HULK SMASH.
I got less than three hours of sleep last night. IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
The superhero team movie is going to have a certain structure, but no cars turn into anything else except piles of rubble. Cars magically transform into burning cars. That part I’m happy about.
--Joss Whedon
Okay, let me get this out of the way right off the bat: Avengers is GREAT fun, but I wouldn't call it a great movie. It's very good for what it is, and it embraces the genre pitch-perfectly, and it's definitely worth seeing (multiple times, probably). But parts of it do drag -- the opening sequence is all action but no drama, and frankly, Fury's rousing let's-all-come-together speech fell completely flat for me. And there are bits and bobs throughout that left me rather meh. (Probably this is because while I enjoy the Avengers, I'm not terribly fannish about them -- I like all the individual characters, but I don't have FEELS about any of them the way I do about, say, the X-Men.) BUT those were a very small fraction of the whole, and on the whole, this movie is awesome fun.
And oh god, were Whedon's fingerprints all over it, in the best geeky fanboy ways imaginable.
Bullet points, because my brain is fried on awesome and sleep deprivation.
-Seeing the midnight showing with a group of awesome fangirls: definitely the best filmgoing experience. :D
-PEPPER PEPPER PEPPER. Okay, I do have some FEELS about Pepper Potts. SHE IS JUST SO GLORIOUS IN HER FIVE MINUTES HERE OKAY. Tony/Pepper, you are doing domesticity so right. I love that they've gotten to the point in their relationship where they're just chilling and bickering in comfy clothes and I can't believe that the most functional and well-adjusted romantic relationship in the Marvel movieverse right now involves Tony Stark, but there you have it. This is why I will never ship Steve/Tony, guys. Because PEPPER POTTS.
-Maria Hill kicked a lot of ass, but I do wish they'd taken the time to give her actual character development. Mostly I notice because Whedon did such a stellar job with everyone else that she wound up being the weak link through no fault of her own. Oh, well, better luck next time?
-Because while Natasha didn't get much to work with in Iron Man 2, she DEFINITELY got her fair share of screen time here, and it was awesome.
-The one who unexpectedly stole the show: Bruce Banner, holy crap. He was hands down my favorite part of the movie, and I don't even like the Hulk. But Ruffalo's performance was just pitch-perfect, and then, y'know, the Hulk. WAS AWESOME.
-Okay, yes, I am definitely enough of a geek to have adored all the one-on-one smackdowns amongst the Avengers. Especially Iron Man and Thor whaling on each other. And of course Hulk's perfect literal punchline with Thor in the midst of the epic battle.
-I LOVE the found families trope more than life itself, basically, and so does Whedon, and this was SO FUCKING SATISFYING.
-I'm not really a Loki fangirl, but Hiddleston was so clearly enjoying the hell out of himself, and that made him just so fantastic to watch. I much preferred this maniacal supervillain incarnation to the wibbly emo!Loki in Thor. (Although, dude, I still can never take you remotely seriously in that moronic helmet. I know, I know, straight out of the comics. I can't take Magneto seriously in his comics!helmet, either.)
-It goes without saying that the dialogue in all of this was fucking awesome and I'm still cackling maniacally over some of the one-liners.
-"Hulk? SMASH." YES THANK YOU CAP.
-Still find Steve Rogers to be the dullest superhero since Superman. Sorry, Cap. But I didn't mind it so much here, since he had so many more interesting personalities to spark off against, and his pride at getting the flying monkeys reference was probably one of the funniest moments in the whole damn movie.
-Tony geeking out over science with Bruce was everything I never knew I wanted and more. "Finally, someone who speaks English!"
-Coulson fanboying Steve was the most adorable thing ever.
-"Phil? No, his first name is Agent."
-Okay, so I was accidentally spoiled beforehand for two major things: that Hawkeye would be evil for the first half of the film, and Coulson's death. I'm really pissed that I was spoiled for Coulson in particular, because I spent all of his scenes waiting for it and then didn't really feel the emotional impact when it happened. ARGH. Still, talk about a classic Whedon move. It was a good death, though! "So that's what that does." ♥ Oh, Phil, I will miss you.
-I really wish we'd gotten more not-possessed-by-Loki!Hawkeye. Because Jeremy Renner is awesome, but we didn't get very much of Clint being, y'know, Clint. Still, I really loved what we did get.
-"Clench up, Legolas!"
-I loved that long pan through the final battle where we could actually see what each Avenger was up to at that particular moment in time. Really excellent film editing right there. Actually, that was true of the entire battle sequence -- I never felt confused or lost due to jerky, nonspecific editing, which happens all too often in action movies.
-Hulk wiping the floor with Loki was pretty much the greatest thing ever. The entire theater cheered so loudly that no one could actually hear Hulk's line at the end of that, though. Which is sad, because it was probably an awesomely terse Hulkish putdown. Anyone catch it?
-Bonus Whedon hat tricks: Enver Gjokaj! (I shrieked "VICTOR!" very loudly.) And Alexis Denisof apparently played the lead alien dude, albeit unrecognizably. But still! Wesley!
-STAY for the post-credits scene. There's one in the middle of the credits, too, which is the proper Easter Egg we've come to expect from Avengers movies (teasing out the next installment), but the one at the end is completely pointless and beautiful and perfect Whedon trolling.
SO, yes, that was lots of fun, and I'll almost definitely be seeing it again. :D Damn, do I really have no Avengers-related icons whatsoever? Huh.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you'd like.
The superhero team movie is going to have a certain structure, but no cars turn into anything else except piles of rubble. Cars magically transform into burning cars. That part I’m happy about.
--Joss Whedon
Okay, let me get this out of the way right off the bat: Avengers is GREAT fun, but I wouldn't call it a great movie. It's very good for what it is, and it embraces the genre pitch-perfectly, and it's definitely worth seeing (multiple times, probably). But parts of it do drag -- the opening sequence is all action but no drama, and frankly, Fury's rousing let's-all-come-together speech fell completely flat for me. And there are bits and bobs throughout that left me rather meh. (Probably this is because while I enjoy the Avengers, I'm not terribly fannish about them -- I like all the individual characters, but I don't have FEELS about any of them the way I do about, say, the X-Men.) BUT those were a very small fraction of the whole, and on the whole, this movie is awesome fun.
And oh god, were Whedon's fingerprints all over it, in the best geeky fanboy ways imaginable.
Bullet points, because my brain is fried on awesome and sleep deprivation.
-Seeing the midnight showing with a group of awesome fangirls: definitely the best filmgoing experience. :D
-PEPPER PEPPER PEPPER. Okay, I do have some FEELS about Pepper Potts. SHE IS JUST SO GLORIOUS IN HER FIVE MINUTES HERE OKAY. Tony/Pepper, you are doing domesticity so right. I love that they've gotten to the point in their relationship where they're just chilling and bickering in comfy clothes and I can't believe that the most functional and well-adjusted romantic relationship in the Marvel movieverse right now involves Tony Stark, but there you have it. This is why I will never ship Steve/Tony, guys. Because PEPPER POTTS.
-Maria Hill kicked a lot of ass, but I do wish they'd taken the time to give her actual character development. Mostly I notice because Whedon did such a stellar job with everyone else that she wound up being the weak link through no fault of her own. Oh, well, better luck next time?
-Because while Natasha didn't get much to work with in Iron Man 2, she DEFINITELY got her fair share of screen time here, and it was awesome.
-The one who unexpectedly stole the show: Bruce Banner, holy crap. He was hands down my favorite part of the movie, and I don't even like the Hulk. But Ruffalo's performance was just pitch-perfect, and then, y'know, the Hulk. WAS AWESOME.
-Okay, yes, I am definitely enough of a geek to have adored all the one-on-one smackdowns amongst the Avengers. Especially Iron Man and Thor whaling on each other. And of course Hulk's perfect literal punchline with Thor in the midst of the epic battle.
-I LOVE the found families trope more than life itself, basically, and so does Whedon, and this was SO FUCKING SATISFYING.
-I'm not really a Loki fangirl, but Hiddleston was so clearly enjoying the hell out of himself, and that made him just so fantastic to watch. I much preferred this maniacal supervillain incarnation to the wibbly emo!Loki in Thor. (Although, dude, I still can never take you remotely seriously in that moronic helmet. I know, I know, straight out of the comics. I can't take Magneto seriously in his comics!helmet, either.)
-It goes without saying that the dialogue in all of this was fucking awesome and I'm still cackling maniacally over some of the one-liners.
-"Hulk? SMASH." YES THANK YOU CAP.
-Still find Steve Rogers to be the dullest superhero since Superman. Sorry, Cap. But I didn't mind it so much here, since he had so many more interesting personalities to spark off against, and his pride at getting the flying monkeys reference was probably one of the funniest moments in the whole damn movie.
-Tony geeking out over science with Bruce was everything I never knew I wanted and more. "Finally, someone who speaks English!"
-Coulson fanboying Steve was the most adorable thing ever.
-"Phil? No, his first name is Agent."
-Okay, so I was accidentally spoiled beforehand for two major things: that Hawkeye would be evil for the first half of the film, and Coulson's death. I'm really pissed that I was spoiled for Coulson in particular, because I spent all of his scenes waiting for it and then didn't really feel the emotional impact when it happened. ARGH. Still, talk about a classic Whedon move. It was a good death, though! "So that's what that does." ♥ Oh, Phil, I will miss you.
-I really wish we'd gotten more not-possessed-by-Loki!Hawkeye. Because Jeremy Renner is awesome, but we didn't get very much of Clint being, y'know, Clint. Still, I really loved what we did get.
-"Clench up, Legolas!"
-I loved that long pan through the final battle where we could actually see what each Avenger was up to at that particular moment in time. Really excellent film editing right there. Actually, that was true of the entire battle sequence -- I never felt confused or lost due to jerky, nonspecific editing, which happens all too often in action movies.
-Hulk wiping the floor with Loki was pretty much the greatest thing ever. The entire theater cheered so loudly that no one could actually hear Hulk's line at the end of that, though. Which is sad, because it was probably an awesomely terse Hulkish putdown. Anyone catch it?
-Bonus Whedon hat tricks: Enver Gjokaj! (I shrieked "VICTOR!" very loudly.) And Alexis Denisof apparently played the lead alien dude, albeit unrecognizably. But still! Wesley!
-STAY for the post-credits scene. There's one in the middle of the credits, too, which is the proper Easter Egg we've come to expect from Avengers movies (teasing out the next installment), but the one at the end is completely pointless and beautiful and perfect Whedon trolling.
SO, yes, that was lots of fun, and I'll almost definitely be seeing it again. :D Damn, do I really have no Avengers-related icons whatsoever? Huh.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you'd like.