It’s the latest thing, the film everyone is talking
about, possibly the best film of 2012, so far at least. A week later than planned I finally got to
see The Avengers.
There has been a great build up to this film, with
individual prequels for some characters; Ironman, Thor and Captain America. What made this film a winner and must-see was
when Joss Whedon took over the writing and directing duties. Suddenly the genius behind Buffy and Firefly
was given a chance at a mainstream masterpiece and he didn’t disappoint.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston), last seen disappearing into the
space from brother Thor’s grasp, arrives on Earth, takes Dr. Selvig (Stellan
Skarsgard) and Agent Barton (Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner) both last seen in
Thor, under his command along with the Tesseract, last seen in Captain America
and capable of great power. Fury (Samuel
L Jackson) gathers Black Widow (Johannson), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr),
Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Steve Rogers (Chris Pine) to retrieve the
Tesseract. Along the way, Thor arrives
on Earth to take his brother home, Loki’s army arrives to take over the Earth
and the Avengers are formed.
I can’t say what this film meant to the diehard Avengers
fans but from what I’ve read not many have been disappointed. As someone who has never read the comics,
this film was spectacular; funny, well written and inspiring with vibrant
action sequences.
The Avengers is the bringing together of a lot of
characters made known and well loved by prequels; Ironman, Thor and Loki, Captain
America, Hulk and to the lesser extent Fury, Black Widow and Hawkeye (who is
referred to as Agent Barton throughout the film). There was always a danger that a film
culminating in so many big, individual characters could be disastrous but the
writers managed to develop the dialogue and story so that the team worked but
no characters were compromised.
Tony Stark is probably the best known, as there have been
two Ironman films with a third on the way, and he remains charming, sarcastic
and humorous.
I was concerned about Captain America. As you may remember I reviewed his prequel
film last week and I wasn’t keen. His
character was too good, plain and boring but I had hope for his
development. My hope was well
placed. He is still plain and full of
good values, that’s who he is, but in The Avengers he is struggling with the
modern world, feeling out of place and missing those that he left behind. He is looking for his place in the new world
and his values rub up against Tony Stark creating a fun tension; suddenly
Captain America isn’t all good and pure.
In The Avengers, Captain America becomes much more human and therefore
likeable.
I have never watched a Hulk film all the way through but
would wait impatiently to watch a Hulk film starring Mark Ruffalo with Joss
Whedon at the helm (which is currently in discussion and Ruffalo has since
signed up for more Marvel films).
Ruffalo plays Bruce Banner sympathetically and quietly, you can feel the
anger boiling beneath him and the anticipation of what may happen. This is the first film where the actor
playing Banner actually plays the Hulk via virtual-camera-motion-capture rather
than the big green man being purely CGI or played by a different actor. The result of sensitive acting and the
technology used is that Hulk steals the show.
I thoroughly enjoyed Thor
and so was very glad to see both Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki again. When mixed in with Earthly superheroes and
warriors, these gods stand apart. It
could be said that Hemsworth is a little wooden but I believe this is simply a
result of a god standing next to Tony Stark.
Loki has grown since we last saw
him. He is still jealous and living in
his brother’s shadow but he is darker, having seen things in the universe that
Thor could not fathom. He still has
weaknesses, struggling to be a leader, but now he is a showman with powerful allies
and makes an excellent super-villian.
The two non-superheroes in The Avengers are Black Widow and Agent Barton. While we have seen Johannson’s Black Widow in
previous Ironman films, we have not
yet met Hawkeye. The Avenger’s gives viewers a chance to wet their lips at the back
story to these two agents. Black Widow
is the only female in the team and she is a very effective spy. While she fights well and she is definitely not
present to be just a romantic connection, her best scene is her first. Perhaps physical fighting is not her strong
point compared to the others but at least she holds her own and makes her
presence felt. Agent Barton, on the
other hand, is skilled for fighting with his bow and arrow and I found his
fighting scenes just as enjoyable and thrilling as the ones with Captain
America, Thor, Hulk and Ironman. My only
complaint when it comes to Barton is that we don’t learn much about him earlier
as he is under Loki’s control. Suddenly
he is brought into the team and immediately fits in when it actually took the
rest of the team longer, with more arguments, to gel.
Although the plot to The Avengers is simple, for a film
of this scale I think anything elaborate would have ruined the whole endeavour. The effects are well done and mostly the film
is fast paced, with elements of heartfelt emotion and brilliant humour. Perhaps the only thing I can say against this
film is the length, in some places the plot feels a little stuttered and at one
point I wondered if it was about to end without any conclusion. But if you just let these moments slide, the
result is a beautifully written, funny, epic action comic book hero film that I
feel the desperate need to see again and again.
Make sure you stay through the end credits!
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