In my last article, I gave a preview of this year's summer
blockbusters, the first of which was The
Avengers, a film that Marvel studios has been building up to for years. The Avengers was an enormous project and
huge gamble on Marvel's part. So many different pieces had to come
together—from the writing to the acting to the marketing—for this project to be
successful. And it all hinged on this one film. And guess what? It worked - Beautifully!
Sure, there were a few bumps along the way (Thor and Iron Man 2 weren’t the
blockbuster hits or critical successes as they could have been), but The
Avengers was every bit the film it was supposed to be. Not only is The Avengers a worldwide phenomenon, but
it's an incredible movie. I realize, of course, that I am only one of millions
who have praised this film. Audiences and critics around the world love The Avengers. I say the more the
merrier. As far as I'm concerned, this
is the kind of movie that absolutely everyone (who is old enough) should see.
The Avengers is one of those rare action comedies where both the action and the
comedy are extremely well done, and incredibly well balanced. There’s a huge
battle at the end of the movie that takes place in New York, in which Black
Widow turns to Hawkeye and says, “This is like Budapest all over again, huh,”
to which he replies, “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”
The villain of this movie is Loki, Thor’s stepbrother, who
starts out the film by opening a portal into the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters from
his realm of Asgard, so that he can steal an immensely powerful object called
the Teseract. Loki threatens to subjugate humanity under his rule believing
that subservience is our “natural state.” Eventually, The Avengers are
assembled to try and stop him. Samuel L. Jackson plays SHIELD director Nick
Fury, who gathers Iron Man/Tony Stark, (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain
America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/The
Hulk, (Mark Ruffalo), and SHIELD agents Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett
Johansson), and Clint Baton/Hawkeye (Jeremy
Renner) on The Avengers own private airship which serves as the primary set
piece for the movie and where Loki willing gets taken prisoner (it’s all part
of his plan).The Avengers exchange some very funny and well written scenes of
dialogue where they try (and fail) to work together as a team. Screenwriter
Joss Whedon has a knack for witting ensemble pieces and this film is no
exception,. Whedon also directed the movie, and I was very impressed at how
well-put together the action scenes are. All the action is clearly shot: you
can tell who is doing what. The fights are also well paced and high energy. One of the best aspects of the film is that
while it is a two-and-a-half hour movie, it doesn’t really feel like it’s that
long while you’re watching it. The film is so engaging and high-energy t that
while there is a lot of movie, the events seem to fly by. On the negative side,
the film makes an effort to weave in essential exposition about plot and
characters that were first established in the Avengers tie-in films to better
make this a stand-alone film. For the most part, I’d say it’s successful at
hat. However, I would say the film takes too many elements from Thor to make at least that movie
recommended viewing for context. Granted, I was just more confused by having
seen that movie because Thor’s powers are supposed to me gone by the end. The
film tries to justify Thor’s presence and continued use of his powers in a quick
exchange between Thor and Loki, but it comes off as a bit forced. I might also
recommend Iron Man 2, since that was the introduction of Nick Fury and Black
Widow, and there was a lot of discussion of the Avengers Initiative. With this
kind of movies it always helps to at least be familiar with the source
material, but I think the Marvel movies have done a great job of condensing 60+
years of continuity and making it comprehendible to a wider audience. The
Avengers film didn’t need to delve into the back-story of the Chitauri the
alien warrior race that Loki convinces to fight for him. Al that matters to the
story is that the Chitauri take part in the invasion-of-New York fight scene at
the end of the film. In brief, this is a film for everyone. I saw it twice, and
that's really the best possible compliment I can give this film.
Colin V.
