The Avengers

Rating: 5 Shurikens

This is truly a great movie. It is the kind of movie that makes me wonder, “who are the people who give out Academy Awards, and why don’t the give a movie like The Avengers ‘Best Picture’?” This movie is like the most sequel of all sequels, having no less than five movies that it is sequel to: The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Well, maybe not actually Iron Man, so four. But I digress….

Joss Whedon, a genius in his own right, directed. He is famous for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and television series, and the Angel spinoff. He brought us the sci-fi series Firefly and the movie Serenity, based on the Firefly TV series. He created the Dollhouse TV series, and wrote Alien Resurrection and the screenplay for Toy Story, a classic and one of my all-time favorite moves.

The top-billed actor is Robert Downey, Jr., in his third movie as Iron Man. He also played Sherlock Holmes in two recent films. Iron Man 3 is being produced even now, and will probably be out in 2013. Gwyneth Paltrow returns a Pepper Potts. Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor. Chris Evans reprises his role as Captain America, having also starred as The Human Torch inboth Fantastic Four movies. He was in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, as Lucas Lee and Jensen in The Losers, both comic book adaptations.

The movie begins at SHIELD headquarters, where scientists are working on a project involving a blue glowing cube of some unknown energy, under the watchful eye of Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson. He has his agent Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner, standing guard. Jackson is a versatile actor, one guy whose movies I always enjoy, such as Pulp Fiction. He played Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Nick Fury in the other Marvel movies, and was Octopus in The Spirit. His works are too numerous to mention. Jeremy Renner was crazy bomb squad guy in The Hurt Locker, and was also in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. 

The main villain of the movie is Loki, brilliantly portrayed by Tom Hiddleston. A relatively unknown actor before Thor, Hiddleston seems like he was born for the role. The scientist Professor Erik Selvig, played by Stellan Skarsgard, is in charge of studying the cube. Most of the characters in the movie are directly from the comic books, but Professor Selvig was created for Thor, the movie. Loki appears from nowhere and takes over his mind, and mind of Hawkeye, and he uses them to capture the cube and escape from SHIELD HQ. It is kind of funny watching a nigh-omnipotent demigod riding in the back of a pickup truck, but if you don’t think about it too carefully, you will be OK.

We are introduced to SHIELD Agent Marie Hill, who is played by Cobie Smulders. I knew I recognized her, but was at a loss until I learned that she is from the TV series How I Met Your Mother. She fit right in to a dramatic role, even though her TV show is a comedy series. The series is quite funny, in fact, and better, in my opinion, than that stupid show that purports to be a comedy about nerds like myself, The Big Bang Theory. I watched a couple of episodes of that, but found it strained and not really funny, while I can sit and watch How I Met Your Mother for hours at a time. But again, I digress…

The scene shifts to Black Widow, introduced in Iron Man 2, played by Scartlett Johansen. She is tied up to a chair and being interrogated by some Eastern European mobsters when her cell phone rings. The part that follows is retty darn entertaining to say the least. She is needed to bring in Bruce Banner, the human who becomes The Incredible Hulk if angered. Edward Norton didn’t reprise his role of Bruce Banner, but they managed to get a decent replacement in Mark Rufallo. Clark Gregg returns as Agent Phil Coulson, who had a role in Thor and was seen in Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

The action is quite intense at times, and the number of heroes and villains threatens to overwhelm the audience, but somehow this does not happen. The story moves easily from one scene to another. The tensions between the characters play off nicely, and the fight scenes between the members as their team is forming are classic. The Avengers clocks in at around two hours, twenty minutes, and is full of action from the start until the very end. There are clashes between Iron Man and Thor, Thor and Hulk, and Hawkeye and Black Widow. Nick Fury gets some action and a bigger part than any previous Marvel film. The damage to New York City is epic as alien creatures in league with Loki attempt to invade Earth. SHIELD’s venerable Helicarrier is impressive, brought well up to date from its original conception in the early Marvel comics.

As for future stories, Iron Man 3 is in production, expected to be out next year. Both Thor and Captain America have their own sequels announced and should be in theaters in the next couple of years. Apparently, there is some backstory involving Hawkeye and Black Widow, which hopefully will make it into some future movie. So far, I haven’t seen any rumors about a Hulk sequel or either of Black Widow or Hawkeye spinoffs, but would not be surprised to see them in the near future. I would go see any of those, even if they sucked as bad as Ang Lee’s Hulk. An Avengers sequel is also a pretty good bet, but probably won’t be seen until 2015.

The Avengers could easily be the best movie this year. It may end up being the top grossing movie of the whole year, and is setting records at the box office in America and around the world. The essence of the original comic books is captured, and I am one who actually read those comics way back when my parents thought they would waste your mind on useless fantasy and teachers would confiscate them. One of the hallmarks of the early Marvel comics was the propensity of the heroes themselves to crack wise, as it were. The Avengers has an amazing amount of humor that does not detract at all from the seriousness of the storyline. I highly recommend seeing it, and I intend to see it a cople of more times before it gets out of the theater. I give it a full 5 Shurikens for excellent story, awesome characterizations by the actors and spectacular special effects, and also for the wisecracking humor. Go see it.

The Hunger Games

Rating: 3.5 Shurikens

What to say about The Hunger Games? I heard the movie was coming, based on a trilogy of novels, written by a woman, and aimed at a teenage audience, about a post-apocalyptic future. It seems that the central government of the country that rises from the ashes of America, after rising oceans and natural disasters, has to put a revolution down by force. The country is then named Panem, and the twelve Districts become  basically enslaved colonies of the Capital. All of the efforts of their labors are taken, and they are allowed to keep only enough to subsist. All the other resources are sent to the capital, and if there is anything left, it goes to the Districts. There was a thirteenth district, but it was reportedly eradicated as an example to the others.

The Hunger Games are staged annually, and each of the twelve Districts has to volunteer two young people between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, to fight in an arena which is based on a new and original design each year. But wait, there's more. The district that produces the winning contestant earns rewards for their entire district. But even that is not all: There can be only one winner, and all the others must die at the hands of each other. Only one can walk out alive.

The story is about one girl, Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take the place of her little sister, who just turned thirteen and had the bad luck for her name to be drawn from the names of all the teenagers in District Twelve. Katniss has a lot of experience hunting with a bow and arrows, even though it is illegal to go out into the wilderness to hunt. She has been quite successful and has a real talent with the bow, a lot like Robin Hood or Hawkeye. The books are written in the first person, essentially from the point of view of the girl herself.

This is pretty heavy stuff. I quickly obtained each book in the trilogy, and I found the first book fairly entertaining, the second book was better, but by the time I was finished with the third book, I was tired of the first-person narrative. It was hard for the author to keep the heroine involved in the complicated storylines resulting from tying up all of the loose ends created in the second book.

The movie follows the book quite closely, although some details were changed to allow a shortening of the story. Some other details were omitted completely, and of course, as with all book adaptation movies, you lose a lot of the character interactions and nuances, especially if you read the book first. In the case of The Hunger Games, it remained entertaining in spite of the abridgements. I think that the enjoyment of the movie would be enhanced by reading the book, otherwise you would have little idea what is actually going on.

Katniss is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in X-Men First Class, and is expected to be in the same role in the sequel due in a couple of years. She will also be in the Hunger Games  sequel, Catching Fire, which is the title of the second book. This probably means that there will be a third, since the second movie is expected next year. This particular series will be best exploited quickly, lest the readers all grow up and forget about it.

Katniss has a close friend, who is her hunting partner, named Gale Hawthorn, who is played by Liam Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor in Thor and The Avengers, is the older brother of Liam. Anyway, Gale and Katniss are good friends, and you can just tell there is a spark between them. This relationship is not well-developed in the books, and even though you almost expect Katniss and Gale to go into the arena together, it isn't happening. Peeta Mellark, the Baker's son, is picked as the boy, and the obligatory love triangle is formed. Peeta is played by Josh Hutcherson, who was in Journey to the Center of the Earth alongside Brendan Fraser, and its sequel Journey 2: The Lost Island. In my opinion, the casting for Peeta was unfortunate, as Hutcherson is a little boyish-looking, and doesn't present a serious heroic appearance, but that is just My Opinion. He will return in Catching Fire, as will Liam Hemsworth.

The story unfolds as the drawing of names takes place, and soon the contestants are on a train to the Capital, where they meet one of very few winners from their own district, Haymitch Abernathy, played by Woody Harrelson. Haymitch is obligated to be the mentor of contestants from his district, and his help is important to Katniss and Peeta. When they arrive at the capital, they are assigned a wardrobe artist, Cinna, played by Lenny Kravitz, the rock musician. Seneca Crane is the leader of the team which designs the games, played by Wes Bently, a very capable villainous actor who played Blackheart in Marvel's Ghost Rider. President Snow is played by the venerable Donald Sutherland, who has numerous movies to his credit.

The outcome of the movie is highly predictable, especially if you read the books. The target audience has mostly read the books, so they are probably not surprised at all. The acting is fine, but the story is weak in places, and you can see the actors trying to appear as if they are making some kind of sense in their dialog. Part of the difference between the movie and the book is the whole first-person narrative thing. It doesn't translate as well to the screen since all through the book you are in her head the whole time, and the movie is mostly viewed from the outside in.

I wasn't too thrilled with the movie. I am happy that the woman who wrote the books has seen them really take off and make her tons of money plus being immortalized in movies. I love a capitalist success story. Other than that, I would recommend waiting for the DVD or Blu-Ray or just get it on demand. The special effects are good, but the story somewhat weak, and some of the characters are also kind of poorly acted, and even the star seems unconvinced of things which should be core values for her. I won't say any more, you have to see it for yourself. I give it 3.5 Shurikens.

John Carter

Rating: 4 1/2 Shurikens

Disney reportedly spent 250 million dollars on this adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic, John Carter. Burroughs was the author of the original Tarzan books, which spawned numerous movies, comic books, paperbacks, a TV show, and even a Disney cartoon. John Carter was the subject of some science-fiction fantasy novels, but I remember it most from the comic book adaptation done by Marvel in the 70's. When I heard it was coming, I had to go see it.

John Carter is an entertaining story, certainly worth the amount of money Disney spent on it. Carter, played by Taylor Kitsch, is a civil war veteran who, while searching for gold, finds himself on Mars. At the time when he arrives, Mars is inhabited by several races of beings: Humanoids, very much like humans, make up two factions warring for control of the planet, while a monstrous race of twelve-foot savage creatures called Tharks eke out an existence of there own on the barren world. Not surprisingly, Mars is portrayed as a desert planet. The politics are complicated by a third race, the Thern, very human, but also somewhat supernatural and also immortal. This third race seems to enjoy fomenting conflict between the human factions, for reasons unknown.

The main romantic interest is a beautiful woman named Dejah Thoris, played by Lynn Collins, who was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Kayla Silverfox. Thoris has discovered some sort of energy source, which is used by the opposing human faction, the Zodanga, to cause death and destruction on her side, known as Helium. Nobody will listen to her, because she has been promised to the enemy leader as a tribute to end the war, and since Helium is mostly losing the war, her own father is willing to marry her off and surrender.

The movie begins near the end, with Carter evading someone in the rain, as he gets in touch with his lawyers and his relative, Edgar Rice Burroughs. It seems he has died and left Edgar in charge of his estate. The journal he left tells the whole story of how he was searching for gold in the Indian territories of the Old West, but the Army is truying to press him into service to help quell Indian uprisings. He refuses to join, and is jailed, but escapes, and kidnaps the Army Captain who commands the troops in the area.

While fleeing the Army, with his captive, he discovers the cave he has been looking for. Inside there is gold, but a strange being appears, and not expecting to see anyone, attacks Carter with a knife. Carter is too fast, and kills the stranger with his gun. The stranger drops a blue glowing amulet. If you haven't guessed already, this is the way he gets to Mars.

When he arrives, he discovers that he can jump really high, and is also quite strong. The difference in gravity apparently gives him quite a bit of strength relative to the natives of Mars. He meets the Tharks first, who he makes friends with, as he impresses them with his abilities. At first, he is clumsy and quite comical. Soon, he is invited into their community.

There is quite a bit of interpersonal drama between the different Tharks, which helps make the movie interesting from the beginning. Carter starts out on the right side, but his lack of understanding causes some difficulty, and he comes out on the wrong side later on. A huge dog-like creature, which is extremely fast and a pet of the Tharks, takes a liking to Carter, and turns up at different times to add some humor to the story.
Tars Tarkus is the leader of the Tharks, and is played by Willem Dafoe, who is probably best known for his role in the Spider-Man trilogy of the early 21st century, playing Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Sola is the Thark that Carter is given to, played by Samantha Morton, who played the precog Agatha in Minority Report. Thomas Hayden Church, who played Sandman in Spiderman 3 is Tal Hajus, the next leader of the Tharks, also quite anxious to take over. The Tharks are all twelve feet tall, and have four arms, so there is a lot of computer-generated content, and the actors are not that easy to recognize.

At some point, he encounters the warring factions, as the Zodanga are attacking the forces of Helium. He gets involved in the battle, and meets Dejah Thoris for the first time. The people of Mars, which they call Barsoom, have flying ships as transportation. She falls from one, as they are battling, and Carter rescues her as she is falling.

Her father is ready to make peace by marrying her off, and she is trying to rally the troops on her side to keep fighting. Meanwhile, the Thern known as Matai Shang, has been helping in the war effort be giving the Zodangans access to a secret technology to use as a weapon. The Thern are pushing for the marriage of the Zodanga leader to Dejah Thoris, coinciding with an eclipse of Mars' 2 moons. Matai Shang is played by Mark Strong, who has been in quite a few good movies, such as Kick Ass, Green Lantern, and Sherlock Holms. Most of the time he is a villain, and he is a good one.

 John Carter has a lot of the excitement of the Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace. The Barsoomian airships are much like the speeder races, and the Tharks are quite like Jar Jar Binks, but John Carter does so much better by not making the Tharks completely ridiculous. The dog creature is aimed straight at little kids, and the rest is pure sci-fi, with the talent of a great writer of nearly a century ago.All in all, it is a great package. Long, at over 2 hours, epic, with lots of action, and even some really interesting plot twists near the end, I give it 4.5 Shurikens.