Movie review: Avengers
So, I saw the movie today and it was way cool! Loved it!
I especially like that there were real deaths and no, I'm not talking about the token major cast member death. I'm talking about the 80 guys killed in the initial disaster in New Mexico or wherever they had the tessaract to start with. I hate when huge, area-smashing/area-sploding horrific things happen and everyone walks away unscathed, with all the normal people crawling out from under debris and cheering happily, with nothing more serious than a few scrapes. No, if you're gonna destroy entire complexes, whole buildings, city blocks and the like, then I want the destruction to have emotional impact, and that impact only comes from people getting seriously hurt and killed in the process.
The final combat went on a long time, but I never quite got tired of it. Close - but not tired.
I did find the movie a bit predictable, enough so that I took a pee break in the middle. I doubted I'd miss anything important. Don't think I did.
I found Captain America the most charming and relatable guy in the movie. Everyone else was kind of a dick. Huge egos are acceptable when you're the star, but I liked that they showed that huge egos and a tendency towards maverick behavior were pretty f'd up when you're trying to work as a team. The Avengers are probably best off as spread out as possible.
RDJ wasn't as captivatingly handsome, although that might have been due to the presence of so many other outstanding menfolk. Speaking of eye candy, I was *SO* glad that the women didn't get treated that way. Black Widow, or whatever, just seemed like a junior version of Nick Fury - incredibly bad ass. My personal fave was Agent Hill - the woman who chased the tessaract early on, and then was second in command? of the flying fortress.
(I must say, also, that the invisible flying fortress strained credibility and seemed very impractical.)
My favorite line was Hulk's "Puny god" after smashing up Stark's penthouse floor with Loki. That was an awesome scene, made me laugh out loud, and I loved it. Poor Loki!
My next fave moment was Hulk putting down the first flying dragon-whale-leviathan with a single punch. That was cool. Also very cool was him saving Stark. Hulk just got all the best moments. He is a modern version of Jekyll and Hyde, which perplexes me that I never realized that until this movie, when he called the Hulk "the other guy". I guess I'm just slow.
I liked how the brainy types got brainy together, aside from psycho-analyzing each other.
I also appreciated that strategy and teamwork was valued. So often in movies, it's just not. The team comes together and they function perfectly without even talking it out, and that bugs the crap out of me. It's like romance without ever showing why X loves Y. Just they love each other immediately and on with the plot. Ack! But the Avengers valued leadership, teamwork, strategy, and (to a lesser extent) planning. That was great to see, and made me really feel that Captain America was pulling his weight. If all he did was arrange the rest of the team in a way that they could play to their strengths and stay out of each other's way, then he was worth his weight in gold. Speaking of which, I loved his direction to the Hulk: "Smash"! So well suited to who he was addressing, which is something core to being a good leader - know how to motivate your team, know their abilities, and turn them loose appropriately.
Good movie! Time well spent, although I have to confess it was kind of forgettable.
I especially like that there were real deaths and no, I'm not talking about the token major cast member death. I'm talking about the 80 guys killed in the initial disaster in New Mexico or wherever they had the tessaract to start with. I hate when huge, area-smashing/area-sploding horrific things happen and everyone walks away unscathed, with all the normal people crawling out from under debris and cheering happily, with nothing more serious than a few scrapes. No, if you're gonna destroy entire complexes, whole buildings, city blocks and the like, then I want the destruction to have emotional impact, and that impact only comes from people getting seriously hurt and killed in the process.
The final combat went on a long time, but I never quite got tired of it. Close - but not tired.
I did find the movie a bit predictable, enough so that I took a pee break in the middle. I doubted I'd miss anything important. Don't think I did.
I found Captain America the most charming and relatable guy in the movie. Everyone else was kind of a dick. Huge egos are acceptable when you're the star, but I liked that they showed that huge egos and a tendency towards maverick behavior were pretty f'd up when you're trying to work as a team. The Avengers are probably best off as spread out as possible.
RDJ wasn't as captivatingly handsome, although that might have been due to the presence of so many other outstanding menfolk. Speaking of eye candy, I was *SO* glad that the women didn't get treated that way. Black Widow, or whatever, just seemed like a junior version of Nick Fury - incredibly bad ass. My personal fave was Agent Hill - the woman who chased the tessaract early on, and then was second in command? of the flying fortress.
(I must say, also, that the invisible flying fortress strained credibility and seemed very impractical.)
My favorite line was Hulk's "Puny god" after smashing up Stark's penthouse floor with Loki. That was an awesome scene, made me laugh out loud, and I loved it. Poor Loki!
My next fave moment was Hulk putting down the first flying dragon-whale-leviathan with a single punch. That was cool. Also very cool was him saving Stark. Hulk just got all the best moments. He is a modern version of Jekyll and Hyde, which perplexes me that I never realized that until this movie, when he called the Hulk "the other guy". I guess I'm just slow.
I liked how the brainy types got brainy together, aside from psycho-analyzing each other.
I also appreciated that strategy and teamwork was valued. So often in movies, it's just not. The team comes together and they function perfectly without even talking it out, and that bugs the crap out of me. It's like romance without ever showing why X loves Y. Just they love each other immediately and on with the plot. Ack! But the Avengers valued leadership, teamwork, strategy, and (to a lesser extent) planning. That was great to see, and made me really feel that Captain America was pulling his weight. If all he did was arrange the rest of the team in a way that they could play to their strengths and stay out of each other's way, then he was worth his weight in gold. Speaking of which, I loved his direction to the Hulk: "Smash"! So well suited to who he was addressing, which is something core to being a good leader - know how to motivate your team, know their abilities, and turn them loose appropriately.
Good movie! Time well spent, although I have to confess it was kind of forgettable.