Ever since 2008’s “Iron Man”, comic book fans have been
promised a team up of a group of Marvel’s most well-known superheroes in “The
Avengers”. Now, four years later, the
film is here, and it is one of the most hyped-up movies of the year. The question is, does it live up to that
hype?
Going into this film, I knew it had a huge potential to
fail miserably. I loved all of the
movies leading up to it, but I wasn't exactly sure how the more grounded-in-reality
Iron Man would work well with the demi-god Thor. This was also the first time a crossover like
this was going to be attempted in the film medium, and although it works well
in the comic book universe, I was unsure of how well it would translate onto
the silver screen.
All of my fears were put at ease from the opening
scene. “The Avengers” is up there with
the best that comic book movies have to offer, and is probably Marvel’s best
film to date. The writing, character
development, and action are all top notch.
Minus a few gripes, this film is damn near perfect, and everything I was
hoping for.
For those of you that don’t know (and have been living under
a rock these past four years), “The Avengers” stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron
Man/Tony Stark), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers),
and Chris Hemsworth (Thor). Jeremy Renner
plays Hawkeye, a minor character from “Thor”, and Scarlett Johansson returns as
Black Widow, who made her first appearance in “Iron Man 2”. Tom Hiddleston plays the villainous Loki, and
is much more menacing than his first appearance in “Thor”, where he was more of
a sympathetic villain. Samuel L. Jackson
returns as Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Clark Gregg is back as
Agent Coulson.
The movie begins with Loki talking to a mysterious Alien,
and leading an attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, prompting Nick Fury to
initiate the “Avengers Initiative”. The
film really shines here, in the beginning, when all of our heroes
are coming together and meeting for the first time. Joss Whedon, the writer and director, does a
superb job of crafting the character interactions and dialogue. At first, our heroes don’t get along (and
have some spectacular fight scenes), and definitely do not have a “team” dynamic
down. It is endlessly entertaining to
see the initial rivalry between Stark and Rogers, as it feels very
believable. These are two men that are
very different in their personalities and beliefs.
The dialogue also features some of the wittiest writing I
have witnessed in years. The film is
extremely comedic, but never to the point where it feels too cheesy or
campy. The humor works extremely well,
and never feels out of place. No
character delivers a dull line, and some of the earlier conversations are
absolutely hilarious.
Each character also gets their time to shine. From the trailers, I was afraid this was
going to be more of an “Iron Man and Friends” type of movie, as he got the most
face time in many of the previews.
Fortunately, this is not the case, and all the characters are balanced
extremely well; even Hawkeye and Black Widow get an ample amount of screen time. And Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, the only actor
not reprising his role from a previous film, is the best incarnation of the
Hulk on screen I have seen to date.
Ruffalo does a phenomenal job, as does the rest of the cast.
The ending to this film is absolutely fantastic. I won’t give it away, and it’s nothing that
we haven’t seen before, but believe me when I say this is the best fight scene
in any comic book movie ever. One of the
only complaints I had about the films leading up to “The Avengers” was that the
final confrontations felt a little too weak.
This movie more than makes up for that.
It is straight balls-to-the-walls action for the last 30 to 40 minutes,
and it is damn entertaining to watch.
There are not many problems with this film, but one major
one I have is the story; it is extremely predictable, and despite one or two
twists, you know exactly how things are going to play out. It is nothing we haven’t seen before, and
that is a bit disappointing, considering how good of a writer Whedon is, I was
expecting something a little more ambitious.
My only other gripe is that the middle of the film drags a
bit, and this may have to do with it all taking place in one constant
setting. But this is a very minor
complaint, as the dialogue and interactions between the characters remain
strong.
All in all, I had a blast with “The Avengers”, and will
definitely be seeing it again. It
definitely kicks off the summer blockbuster season with a bang, and is one of
the most entertaining movies I have seen in a long time.
A-
