THE AVENGERS Movie Review
By: RAMA
Wow! Just Wow! I guess if you look up the word ‘awesome’ in the dictionary now, you can find the picture of THE AVENGERS, if it ain’t there, it should be. Who would’ve thought that this unprecedented endeavor could not only be possible but it’s also successful in every way, my goodness, if you don’t geek out at every scene in this film, then there is something emotionally and medically wrong with you.
Many of us wish that our childhood dream could someday turn into reality, somewhere along the way either our dreams change or we change but I can only imagine the big smile on Marvel’s head honcho Kevin Feige’s face, knowing that what he’s always wanted to see when he was a kid, is finally realized on the big screen, spectacularly I might add.
THE AVENGERS is the ultimate superhero movie, Marvel has now officially given DC-WB a run for their money. Earth’s mightiest heroes have assembled and they’re mightier than life itself. Congratulations to director/screenwriter Joss Whedon for showing us that juggling 8 characters, played by A-list superstars, is possible when you find the perfect balance..
Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures “Marvel’s The Avengers”–the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel’s The Avengers” assemble in summer 2012. In “Marvel’s The Avengers,” superheroes team up to pull the world back from the brink of disaster when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.
There are so many reasons to love this movie, one of the big things is, besides the spectacle and the amazing sets and incredible visual effects, I really enjoy how simple and at the same time not so simple the core of it all is and by that I mean, you have a bad guy who wants to take over the world, he obtains this limitless power called cosmic cube and he’s got himself an alien army, and on the other hand you have a bunch of superheroes and so half of the movie all the way through the end is just about them beating each other up and you’d see buildings destroyed left and right, but.. there are also relationship dynamics going on, not just between the superheroes but also between the superheroes and the bad guy, in this case, represented by Loki. I mentioned perfect balance earlier, and that is where Joss Whedon, as the director of this ambitious project, wins. Every character gets a fair screen time and a day in the sun, each of them has arcs, and even though there are only about four of them who’ve had individual franchises, the story, by Zak Penn and Whedon, draws you into liking the new characters as well, and because Marvel played it smart by connecting its previous films through post-credit scenes and cameos and the build up, that sense of familiarity is already established, despite them being new or additional members.
I admit, I had my doubts when Marvel hired Whedon to direct THE AVENGERS, but I forgot that one of my favorite series and one of my favorite movies of all time were created by Whedon, Firefly and Serenity are essentially ensemble, the difference is that THE AVENGERS cast consists of bigger names with more star power.
Robert Downey Jr. has been adored by the world as Tony Stark, Downey plays Stark’s humor and confidence like a natural. I personally think Stark in THE AVENGERS is even 10 times funnier than he was in both previous Iron Man movies combined. You always want to hear whatever Tony Stark would say next and Downey’s charisma and talent are big part of that.
Stark now knows that he can’t handle everything on his own, but there’s still that pride and his tendency to joke around until reality bites and it finally hits him how much he needs this team and how much he needs this team to work.
Chris Evans is back as Captain America, one of my favorite because Cap does good solely for the sake of good, he doesn’t do it to impress a girl or to get fame, fortune, and glory, that kind of personality is rare these days. His dilemma is that he finds himself in modern time, he’s still the same person, he’s still got the same principles but the world he knew was gone, and the present world, with all its technology, is a stranger to him, there’s also that question of whether or not he’s relevant but what the movie shows us is that he is and that his help or contribution is even needed now more than ever because he’s the kind of guy you’d easily look up to in admiration.
Scarlett Johansson returns as Black Widow and thank God that Whedon wrote the character so that she gets to speak Russian and actually does more in THE AVENGERS because the Black Widow that Johansson played in Iron Man 2 was neither satisfying nor purposeful.
Jeremy Renner is one of the newbies, as Hawkeye, many die hard AVENGERS fans know Hawkeye as the kind of guy who does his own thing but he’ll help out when the team needs him. Renner is composed and determined.
Mark Ruffalo is now one of the many names who’ve had the honor of playing Bruce Banner and I love how Ruffalo’s banner is kinda like Bill Bixby who played Banner in my favorite series when I was a kid, The Incredible Hulk. You find Banner in an environment where he helps people and that’s how he channels his Hulk as well, you’ll see in this movie that he’s gotten to the point where he embraces Hulk and his anger. By the way, this new Hulk, which bears Ruffalo’s likeness, is not to be ignored, he smashes like it’s nobody’s business, he steals every scene he’s in.
Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston reprise their roles as the brothers that clash, Thor and Loki, respectively.
Hemsworth’s physique is built like a nordic god, Thor continues to convince his brother to return from his ways but Loki is too far gone, beyond saving, he’s chosen his path and there’s no turning back. Hiddleston is a remarkable character actor, even with those two antlers, which could easily be a laughing stock for those who may not have grown up reading THOR comic books, Hiddleston provides a very complex, tortured, and yet commanding villain that’s absolutely power-hungry.
THE AVENGERS allows the fans to get to know SHIELD better this time around, they’re not just shadows in cameos and post-credit scenes any longer, they’ve become integral part of the story, you get to see helicarrier and its ridiculous resources as far as weaponry and technology are concerned. Led by Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, with the help of Agent Maria Hill (Coby Smulders) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), they have the difficult task of selling the concept of Avengers initiative to these superheroes and getting them to work together, the same difficult task that Whedon must’ve been tackling.
It is no secret that many fans wonder how Marvel is going to pull this off because you deal with so many characters and they’re played by superstars but what Whedon and Feige have managed to do is craft this stand alone movie that caters to both fans of the comic books and fans who just enjoy Marvel movies. But the stand-alone part doesn’t shy away from the characters’ past problems, presented in very brief flashbacks. All of them have strong, stubborn, opinionated personalities, they all have struggles and when they collide, the arguments get louder and nastier by the minute, which is why audiences will find it easy to relate to or connect with them. Cap vs. Stark, Black Widow vs. Hulk, Hulk Vs. Thor, Hawkeye vs. Black Widow, Loki Vs. Hulk, Loki Vs. Thor, Thor Vs. Iron Man Vs. Cap, the movie keeps giving you one competition or one fight after another and ..even if you don’t care much about the motivation behind those fights, you’d still geek out because the idea of watching Iron Man and Thor battling it out on the big screen is just awesome.
Whedon has brought us a movie that excites our need for rock ‘em sock ‘em action.
One of the things I like about it is how the action is done much in a similar way that it’s done in the animated series, it’s set in a highly populated major city but give it a few minutes and the crowd would go missing, and what’s left are Loki and his army against THE AVENGERS, the city suddenly becomes both their playground and their battlefield.
I think ultimately what makes THE AVENGERS successful is that all the formulas and the elements work. You have a great cast, you have talentes behind-the-camera like cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and VFX master Janek Sirrs, the right blend of action and humor, not one overpowers the other, there’s never a dull moment, every minute is nothing short of entertaining, it’s like the stars are aligned for this one and the timing could not be more right. This movie is just so much fun, I want to stay on AVENGERS high and never go back down.
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