“Let’s do a headcount”, Tony Stark calmly and cockily asserts to Tom Hiddle-
ton’s Loki. “We have a couple of master assassins, the demi-god, the super soldier. And
you’ve managed to piss off everyone of us.”
Loki comes back immediately with, “I have an army.”
Then Tony counters, “We have a Hulk.”
Anyone who has watched tv spots or movie trailers in a theater is familiar with this
semi comical banter from one the most anticipated movies of the year- The Avengers.
Marvel has been touting the inevitable team up of earth’s mightiest heroes since 2008’s
Iron Man, and the subsequent movies of Captain America, Thor and the Hulk (not the
2003 version); not to mention Black Widow and Hawkeye, having no movies of their
own, yet making explosive appearances throughout the others. After much hoopla, these
proverbial champions of justice all come together-and it was well worth the wait.
Their nemesis is Thor’s brother, the malevolent Loki. Still bitter about his being a-
dopted coupled with an alarming obsession to rule(think General Zod from Superman 2),
he forges an alliance with the alien race, Chitauri who will let him have his way with the
earth in return for a bright blue cube called the Tesseract, a limitless energy source that
will give them control of the universe. Loki makes the deal although it scarcely feels like
a fair trade. He gets one planet, the Chitauri get everything else.
It’s a chaotic state of affairs once Loki transports to earth, forcing Nick Fury (Sam-
uel L. Jackson) of the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. to resort to his “Avengers Initia-
tive” to stop him. He also knows that bringing together a group of “remarkable people” to
fight the wars we never could, will not be a cakewalk.
Achieving a reasonably perfect spotlight balance between such a diverse group of
super heroes is not so simple either. Yet , director Joss Whedon does it so effortlessly as
he did with the lead characters in his Buffy tv series, fans of each Avenger will not be dis-
appointed or feel snubbed because their hero didn’t get enough attention. Everyone gets
to shine. It is by far, the finest juggling act of personalities you will ever see, much better
than the X-Men.
In the practically sacred Marvel tradition of their heroes fighting one another ( Hulk
Vs. The Thing, Spidey against the Human Torch), conflict must come before consensus.
And Whedon’s engaging and thankfully, non cheesy dialogue, takes full advantage of the
opportunity. Especially between Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr’s
Ironman. All of them have been loners in some sense of the word, so stark reality dic-
tates that their not exactly ready to cozy up to one another initially .Notwithstanding, they
also know they eventually must bond somehow in order to save our planet.
And bond they do, through the artful persuasion of Nick Fury, with some moral sup-
port from his right hand, sharp-eyed Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and of course, Clark
Gregg’s Agent Coulson. Nick even employs a clever bit of makeshift psychology that
makes the bind stronger.
Except for a lull period where we get to see our band engage one another, hashing out
their various hang ups and personal issues that define them, The Avengers has all the
eye-popping visuals and combat action that fans expect. Cinematographer Seamus
McGarvey and production designer James Chinlund explore the venues of air, land and
sea, taking our fighting team from Germany to Manhattan(the entire movie was filmed in
the U.S.)to take on Loki and his alien army of minions.
It is a rare movie indeed where everything works collectively, causing one to dismiss
or ignore any flaws. Joss Whedon has definitely created such a film with The Avengers.
There may be some who are ticked at the exclusion of some of the other Avengers (Ant-
man, Wasp). But with a talented cast including Chris Hemswoth, Scarlett Johannson
Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo(the new Hulk), plus a terrifically vibrant score from
Alan Silvestri, this franchise is off to a monumental start. Prayerfully, Marvel fans and
non-Marvel fans, as well as children and adults will be able to experience this rarity in
future Avengers movies.
Not to critique the critic, but I feel as though I have just read a summary rather than a review! Too much attention was applied to the plot of the box-office smash, rather than credit served to amazing team that pulled it all together.
When touching base on the visual aspects of the film, I expected to read about the collective effort put forth and the outstanding job accomplished to achieve high quality, action packed visualizations of specific scenes. Instead I read that “Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and production designer James Chinlund explore the venues of air, land and sea”, which ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied and a bit disappointed.
Although most actors appearing in the film were acknowledged, I feel that they weren’t fully represented to best extent of their contributions. Having never seen the film in review, I would have enjoyed reading more on the defining characteristics of the heroes portrayed, rather than just about which actors played each role, and which characters were and weren’t represented.
Overall this was a nice summarization of what to expect out of the plot of the story, but I can’t help but feel a little let down about what to expect from the actual quality of the film.
Great review. You did a good job summarizing the plot. If you feel the film had flaws to dismiss or ignore give an example, just be professional about it. Overall good review.