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.
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