+ Characters
+ Amazing writing and directing
+ No super hero felt overdone
The Bad
- Um... it ended...
Spoiler Danger
No spoilers
You know what's amazing? Opening night at the movies. Especially super hero movies. Lately, at least in my opinion, the super hero movie genre has become one of the most consistent and entertaining movie genres existence. The movies are usually entertaining, and sometimes they are downright great. Opening night at a super hero movie is also an amazing experience. I'm not generally one for crowds, but I love the energy that comes with going to a highly anticipated movie that actually delivers. I haven't done it since Inception, but The Avengers made up for all my time away, as this movie delivers in spades.
To back up a second, I'd like to take a moment to really give props to Marvel for their vision in creating their movie franchises. Marvel has spent the last several years whetting our appetites for The Avengers, dropping in hints and little post-credit scenes such that even from the earliest teasers, we knew what was on the horizon, and we slavered for it. Marvel played the game patiently, giving us numerous movies that introduced the characters before finally, finally giving the reins to Joss Whedon to create The Avengers. And, boy, did he deliver.
I was a bit skeptical going into the movie. Sure, I doled out a ridiculous sum of money to see the movie in IMAX 3D, just based on my enjoyment of the previous movies in Marvel's franchises, but I had some seemingly legitimate concerns. First and foremost, I thought that the movie would end up being Iron Man 3. Don't get me wrong, the Iron Man franchise is highly entertaining, but the second movie left me feeling like they'd already explored the entirety of Tony Stark's character. I've also never been a huge fan of The Hulk, and the Captain America movie was merely entertaining without being great.
Then I remembered who wrote and directed it...
I am so incredibly happy that despite the fact that he can't keep his amazing shows on the air longer than it takes me to sneeze, Joss Whedon writes and directs some truly amazing things. Firefly is still one of my favorite Sci Fi series, and the follow up movie Serenity easily put most Star Trek movie spinoffs to shame. I hear good things about Dollhouse, though I have never gotten to watching it. The man's resume is chock full of brilliance, and after this movie, I don't think there's much more room for doubt.
Now, then, can we have more of his TV shows? Please and thank you.
The Avengers delivers in every single way I can think a movie can deliver. It's got a great cast of characters, it's got action and more action, it's got a conspiracy, and it's got Samuel L. mother-fucking Jackson. What more do you need?
Let's face it, Robert Downey, Jr. and Sam Jackson have more charisma between the two of them than any 5 other characters put together. However, all the actors did a great job of being identifiable and making sure they were not outshone by the two really giant talents. Chris Evans, in particular, had an especially large number of scenes with Downey, Jr. and not once did I get the sense of him being overwhelmed; he did a great job. I was very surprised by how much I cared about the Black Widow/Hawkeye story, and I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised by Jeremy Renner breaking the "always the bad guy" mold I know him for - though it seems that sticking him in a sleeveless shirt is a requirement of casting him.
Mark Ruffalo was just absurdly great as Bruce Banner. Like I mentioned before, I've never been the biggest Hulk fan, but I'll be damned if this wasn't the closest I've gotten to becoming one. He had the single best scene in the entire movie, which also happened to be the funniest. You'll know it when you see it.
A lot of reviews have been praising The Hulk as the breakout character of this movie, and I'd be tempted to agree with them, but I personally think that honor goes to the Cap'n. As I mentioned before, Chris Evans nailed this one, and I think he was able to take the character far above where the character was left at the end of the solo movie. And he plays off Downey, Jr. really well too.
You know who else was awesome? Tom Hiddleston. Let me explain. I'm a classic case of the dude that usually roots for the bad guys. Yeah, that's me. I like well-executed plans, I love characters that can think numerous steps ahead, and let's face it, the bad guys tend to be more diverse and fully developed as characters than their more law abiding counterparts. There are exceptions - Sipder-man, Sherlock Holmes, Detective Bobby Goren, etc. - but these are simply the exceptions that prove my point. The first person to argue with me gets a face full of Joker from The Dark Knight. I rest my case.
Anyway, I find Hiddleston's Loki to be positively repulsive. He is probably the most perfectly realized bad guy in Marvel's lineup at this point. Coming out of Thor for the first time, it wasn't Thor that stuck with me, it wasn't even Natalie Portman, it was Loki and Hiddleston's just despicable (in a good way) depiction of him. Here's a villain with no redeeming qualities - his motives are power and a need for vengeance borne of jealousy, he has very little power of his own, and he plays the most twisted mind games with people. There's very little you can't hate about this guy. Sign me up for any future movies casting him as the villanous Loki.
Oh, and the more long term readers of this blog should know that I think Stellan Skarsgard adds so much to any movie he's in, even if his role is more limited than it could have been.
Furthermore - Cobie f'n Smulders!!!!
All these characters come together over some just fantastic writing to make this movie just rock. The dialogue is just wonderful. Whedon, as the writer, gives the audience enough to keep up to speed, but he's also not afraid to show us several things early in the movie that have no relevance until later, trusting that we'll remember things that happened previously and be able to connect the dots ourselves. The story was also written in such a way that each character had his or her own shining moments, which did a lot to alleviate my earlier concerns about Iron Man stealing the show.
Granted, a high percentage of the best lines came from him, but still, even he couldn't top Hulk's crowning moment.
Speaking of hilarious, stick around until the credits are over. There are actually two easter eggs, one during the credits, one at the very, very end of them. Trust me, it's worth the wait.
Finally, the action! What would any super hero movie be without some gorgeous action? The Avengers packs plenty of action into its almost 2.5 hour frame, and the action is gorgeous. The action scenes in this movie - particularly the gloriously long climactic battle - had this very engaging back and forth mechanic. Typically in action movies, the bad guys will kick the good guys around for a while, then the good guys will come back, and the movie will end. Not so in The Avengers. There was a great rhythm to the fighting. Bad guys will win for a while, then the good guys come back, and then the bad guys come back over the top, then another Avenger joins the fight, and then... and it goes back and forth like this, and this pacing made the long action pieces really much more enjoyable. Whedon seems to have an acute sense of when the action might start to become overbearing, and he'll throw in a quick bit of humor or dialog before proceeding with the explosions. I'll also admit to having a few geek out moments when the various super heroes grouped up to tag team enemies. It felt like a combination between Ultimate Alliance and awesomesauce.
As you can see, not a lot of bad things to say about the movie. The Avengers is more laugh worthy than most comedies, more action-packed than a Die Hard flick, and more fun than most movies period.
More to the point, though, The Avengers really is Marvel's crowning achievement.
Score: 10/10
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