The Avengers

There hasn't been too many dynamic team of heroes join together and fight for what is right.  The last time I recall are the X-men fighting the Russians and the Cubans, to the Watchmen… and I would even account the Inglorious Bastards who killed off the Nazi’s of the 3^rd Reich.  It is the Avenger’s turn and it comes out with a lot of personality and with attitude.

Directed by one of the most underestimated directors of our time, Joss Whedon, who is known for bringing to life the Firefly series  and the movie Serenity, TV series  Buffy the Vampire, and even wrote the screenplay for Toy Story. He takes on one of the most difficult tasks of taking each superhero and bringing them together.

The movie starts with Loki (Tom Hiddleston); the brother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds a way to return to earth through the Tesseract which is a cube of unlimited energy.  Through Loki’s anger towards earth, he plans to take away freedom of the human race with his army called the Chitauri.  The director of S.H.E.I.L.D (international spy corporation), Nick Furry (Samuel L. Jackson) realizes the serious threat that Loki with the Terreract cube in possession can destroy the earth.  Furry decides it is time to compile an earth’s most elite team.  This team would consist of Tony Stark AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).  Due to the responsibility and oath Thor took to protect earth, joined in the party to complete the Avengers team.

The plot is simple.  It consists of getting the best of the best to stop an alien attack and regain freedom on earth.  There is nothing wrong with a plot to be simple.  It is what you do with the rest to determine whether is worth the two and half hours of watching.  I think sometimes movies recently have overly complicated themselves, that it loses most viewers interest.  Joss Whedon understands that point.  Reflecting on the Dark Knight which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the plot of stopping the Joker and bringing Gotham to peace is a simple concept, but comparison to both movies is enhance on the symbolic meanings through relationships, attitudes, and images that speaks a thousand words.

There were a couple of things that didn’t work for me.  I had an issue that Captain America’s character.  He was still in a time capsule.  It seems like he has been waiting for this type of mission.  I really wished his character would have changed somewhat since he was woken up decades later.  He was stale and stiff.  Maybe he is still thawing out???   The next issue was the opening.   I was surprised that the movie didn’t start off more with a bang.  It reminds me of an interview I saw with Quentin Tarantino, the director/writer of Pulp Fiction, when he stated that the beginning of a movie sets the stage for the rest of the movie.  Though the beginning wasn’t terrible, it started off pretty simplistic and slow.  If the beginning had started off a bit more with a tone (maybe with Tony Stark or something) it could’ve blown the doors off the theatre!  The third thing that got to me was Nick Furry.  What and why is Nick Furry able to demand such respect?  From what I gather, he played his a Jules Winnfield character in the Spy world.  I wish they have done with the other superheros; it would’ve been nice to see the background of Nick Furry to understand how S.H.I.E.L.D. started and how he is the director of it.

With those three things being said, there were many parts I really liked about the film.  The understanding of Black Widow and her story made complete sense of her role in Iron Man 2, and how she fits into the Avengers.  The second part I really liked was Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk.  Edward Norton played an incredible Hulk (no puns intended) and left big green giant shoes to fill for Mark Ruffalo.  He not only filled them, but has made his own mark as the Hulk.  I remember seeing Ruffalo in movies like Zodiac, and Collateral and said that he is one of the most underrated actors of our time.  Downey and Hemsworth really brought the wittiness and fun to the party.  I loved seeing the battle between the Avengers themselves as ego and self righteous beings had to learn to work together.  The chemistry between the Avengers was unbelievable and really wanted to root for more.  There were scenes in the movie that I won’t give away, which to me was logical of what could happen, and it did.  The orchestrated work of the film really flowed and left you wanting to see what is this franchise going to do next.

The Avenger movie was fun, entertaining and makes you want to see it again.  Like I said earlier, there are flaws you can find, but was it worth your ticket of admission?  Not only was it worth it, I got more then what I paid for.  This is a must see!

Grade: A

If you liked this film, I recommend:
Serenity
Cowboys and Aliens
Avatar

STAY TO THE END OF THE FILM. IT IS WORTH IT...BOTH TIMES!