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The Avengers Review

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There will be spoilers. You have been warned.

I finally now have seen The Avengers, twice. Recieved it on DVD, and... well, I can not lie - the movie is really damn awesome. I loved it. Is it a masterpiece though? Well... no, not much more so than the Transformers or the Pirates of the Caribbean or the Star Wars movies. People can have it as their favorite movie of all time by all means, since there are good reasons for that - I am just saying I can not really categorize this as a masterpiece myself. It's just a really entertaining popcorn flick. I was never bored a single moment in the movie - and that is good. But... it has it's flaws as well.

But to start with the positive aspects, the humor is for the most part absolutely brilliant. I had about three moments where I literally laughed out loud - and trust me, that is NOT common for me to do with movies. One of the jokes was so brilliant, I had to rewind it.
Which joke? When the Hulk smashes Loki into the Stark building, and Loki shouts "Enough!" and tries to start a monologue in his rage about how they are all beneath him and how he is a god... and Hulk just grabs his leg and smashes him into the rock hard floor over and over and over again, then just walking away saying "Puny god." and we see Loki laying down with a squeeky voice.
That might seriously be a moment deserving to at least be in my top 3 list of best moments in cinema history for me - because it's like it speaks to it's audience and gives them exactly what they want. In other movies full of more clichés, the villain would have said his/her entire speech, and then something would instantly kill him/her - like a building crashing down over them, or a monster eating them, or whatever. But here? The director knows we don't want to see Loki get killed just like that - we want to see the strongest motherfucker there is beat the living shit out of him while interrupting his bullshit about how he is better than everyone else.
Sorry for taking so long to talk about this - but... I never thought I would see a moment like this one in any movie ever. And that makes The Avengers a very special movie.

And speaking of Hulk - finally, he is portrayed wonderfully, beautifully perfect in this movie. His design is perfect, the CGI is gorgeous, watching him fight is awesome... hell - they didn't even make him overpowered or underpowered - he is just perfectly powerful. And yeah, I have to admit - the new actor of Bruce Banner is really damn good, and I actually forgot about the fact that they changed actor. I can just think about it like that the mutation has changed his appearance since The Incredible Hulk or something... still think it's bullshit to change actor even though there was some issues with Edward Norton - but I digress.
Sure, there was a single small moment when this actor's performance went a bit too unnatural when he is asked about the secrets of SHIELD he knows about and he says "Uhm, I just want to finish my work here, and- ..." - but I do not think it's his fault, as I think they simply used the first take.

My favorite character of the movie has to be Captain America - I really felt for him a lot of times. I do not agree with people that says he is just a "Goody Two-Shoes" boyscout - he is trying hard to think of things the right and just way here, but struggles with it. I can see him working on his flaws here - and that's very admirable.
It also makes him very sympathetic that he is out of his time period but tries his hardest to adapt... and I do think this is the only movie ever made where they didn't feel the need to use tons of jokes about that he is out of his time period - they are only using like one gag twice about him first not getting a reference but then the second time getting another reference, considering the flying monkeys right after Thor said he didn't get that reference... and yes, that was one of the really wonderfully hilarious and clever jokes this movie has to offer.
I did find it a bit out of character when Captain America tells Iron Man to put on his suit and fight him, but... I'll get more into detail about that when I talk about the conflicts the team has in this movie. Also, I found it a bit unintentionally funny with when they tell the Captain that Thor is a god and he says "There's only one God, and I am sure he doesn't dress like that.". I mean, it IS meant to be a joke, but... I find it amusing that Captain states this as if he tries to say the God he believes in has a better sense of fashion than Thor. It's a bit odd, and... kinda dumb. Not the least because I can live without contrived references to Christianity in my superhero escapism, thank you very much.

Then there's the other characters - Black Widow is portrayed much better here than in Iron Man 2. In Iron Man 2, she was a Mary Sue character. But in this one, they humanized her - and that's good in my opinion. She can even feel helpless sometimes, which I did not expect.
But... here comes a big problem I have with the movie. Everything else about Black Widow bothers me. First of all, she is like in Iron Man 2 portrayed by a actress who looks like a skinny top model, and NOT a fighter. Yeah, sure - Thor and Captain America might look pretty attractive here (though not in a Hollywood-ish way if you ask me, which is admirable) - but at least you can tell they are skilled fighters. They have big muscles and athletic bodies. I don't get that with Black Widow - it just feels like she is there to please the shallow heterosexual males in the audience. Hell - her hair looks like she was putting an hour into fixing it, and she has make-up on her face! Why would a SHIELD agent feel the need to do that - ESPECIALLY when they are trying to save the world?!!
Another thing about Black Widow is that she is shown to be pretty useless in this movie. Sure, she did shove the staff into the portal (is it just me, or is that a common practice in science fiction? :P) - but that could have as well been done by Stellan Skarsgård's character, dangit. And hell - she is the only character who's COMPLETELY helpless against the Hulk. Sure, Captain and Hawkeye would probably not be able to defeat him - but at least they would put up a fight. Black Widow? She just runs for her life until Thor comes to her rescue.

And speaking of Hawkeye - I did like his character well enough... though, it kinda is the same problem with him as with Madeye Moody in Harry Potter 4 - we are introduced to a character while they aren't themselves one way or another. In the opening scene of the movie, Loki takes control over the minds of Hawkeye and Skarsgård's character. With Skarsgård, I can understand - we got to know him in Thor, so we can accept it. But Hawkeye only had a very brief cameo a few seconds long in Thor, and that's all we have seen of him before. And now he is mind-controlled?
Sure, they get rid of it with a hard slam against his head later in the movie - but I still consider it a problem, as this makes us barely getting to know him. Only thing I know about him is that he likes shooting people he is mad at, as Black Widow says he sounds like himself when he wants to shoot an arrow between Loki's eyes.

So, other characters... Thor is a lot of fun, even though he seems to have a worse temper in this movie than Hulk has, ironicly enough. It IS a pity though we do not get to see him wear his helmet, as I think that one looked cool on him in the movie Thor. But strangely enough, Loki occassionally wears his much more stupid-looking helmet. I really don't get the logic here...
Tony Stark can be pretty damn funny sometimes, but... I have to be fair - I never saw him as being THAT likable as the Iron Man fanboys seems to consider him. He can be good when he shows his more human/heroic side and when he is sarcastic and pokes fun of other characters... but whenever he is arrogant and selfish and doing dumb shit he feels like doing, like he has done from time to time in his own 2 movies already - it gets a bit annoying.
Like that moment when he shoved that electrical thing into Bruce Banner to see if he turns into the Hulk... kinda funny, but also a really dumb thing to see Tony do. Especially since he doesn't really respond to when Captain criticised him for doing it - he just responds with a counter argument like a small child, like "Oh yeah? Well... you're ugly!". He is not literally saying that - but it could as well have been.

Loki... is too juvenile for me here. I do get his argument about people truly wanting to submit to a greater power and such things - but I still stand by what I have said before... his line about freeing them from freedom sounds stupid to me. To free someone is to give that someone freedom - at least from your own perspective. I get what he is trying to say - I just wish he could have said it with better put words. And he seems to be too arrogant for my taste. When Nick Fury says he kills people for fun, he completely ignores that.
I won't lie - Loki has a few moments of brilliance in this movie. When Thor tells him to listen as Iron Man then flies right into him and away from Loki with him and he says "... I'm listening.", that was funny. And I also thought it was clever how he tricked Thor into the cell or whatever it is Loki himself was imprisoned in. But they are making Loki a bit too simple as a villain - they aren't giving him a human side here. And I don't like that - I wish we could at least have been given a hint about him still having some sort of respect for his brother, adoptive or not. Especially since Thor tries so hard to still be a sweet and caring brother to him.

Oh yeah, Nick Fury... meh, he works. Not Samuel L Jackson's best or most memorable performance by miles - but he serves his purpose if nothing else. But he does seem to fail a bit too much at having control over some situations, which is odd considering his status and everything. And the movie is never clear about if we should look at him as a hero or a villain or neutral - it's too fuzzy if you ask me.
Oh, and I also want to bring up the cube... this is a really confusing plot device - we saw it in Captain America, and now here - and I am not really entirely sure how that thing works. They are never explaining it properly - it feels like a device of random Deus Ex Machinas. That might just be me though - sorry if I come off as being too arrogant or something.

And one thing I feel like bringing up are the moments of conflicts between the group members in this movie, which feels a bit clunky sometimes. In the scene where Thor kidnaps Loki briefly and Iron Man and Captain America appears and they argue - now THAT was pretty good... though, Thor seemed to have a too ill temper there about putting down his hammer, but anyway.
But then we have the scene in the big flying ship thingie (don't judge me, I do not remember the name of that thing :XD:), it feels very forced and contrived. Like I said, it's a bit out of character for Captain to feel the need to fight Iron Man... at least to me. Remember - this is the same guy who in Captain America was covering a grenade with his body to protect the others. I don't buy that he would get to such a childish level like that he would want to fight someone within their own team just to show he can fight, as if he has something to prove. He already is a big hero - he has nothing to prove. And when these guys argue, neither Thor or Fury or Widow or Banner tries to stop it - they just argue along with it.
And there's also this really weird moment where Bruce Banner while talking about his Hulk side angrily grabs Loki's staff without thinking about it, and Captain tells him to put it down. Nothing like this never happens again - it just happens out of nowhere, like a thrown in random movie cliché. It's entirely pointless, and kinda silly. Why would Banner ever feel the need to use that thing? He's the god damn Hulk!
And do you know what's weirder about this? Tony and Captain keeps on arguing - and then when the airship gets attacked, they spontaniously start to work together... having 100% functioning teamwork. This just comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. It's almost hilariously inconsistent to what just happened before. And after this, they never have a fight again.
I like the idea of the team having problems to work together - don't get me wrong. I just wished it was handled better, as it feels like they are a bit too childish in their behaviors when this occurs. And it leads to when Banner the first time in the movie turns into Hulk - and I have to admit I do not felt like he had a proper reason to do that at the moment. But, maybe it was Loki's staff affecting the team to get mad and argue and all that? If that's the case, they never really explain it. You can't blame me for misunderstanding what is never explained.

One other thing I didn't like so much was the army Loki had behind him. The creatures looks like a CGI mess to me and nothing else. I can barely see how they look in their faces. Some more color variations would have helped tremendously. And even worse - their vehicles have the exact same tone and colors as they have. It looks ugly to me. And those huge flying worm things are pretty cool in their designs, but... again - same color scheme, and that makes them look too messy. People have this problem with the Transformers movies, but... at least those could at times have some color variations. In this one with Loki's army, everything just looks the same.
What's even worse for me is that this army doesn't seem to be that much of a challenge for them, with the exception of those huge flying worms. Or well, to be fair - it also felt like they where having a big problem with them because of the huge amount of them, and I felt like they did have a challenge ahead of them. I just wish there was a bit more to be had with the challenge... but, it honestly didn't bother me as I watched the movie - it's more of an afterthought.
The action had for the most part good pacing. Though, I call bullshit on people saying the action scenes here are how the ones in the Transformers movie SHOULD have looked and been shot like - because they ARE done basically the same way. Only thing that potentially makes it better in The Avengers is that you can tell the difference between the four main superheroes.
It's dumb though to see both Hawkeye and Black widow wearing completely black. With Black Widow, sure - her name is BLACK Widow, after all. But Hawkeye? I've seen pictures of him from the comics. Not only did he look cooler in the Ultimate universe than in this movie with red goggles and mouth mask - but he had his own color scheme. Purple, to be exact. And why not a low dark purple color with some black details for his costume in this movie, and red goggles? No, really - why not? Don't tell me that wouldn't be cool.

Either way, I really loved this movie - and I feel like watching it again. Though, this time I will probably watch through all the build-up movies to it before... even though I kinda dislike the Iron Man movies and find them overrated - but I can live through that. I am glad to see all those really exciting cliffhangers finally leading up to something. Just felt to me like the reactions to the movie where too overwhelming - every single reviewer have praised it and said there is no flaw other than that there is no "deep plot" to it. Not to mention, the movie bursted millions of artists drawing fanart of the movie. And I can not help it - but things like that makes me less motivated to watch a movie, which is why I did not see it in theaters. I was worried peoples' hyping of it would ruin it to me.
But meh, it didn't. I just managed to find more flaws with it than most others seems to - but I still loved it. I am glad this movie exist - it's a very important movie for superhero movies overall. Now with this canon that started in 2007, it feels like we are seeing comic book issues moving on the movie screen along with story arcs around each other - and it's absolutely fantastic and beautiful. I'm afraid though Justice League might not be as good when it comes to live action since Warner Brothers WILL be stupid enough to rush it... but, what can you do, huh? :P

I am also concerned the second Avengers movie won't be able to top this one unless they are managing to do something very essentially important. What? They need to add in Spider-Man from The Amazing Spider-Man, and Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. I know those movie interpretations of the characters are owned by Sony - but it really is very, very important for a second Avengers movie to have them. Spider-Man ESPECIALLY. I don't care how they would be able to do it - just do it. It would potentially be the highest grossing movie of all time. Think about that, movie developers... think about that. Look beyond your narrowminded greed and see this fantastic opportunity... and most importantly - embrace it.
Sure - we briefly saw this awesome villain in the end credits of The Avengers who appearantly is a really powerful bastard. But that would still not be enough. Especially considering how much they overwhelmed us with this movie ever even being made. If you want to continue it, improve it - or it will eventually go downhill. None of us want that, do we? Not the viewers, and not the film developers, and not Marvel.

But yeah, I'm glad I saw this movie. Great popcorn entertainment and a really fun ride of awesomeness. Has some flaws, but... yeah.

Rating: :star::star::star::star::star::star::star::star::star::star-empty:
Holy shit, this became a long review! :XD: And even worse - I did not even bring up everything I could. There are things I think I've forgotten to talk about, but... I had to cut it somewhere, damnit. :P LOL

But yeah, felt nice to finally do this review. Feels like a huge relief. :meow: Please feel free to comment and share your own thoughts.

EDIT
Fixed some spelling errors and stuff I just felt like I wrote wrong.
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simpleCOMICS's avatar
My theory about the staff incident with Banner (although not necessarily correct, just a theory) is that it somehow emitted anger within the room (essentially what you already noted above), because the only time in the movie that any of the character were truly dissing each other or outright arguing was in that one room with the staff. When they were away from the staff (before and after being exposed to it) they were all just fine and getting along, more or less acting as a team.

I agree that Nick Fury was a very vague figure in terms of where he really stands with everyone, but I'm pretty sure Marvel is doing that one purpose, not wanting to make any real commitments with the character. I do know that the future of the Captain America movies is very SHIELD-heavy and I would really love to see Cap constantly trying to figure Fury out and never really trust him even though he feels it's his duty to take his orders. That could be interesting (for me at least).

Loki really was quite an immature character in the Avengers compared to a truly torn character in the Thor film. He served his simple purpose for a simple premise in an overall simple movie though.

Hulk was great. I loved Mark Ruffalo playing the role of Bruce Banner. I was not a fan of Edward Norton as the Hulk in all honesty. Bruce Banner is supposed to be a SCARED individual and Norton played it like he was sly and sneaky, always outsmarting his enemies. In the comics, Banner is not that confident. And in the Avengers movie, Bruce Banner is much more like his comic book self, which I think is better.

Side note: I used to really hate it when characters were recast in sequels but I've learned to not be so bothered by it. In a way, it's similar to the comic book world when characters are illustrated by different artists in different art style from one story arc to the next. I choose to look at it that way (although I'm probably the only one in the world to make up a connection like that, but I'll stick to it.)

And one more thing that you might like. Sony and Disney are actually on good enough terms to allow the Avengers and the Amazing Spider-Man movies to exist in a shared continuity. I don't know if they'll ever actually have an innercompany crossover with the characters, but the companies aren't necessarily saying no to having Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man in an Avengers movie. I think that's cool of them to even consider it, even if it doesn't work out in the long run.