As a small kid growing up with action figures littered around my bedroom, imagining that one day all of the pretend explosions and fisticuffs happening would become a semi-reality onscreen seemed like an impossibility. As Marvel began to construct their heroes one solo-adventure at a time, and dropped subtle(and not-so subtle) hints at a team film coming to fruition, the inevitable excitement began to grow that idea of super-powered characters joining forces against an evil greater than any one of them was going to actually happen. Thankfully the reins were handed over to a fellow geek in the form of Joss Whedon, who not only stepped up to the plate and took a big swing, but connected and was able to knock the ball far enough out of the park to put other studios on notice that the bar has just been raised.
Looking back on the previous films, Iron Man and Captain America really stood out to me as the most enjoyable, mostly due to the fact that Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans perfectly nailed the characterizations of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers like I’d always thought they should from their adventures in the funny books. RDJ was able to make Stark arrogant and likeable all at once, and Evans truly embodied a humble soldier who stepped up in a time of need. Thor’s standalone film was fun in parts, and Chris Hemsworth is great in the role, but I never really connected with him as a character who I wanted to see 2 hours of. The member of the team who’s really been given the short end of the stick in the world of cinema though is Hulk. It seems no matter what they tried to do with him, each director tasked with the adventures of Dr. Banner couldn’t grasp what made reading about the green giant exciting for generations of fans. Going in, I was definitely concerned that amidst all the supporting players, again we’d be left without a great outing for the big guy, but it seems that with this team dynamic, and under Whedon’s creativity, Hulk has not only been given his best onscreen appearance to date, but actually manages to outshine almost every other character. (more on that in a bit)
There are quite a few reviews already popping up online, and if there’s any common negativity towards the film, it’s that the first half is too slow to build up to the main action beats. Honestly, thinking back about the film a couple days removed from seeing it, I have to say that the buildup works more in favor of the story than against it. Imagine you’re going on a roller coaster. You’ve seen the ride from far off. You know that it’s going to have some twists and turns, but there’s that really big drop that you know is going to be exhilarating and just take your breath away. Well there’s a steep, steady climb that builds to that point. You hear the track clicking, your hands grip the bar in anticipation, and just before you crest the top, your hands shoot up in the air, ready for something amazing. That initial climb is the first half of The Avengers. It’s not wall-to-wall action, but it’s quality character work building up to an incredible payoff. You get to see the characters interact on a level we haven’t before. They realize that not only are they not alone in the world of super-powered beings, but perhaps they’re not as strong or as heroic as they once thought themselves. It’s watching them learn how to actually be a cohesive group that engages you emotionally, and then when the roof gets blown off the theatre with comic-book-crazy-action, it’s all that more rewarding.
Yes, the action. Oh, the action. The last half of the film. Wow. There’s just not a lot to say other than it will leave goose bumps on the arms of any fan who has ever dreamt of something of this magnitude. It’s just almost too good to believe. Watching Hulk and Thor back to back fending off alien invaders; seeing Iron Man swoop in to lend a repulsor ray- assist to a shield-swinging Cap…these are visuals literally popping off the page. It seemed that once the full scale of Loki’s plan is unleashed, there were literally dozens of moments back to back where the theatre I was in would let out an audible shout of approval followed by thunderous applause. It’s moments like these that make being a comic fan in this day and age so much fun. We’re able to gather and literally “geek-out” together over childhood heroes being brought to cinematic life.
The actors themselves all seem to be really on their game, including ScarJo and Renner, who get some quality scenes as Black Widow and Hawkeye, but a couple of special mentions have to be given. One goes to Tom Hiddleston, who really plays the sole baddie of the film, and handles it with ease. This shouldn’t be too surprising as he was the standout character in Thor, however he ups the ante a bit and is able to go from a calm demeanor to wickedly intense in a matter of seconds, no matter what character he’s standing against. It’s his villainous turn that carries a lot of the film, and he was more than up for the task. The other round of applause has to go out to Mark Ruffalo, who seems to actually get Bruce Banner more than any other actor to step into the purple pants(Sorry Ed Norton, you’re no longer tops in that deparment). Ruffalo doesn’t play Banner as a depressed doc struggling with constant inner-turmoil. He’s adjusted quite well to his life with the monster within, and when he’s finally able to unleash the best, well…spoiling all of those scenes wouldn’t be fair to those that haven’t yet seen it. Needless to say, nearly every uproarious ovation from the screening I attended centered around the great green goliath.
There’s constant comparison between The Avengers and Chris Nolan’s upcoming ending to his Bat-trilogy, but those comparisons seem so off-base due to the completely different takes on the properties. Yes, Nolan has crafted an extremely intriguing world of hyper-realism and crime drama that peaks at an intellectual level, but Whedon has done something that others before him have failed to do. He literally made a comic book come to life. Not in a way that’s cheesy, but in a way that both honors the creators of the characters and stories that have come before, and allows the audience to do something that is often missed when adapting four colored adventures...just have FUN.
Is The Avengers a perfect film? I’m not even sure what a perfect film would look like if I saw it, nor do I think many critics would either. That isn’t really the point though. It’s all about whether or not a gamble like this would pay off. Future films like Justice League(someday….someday) could entirely depend on the success or failure of this, the first true superhero team-up. It’s easy to see that this will more than pay off though. Marvel has a bona fide blockbuster on their hands, and a master craftsman in Joss Whedon. The Avengers works in all the ways it should, and left me grinning like that little kid playing with his toys.
Grade: A+