Movie Review: MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS (2012)
It has been a long time since I've sat in front of my computer and typed out a review. Hell, I missed out on doing a review for THOR, TRANSFORMERS 3, and GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE. So apologies if this doesn't flow the way it should... I'm a bit out of practice.
What kind of movie, though, could get me out of semi-retirement? What movie would move me so that I was compelled to write about it? What movie has me so excited that I can't wait for everyone else to watch it so that I can talk about it with more people? MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS, of course!
Comic book movies are difficult to make. Do you appeal to the fanboys who will want an accurate portayal of their favorite heroes? Or do you go for the broader appeal and try to get everyone to watch but possibly sacrificing the very fans that you seek to court.
I had mentioned it before in my review of THE DARK KNIGHT ( http://krono0666.livejournal.com/5534.html) .A successful comic book movie needs to do one of two things. Either it 1) embraces its comic book roots whole heartedly or 2) it transcends it source material. THE DARK KNIGHT is the latter. Despite the fact that it stars a man wearing a bat suit, the movie is grounded in a reality that, if you take Batman out of the picture, it still manages to stand on it's own.
As for the former catagory, IRON MAN had inhabited that spot as probably the best example of a comic book movie that is successfull because it embraces its source material (you can read that review here http://krono0666.livejournal.com/3029.html)
Well, IRON MAN has been ousted from that position.
OH
MY
GAWD!
I love this movie! This is the movie that comic book geeks were waiting for. After five movies of varying quality, here we get to see it all pay off.
I'll admit, I was worried. Extremely worried. Each of the five movies leading up to this one were relatively enjoyable. Being the fanboy that I am, I looked past many of the flaws and looked forward to when it would all come together. Then they announced Joss Whedon as writer/director. The fanboy in me jumped up for joy... but the Spock side of me worried as he was untested as a big budget director (with the biggest thing he'd directed was the cult favorite SERENITY and a few TV episodes).
Let me tell you, all of those fears were unfound.
Everything about this movie just works. One of my biggest concerns was how would Whedon handle balancing out so many characters. We've seen movies where the cast was too big and everyone came off as shallow. Look at X-MEN: THE LAST STAND or SPIDER-MAN 3. Both of those movies failed to balance all of the characters in a satisfactory way. But Whedon somehow manages to do it. Each character manages to get their moment in the sun and, surprisingly, each character gets some real development. This movie could have easily de-volved into an IRON MAN 3 or the such, yet Whedon reins in Robert Downey, Jr's Tony Stark and makes even his ego-shift organic.
Also, in terms of balancing the narrative, Whedon manages to make the last 1/3 of the movie compelling and exciting. It's practically one giant fight scene, and yet, again, because of his excellent chracterization, you are drawn into the conflict and wonder who will make it and who won't. In the hands of a less skillful director, this could have easily been a boring fight where no one cared, similar to the most recent TRANSFORMERS film. That film, too, was a giant fight scene for the last 1/3 and you never cared about what was going on. You never felt the stakes were high. It was just a bunch of nameless robots and soldiers fighting. Not so in AVENGERS!
Every character is spot on. Really, no surprise there. If there is anything to be said about the current crop of Marvel films, it's that they've casted each of the main characters perfectly. Robert Downey, Jr, is still perfect as the narcissitic Tony Stark/Iron Man. Chris Evans brings that All-American/perfect boy scout look that is needed for Steve Rogers/Captain America. And Thor is embodied perfectly in Chris Hemsworth. Even secondary characters like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow or Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye are cast well. I now think I would watch a BLACK WIDOW movie The biggest surprise in the lot, though, is Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. This has probably been the best cinematic representation of Bruce Banner/Hulk ever. Particularly the Banner side of things. Finally we get to see Banner as one of the smartest people in the Marvel universe as he interacts splendidly with Tony Stark. And Hulk comes off as both monster and hero in the same film. Maybe they should have used Ruffalo instead of Edward Norton in the last movie.
What makes this film work is that the danger finally feels epic enough to justify such a gathering of characters. It's what was missing from the THOR movie... that sense of epic. It was only when things shifted to Asgard did the movie have an epic quality to it, but that was only half of the film. AVENGERS, on the other hand, was EPIC! Finally, Tom Hiddleston's Loki is dangerous and he brought a suitable "bad-ass"ness to the movie. Yes, he is still devious and cunning like in the THOR film, but now he has an army to back him up.
The visuals of the movie were spot on. Special effects were great with no moments of CG sticking out. Fight scenes were well framed and choreographed. Nothing got lost in quick cuts or shakey cam. And, surprisingly, the 3D worked. There were a few instances of things coming at you and a few of the scenes had a nice sense of depth. While the film was shown in 3D, it was originally filmed in 2D so don't worry if you only watch it in 2D... either way, it still works.
Ultimately, what it comes down to is that this is the best representation of these characters that I've seen. From the snappy dialogue and interaction, to the action, to the moments that will get the fanboy in you shrieking like a little girl, this movie is just so well done.
Will you like this film like I did? If you are a comic book fan and you know about the comic book roots that the movie has, then rest assured, you will love this movie. If your only knowledge of THE AVENGERS comes from the individual movies that preceded this one, then know that this is the culimination of all of those movies. This is what it's all been leading up to and the payoff is worth it. If you have no idea who THE AVENGERS are and you accidently walked into the theater expecting Zac Efron's THE LUCKY ONE, know that this is a great action film and you'll be able to enjoy it as such... you'll just be lost on the nuances that makes the film great. But you'll still enjoy it.
Look, if I still have to spell it out for, GO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!
FINAL GRADE: A+