Statistically speaking, you have by now already seen THE AVENGERS. The film grossed $207 million dollars in its first weekend, shattering the previous record held by HP8 by over $38 million. I was reading comments on the internet from people on Saturday morning saying they'd already seen it three times. So there's no need to go on about THE AVENGERS at any sort of length at this point, but it's too big of a movie to not write about at all, so here are my thoughts:
I was definitely looking forward to this movie, although I have to admit I was more excited for both THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and PROMETHEUS. I thought THE AVENGERS looked like the candy-colored pop-culture cousin of those two darker, more mature films. I loved the first IRON MAN like everyone else, but thought IRON MAN 2, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR all ranged from good to mediocre. I was nervous about so many franchises being brought together into one beast -- everything seemed primed for a messy, over-stuffed explosion-fest. Needless to say, all my fears turned out to be completely unfounded.
THE AVENGERS is a glorious spectacle. Director Joss Whedon handles the myriad of characters and villains and motivations and fights and settings with aplomb. The cast is uniformly terrific in their roles, with even the ones I was less sold on (namely Chris Hemsworth as THOR) having now grown into their characters. Robert Downey Jr is consistently on fire as Tony Stark/Iron Man and carries every single scene he's in (which is most of them) with his whip-like wit. Chris Evans is all suave insecurity as Steve Rogers/Captain America, a man who has suddenly found himself out of his place and time and asked to save a world he doesn't belong in. Chris Hemsworth as Thor brings a sense of personal vendetta to this epic battle, seeing that the main baddie is his adopted brother Loki. Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Renner are both solid and dependable in their roles as SHIELD agents Nick Fury and Clint Barton/Hawkeye, respectively. Unfortunately, out of all the superheroes, Hawkeye was probably given the least to do (and I wish that SPOILER ALERT he hadn't spend two-thirds of the movie brainwashed into being a bad guy END SPOILERS), but I'm not worried about Renner's career since this is only one of three mega-franchises he's now a part of (along with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and the BOURNE series). Scarlett Johansson delivers a surprisingly effective performance as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Her devious manipulations were one of the highlights of the film for me and gave her character a much-needed personality boost after her somewhat bland appearance in IRON MAN 2.
However, the two men that steal the show are easily Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Ruffalo is also the only major new addition to the AVENGERS franchise for this film, having replaced Edward Norton in the role). Hiddleston was, in my opinion, easily the best thing about THOR, and it was a delight to see him once again wreak his gleeful mischief, this time on an even larger scale. He manages to keep Loki from turning into a beard-stroking stereotype, imbuing him with just enough fallibility and insecurity to make him not just a villain, but a well-rounded character. And with Ruffalo, the AVENGERS team has finally...FINALLY...gotten The Hulk right. Ruffalo is pitch-perfect with his wry sense of self-deprecating humor, and when he transforms into the angry green monster, the visual effects are finally believable. I do not exaggerate when I say my two favorite moments of the entire film both involved The Hulk...you'll know them when you see them.
With so many characters to shoe-horn into one movie, it could have easily become a bloated, self-satisfied mess. Luckily for us, however, the brilliant Joss Whedon, who both wrote and directed the film, is a pro at balancing quirky characters with innovative action. He manages to keep each character from descending into generic hero-ness. The best parts of the film are not the over-the-top action sequences, but the interactions between the various members of their team. Each superhero reacts so specifically, so differently, so believably to every situation; and the collision of egos brings a much-needed energy and friction to what could have been a too-glossy Hollywood extravaganza.
All that's not to say that the action scenes are not super fun. They are. And they must be seen on the big screen, preferably in 3D, to really be appreciated. But they're not the film's strongest point. The final climactic battle between The Avengers and an invading alien force decimating the city of New York after being transported there through a giant hole in the sky created by an alien power source mounted on top of a skyscraper is nothing we haven't seen before (namely in TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, when the Autobots battled an invading alien force decimating the city of Chicago after being transported there through a giant hole in the sky created by an alien power source mounted on top of a skyscraper). However, since we care infinitely more about Tony Stark and Bruce Banner and all the rest than we ever cared about Sam Witwicky, the battle means more and therefore we enjoy it more. It's not just eye candy (although it is certainly that) -- it's cathartic payoff after two hours of growing to know and love an eclectic group of powerful yet insecure heroes.
Needless to say, I had a terrific time at THE AVENGERS and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone, comic book fan or no. If you're one of the seven people in the country that hasn't seen it yet, you must do your best to catch it on the big screen. My only concern with this film is that any of the heroes' individual films can only be anticlimactic after such a grandiose achievement. How is IRON MAN 3 or THOR 2 supposed to measure up? Only time will tell, but even if they do disappoint, we'll certainly have THE AVENGERS 2 to look forward to, judging both by this film's box office success and that delightfully tantalizing post-credits sequence (make sure to stick around for both of them -- yes, there are two).
Actual grade: 9/10
