Marvel's The Avengers Reviewed

Kate says I wasn't disappointed!

That may be a terrible way to start a review, but in this case--considering all the hype (and the fact that this is the first movie in over 10 years I've seen on an opening weekend, let alone the opening day!)--it is entirely appropriate.

In fact, I got caught up in the film. Every now and again, I remembered, Hey, I'm going to review this later, but mostly, I was just interested in what would happen next. That to me is the mark of a good film, if not necessarily a great one.

Is this a great film? I honestly don't know yet, but it is worth the price of admission. AND it is a film you want to see on the big screen. Whedon is really more of a TV guy--despite his forays into films--so I was a little cautious going in regarding how the film would look visually. However, he absolutely delivers that big-screen imagery and feel. Despite the film's quieter moments, it definitely screams "theater experience."

The introduction of the characters is impressively seamless. The characters are introduced from within the storyline. This is a surprisingly difficult and surprisingly efficient way to make a story work: the characters discover things at the same time as the audience. By approaching the characters in this way, Joss Whedon and Zak Penn managed to keep from overloading the script with information (I suspect that extra information for Marvel fans may show up visually throughout the movie).

As a result, the story is neat, almost simple in its design. There are three main sections: introduction of villain and heroes, adventures on board the ship, adventures in New York City.

I was impressed at how quickly the villain/problem was introduced. Tom Hiddleston, by the way, makes a GREAT villain. Actually, he pretty much saves the film. If the villains had been the somewhat cheesy aliens, the movie would be fun but a long-term flop. Hiddleston--and the heroes' reactions to Hiddleston--"keep it real." Hiddleston as Loki makes the team matter; since Loki is the antithesis of a "guy who works well with others," thematically, the Avengers had to come together to beat him.

As he did in Thor (but less), Hiddleston manages to convey a faint ambiguity to Loki's actions, particularly in his scene with the Black Widow. It is less apparent in his scenes with Thor, which brings us to one of the minor . . . "flaws" hardly seems a fair term, considering what the film had to do in the time available . . . "lacks" of the movie: Thor's and Captain America's psychologies are much less lightly delved into while Black Widow's, Hawkeye's, and the Hulk's psychologies are delved into far more. This is not automatically a flaw since the psychologies of Black Widow and Hawkeye give the movie a human core that speaks instantly to the audience's empathy (I get to the Hulk further down). However, for those of us who admire the movies Thor and Captain America, more psychological exploration of those characters would have been nice, if not practically possible.

Tony Stark just goes on being Tony Stark.

As for the Hulk, I adore Mark Ruffalo, and I doubly adore him as the Hulk. I was not invested in Edward Norton's Hulk at all. I was totally invested in Ruffalo's Hulk. I cared about the character to the point where, hey, I'd see another Hulk movie (with Ruffalo)! I appreciated his humor, his deadpan comments, and his scientific knowledge.

Which brings us to: What kind of movie is this? Me, I think it is Apollo 13 meets a war-buddies movie. I especially felt that way when Stark, Banner, and Rogers talk in the lab. The whole men-talking-about-gadgets-while-sort-of-addressing-emotions thing really works. I believed in the basic ability of these men to get along at the same time I believed in the ego, pride, misunderstanding, or wariness that might keep them apart.

It would have been nice to see more of Thor in those scenes. But again, this project is so huge, the straightforward, non-convoluted storytelling of the movie is quite impressive. This is an Impressionist painting, not a Pre-Raphaelite one. It is brush-strokes, not tell-the-audience-everything. The fact that it works at all without coming across as shallow or too simplistic is a rather enormous feat.

I give it 9.1 out of 10 (today; this may fluctuate).

I did totally love the whole experience. The problem is, now I'm anxious for the movie to come out on DVD, so I can watch the commentary and the movie with subtitles on!

Mike says Wow. Seriously . . . Wow. I have been looking forward to this movie very since I first heard the rumblings on the Internet some five years ago, and despite some small imperfections, The Avengers was every bit the movie I was hoping for.

As I have previously mentioned, Joss Whedon is a personal hero (and sometime personal deity), and today, he has yet again proven himself worthy of that. When I first heard Whedon's name in connection with the project, I rolled my eyes, remembered the failed Wonder Woman movie, and moved on to thinking Avengers would never happen. Not because I didn't want it to or because I thought Whedon was unworthy of the task. Rather, he was so perfect for it, fate would never allow it to come to pass.

But, as has been proven before, you can't stop the Signal (for the uninformed, that was a Serenity reference).

The trouble with the Signal, though, is that it was so powerful this time around, I got a little TOO excited. So excited, in fact, that for the first fifteen minutes of the movie I sat there waiting to be amazed. By the time the title card showed, my brain seemed to kick in and say, "No no no, the amazing stuff is AFTER all the required stuff." To which I replied "Good thinking, brain! Let's sit back and watch us a movie!"

Because of my over-excitement, the first section of the movie seemed to drag; even the dialog during this section, while very Whedon, seemed forced and overly serious.

Introducing Loki right away was a good call--I was excited, as the film is practically a Thor sequel! The opening scene is good, though awkward. Once the search for the heroes began, however, the movie seemed to find its voice and just got stronger as the movie progressed.

As always, Whedon's dialog is really where the meat of the film lies. I loved how the characters worked out the exposition, so the dialog never felt heavy-handed. Although some people mind not knowing exactly how Thor got to earth, Loki's line about Thor getting there due to the Allfather was enough for me. That one-line piece of dialog handled the problem simply and elegantly.

All of the exposition in the film is handled much the same way--simply and in a normal, non-commercial voice (Well, Dad, I got it at K-Mart, the home of great prices!).

The film could have easily gotten lost dealing with extra things, such as how exactly Thor returned, but instead relies on simple explanations and the audience to fill in the gaps. What has Tony been up to since Iron Man 2? Well, building a tower and kissing Pepper, what else? Simple and easy.

One possible snag the movie faced, which I foresaw in Iron Man, was making Jarvis entirely electronic. Jarvis in the comics is the butler of Avengers Mansion. In the comics, Captain America really connects with him, since they're from the same generation. But in the movies, he's no longer there to introduce Cap to the modern world. Instead, the film uses Coulson which is admittedly brilliant. Making Coulson a fan, plus his status as official Marvel Cinematic Universe Greeter (think the old guys at Walmart), makes him the perfect person for Cap to make a connection with.

In fact, most of the characters are used just as well; although the movie is loyal to their origins, it also plays off their strengths in unique ways. For example, Hawkeye is never used in quite the same way in the comics as he is in the movie, as a character who observes things from above. The way he is used in Avengers is very cool since it fits with his basic personality, yet makes him far more useful!

Nick Fury's female assistant is the most underused character, but it is difficult to see how she could have been used more. Bringing in Captain America's modern love interest--Sharon Carter (the niece of the first film's Peggy)--as Fury's assistant would have just complicated the movie, forcing out the important team-building stuff.

I was impressed with how much the writers were able to squeeze into the movie without it feeling bloated; the movie is so packed, there wasn't even room for cameos of other heroes. There are some storyline references, such as the Black Widow's background, along with some great comic references, which make the comic fans such as myself crazy happy.

I gotta mention: finally, a take on the Hulk that freakin' works! The last few movies tried to capture the lonely-man-on-the-run aspect of the TV show. But the films really needed to move away from that. This is a new Hulk, a new generation, and even though the TV series was great, the film version really needed to find its own unique voice. Avengers focuses more on Hulk dealing with the inner beast while the previous movies were overly somber, and moody. The Hulk in Avengers is FUN! As my friend that I saw the film with said, the Hulk shaking Loki is like a "puppy with a chew toy." That's the way he should be! You won't see this Hulk dealing with emotional turmoil . . . that's BANNER'S job: this Hulk, he gets to throw the tantrum.

As I've said before, every guy should "get" the Hulk, at least on a very simple level. Every single little boy on the planet has pretended to be the Hulk at least once. But it wasn't to deal with deep emotional scars like Ang Lee and Ed Norton might suggest; rather, every kid just wants to BREAK STUFF! The Hulk is just a toddler on a mean streak: "You made me mad, now you pay!"

This is paid off extremely well in the final confrontation between the Hulk and Loki. Everyone else tries to reason with Loki, to the point that Loki is ready for a battle of words. But it doesn't work on the Hulk! The Hulk has no inhibitions or social skills: "Shiny Man talk too much; I Smash him!"

The ending action sequence is amazing, especially once the group gets together. The smooth combination of Whedon's dialog and paced-out action really makes the film work. The fights are very clever and earned. The relationships are well-built. While the film does okay with the singular heroes, it soars when the ensemble is together--Whedon always does better when "the group" is assembled.

Once I got past my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. And I love that it left things open for a sequel without undermining what it did here and now! The film really succeeded in delivering exactly what it promised--a fun romp with characters we already know and love thrown together. Throw in a great soundtrack, great performances, and a solid script, and Avengers truly becomes something special.

*Spoilers:*

Mike and Kate agree that Coulson's death works. Whedon has a tendency to kill off characters in pointless ways to teach some kind of philosophical lesson. This case, thankfully, is an exception! Kate, who usually loathes TV/film deaths (99% of the time, they are cop-outs), didn't mind this one because (1) Coulson's death isn't futile; he goes down the way he would want to go; (2) it is an unprecedented and noble pay-off for a character that really just started as a minor G-man.

Mike points out that making Coulson the guy-to-die indicates how good a manipulator Whedon is as a writer. For the effect of Coulson's death on the superheroes to be believable, new viewers have to like him as well as the die-hard fans. The use of Pepper Potts here is inspired. She loves Agent Coulson; we love Agent Coulson!

Also, the crafty way Fury uses Coulson's "death" adds a very cool layer to the relationship of the superheroes with their handler (Fury) who himself is operating in opposition to other outside forces.

Not to forget Coulson's complete passing out isn't on-screen, leaving open the possibility that he isn't dead. He had to be dead for this movie (Tony's personal grief when learning of Coulson's death had to be real), but he can show up in another movie without playing havoc with continuity.