is threatening enough that Nick Fury calls upon The Avenger plan and organizes an elite group of super heroes. The film takes it’s time catching up with each member of the team. We see that Tony Stark has just finished building Stark Tower (which is involved in the comic books quite a bit), Captain America is still adjusting to his new time, Hawkeye is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Black Widow, and Bruce Banner is off in a third world country helping others with his doctor talents, keeping the beast at bay. After Loki makes his presence known on earth, Nick Fury races to assemble the team. The film really kicks off the action fairly quickly as we see Loki go at it with a few of the Avengers, and there is some cool Hero vs. Hero sequences that I don’t want to spoil. The Hero vs. Hero scenes get quite heated and interesting. As an audience member I almost found myself begging these guys to get their acts together so they could function better as a team. The fact that I felt such emotion so soon into the film is proof that Joss Whedon definitely knew what he was doing with this film.
Most of the film is spent on the conflict between Loki and The group, but we do get a few moments of background story on Black Widow and Hawkeye. One character I was particularly pleased with was Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. I was not impressed with the casting choice at first because Ruffalo hasn’t really done any films other than “Blindness” that I really cared for. I am happy to admit I was very wrong and he does a fantastic job with The Hulk character. Ruffalo makes the audience feel true sympathy for the Bruce Banner character. Many think it would be wonderful to have the strength and power of The Hulk, but for Bruce it is a true nightmare and he makes that very clear. There is even a slightly tear jerking moment where Bruce discusses his unhappiness with the group. The Hulk character was done perfectly. One worry I had was that there would simply be too many characters and they would suffer as a result, but Whedon does a great job juggling all of these characters at once. The team is constantly at odds and playing off one another and it comes off quite natural. Robert Downey Jr. definitely shines as Tony Stark and is the most charismatic and comfortable character on screen. It’s evident that he is the best actor when he is in the room with the whole team, talking circles around them. There are so many little jokes here and there between the team members; I can’t even start listing them. You really have to see it for yourself. Chris Evans as Captain America is quite fun. He sticks to the choir boy persona and stays true to all the things that Captain America stands for. There is a part in the movie in which Thor and Captain America exchange remarks about God and Captain says something along the lines of “well I only believe in One God and he isn’t like you and your brother”. I’m of course paraphrasing but it was quite the odd thing for him to say. There is also a moment where Stark is poking fun at Banner and asking him what his key to calmness is and he suggests that he may have a big bag of weed on him! So the jokes are definitely in there, and make for great banter between action sequences.
While there is a lot of humor, there are also some tense moments that had underlying themes I felt like. There is some references to the earth being in trouble because we need a renewable energy source (which is true), there is a remark Loki makes about humans spending a lot of time killing each other (which is true), and the one comment I thought was quite chilling; an alien says that “humans cannot be ruled because they are unruly”. These kinds of remarks added a layer of reality to the film and made me reflect a bit on human characteristics. Hawkeye as a character was just kind of there, I felt like he had a cool gimmick but I really didn’t care for the character. Hawkeye’s S.H.I.E.L.D. counterpart however ,The Black Widow (Johannson) really impressed me. Not only does she ooze sex appeal the entire time, but she whoops so much ass, you will have to appreciate her character. Although if you want to get technical, it doesn’t make much sense seeing as she has average fire power and no super powers, but she can move like Spider-man and she proves to be a valuable part of the team. One last cast member I want to talk about is Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, whom you may remember from all of the previous marvel films. This character really becomes quite likeable and has quite a few lines that will give you a chuckle. I enjoyed that character in this film more than I did the other appearances. So if you are looking for quality characters, this film has definitely got it.
Now let’s talk about what everybody came to the party for, the action! The action sequences in this film are absolutely breathtaking. I’m often left unfulfilled with the final fights in Marvel films. Too often is it just a few moves and boom it’s over within a minute. This is not the case with The Avengers. It’s as if all the Marvel films leading up to this were prequels and they were saving the fighting for this installment. If you want destruction, you got it, if you want crazy superpower battles, you got it, if you want beautiful C.G.I. and not Indiana Jones aliens, you got it. The Avengers delivers in every aspect. The fight scenes will leave you on the edge of your seat! I don’t often say things out loud during a film but I found myself yelling “Oh No!” and “Yeah!” quite a few times. It really had me fully immersed in the Marvel Universe.
I really hope all the comic book fans check this film out in theaters. It is really one of those movies you have to see in a theater setting first, so don’t hold off for Redbox, get your ass in the car, shill out the 7 bucks for a matinee showing, and enjoy yourself. If you grew up a fan of any of these characters, or if you are a new comic book fan, or even a casual action film fan, you will enjoy this movie. I said it before and I will say it again, this is the PERFECT super hero film. Without a doubt, The Avengers is a must-see.
No comments:
Post a Comment