More on ‘The Avengers’

Man, do I love me some Avengers. By some twist of fate we got to see it twice, and we got our money’s worth both times. The second viewing felt just like the first, really—the jokes were still fresh, the twists were still meaningful, the action was still exciting.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. So let me break it down a little bit.

Marvel’s summer blockbuster superhero team-up had quite a bit of hype around it, and if you’d asked me before I saw it, I would have guessed that there was no way it could have lived up to our collective expectations. Well, I would have been wrong, and you know what? Sometimes I just love it when that happens.

Director Joss Whedon rewrote the script originally written by Zak Penn, and the former’s influence could be seen all over the script. The witty one-liners worked quite well given the context, since that’s a large part of the comic book experience (and perhaps with superhero comics specifically). Moreover, Whedon’s style really captured that golden age of Marvel feel, while still retaining some key aspects of modern comic book writing. There was a good amount of focus on the conflict inherent in the concept—namely, what happens when several different egos and ideologies collide. By sheer running time, the Avengers spent perhaps twice as long fighting each other as they did the actual villains.

Right now.

Around two hours later.

That, to me, is a very modern concept, but the treatment of each character individually really harkened back to the golden age, such as evaluating Thor’s power as pretty much on the level with the mortal heroes, and, as my co-blogger put it, “making Hulk scary again.”

“Hulk Smash!”

Quick aside: Mark Ruffalo was great. I did not see the Edward Norton Hulk (probably because the Eric Bana Hulk burned me too badly), so I can’t really compare, but I felt Mark Ruffalo captured Bruce Banner quite nicely.

The story was really done by-the-book, what with its faceless invading hordes, ping-ponging momentum, and the inevitable teaming up that sees the heroes victorious. I consider that decision neither good nor bad. Of course, there’s a reason these tropes show up so often in superhero team-ups: it’s a good opportunity to showcase the strengths of each individual member while still living up to the potential for awesome feats to be done by the team as a whole.

I think the best example of this is my favourite scene, where Iron Man flies through New York (of course) blasting away at the faceless soldiers, and as the camera follows him, we get to see a different Avenger doing their thing. The scene is capped by Iron Man landing back-to-back with Captain America, and the duo finishes off a group of invaders with Iron Man shining a beam of energy off of Captain America’s shield. It all happens rather quickly, but I’d be willing to bet that 90% of the people who watched the movie remember that scene.

I also love how the cinematography had this tendency of framing characters similar to a comic book panel. When two characters converse, the camera tends to shift focus from one to the other as each line of dialogue is exchanged. It’s the little things like that that really give the movie an authentic comic book feel.

“Is this comic-book enough for you?!”

The Avengers is a perfect summer film, and one of the better ones I’ve seen in a while (the best since Inception, I’d say). I have no complaints; that is perhaps left for viewers on either end of the fandom spectrum. Hardcore fans may decry the exclusion of certain Avengers (most notably the brother-sister duo of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who could not be used due to licensing issues). Some of them I don’t really miss (i.e. Ant-Man), but really, the last thing I’d complain about is the roster because, well, suffice it to say that it changes quite a bit. On the other hand, some of the more “serious” movie critics may not appreciate the more entertaining aspects of the film. Really, anyone who can’t suspend their disbelief for long enough to appreciate a Norse god descending from the heavens to throw down with a guy in an iron suit, or can do so but criticizes the depiction for being too unrealistic, should just move right along.

Everything about the film really appeals to your sense of childlike wonder, bringing you back to those idle school days when you talked to all your friends about your favourite scenes in this awesome movie you saw, or otherwise debated with them for hours as to whether or not Thor could take on Hulk. This could very well be the case for younger audiences, but for older viewers like me the experience can be fairly nostalgic. It only works if that sort of thing still makes any sense to you, though; the jaded need not apply.

Basically, if you like awesome things, then you’ve probably already seen The Avengers. But in case you haven’t seen it yet: go watch The Avengers. It is a pretty cool movie.

– J