AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel **SPOILERS**

[Admiral James Kirk]

If beaker says he doesn't like Avengers, he's lying. It's easily the biggest, coolest, action packed, fangasmiest, funniest and funnest time at the movies I've had in... I can't remember. It was truly a fun couple of hours at the movie and an experience I hope to enjoy every couple of years between standalone Marvels.

[od0_ital]

A+

I am not gonna read through twenty-two pages of posts.

Saw the first 3D showin' at my theater today, after missin' out on the midnight openin'. It was awesome & kicked all kinds of ass.

I'll be seein' it again, and again, and maybe a bit more after that, before it leaves theaters.

[foxhot]

Already it's the highest grossing Powers Boothe/Jenny Agutter/Harry Dean Stanton movie of all freaking time!!!!

And Joss Whedon truly ended it the only way he could.

[Aldo]

Just got back from it, and to say I loved it is an understatement. It was everything I was hoping it would be. And yet, it was even better than that. I mean, I expected to like it and all, but I just really enjoyed it, it was never slow for me, and everyone got their moment to shine. I could go on and on how I enjoyed it, but that's what everyone is doing. I do have a few gripes (or maybe just two):

Captain America and Thor. I love both of their solo films, I love the actors who play them, and yet in this movie I felt they were both overshadowed. It was a little disappointing to me. Then again, my friend did point out that in Thor, he was stripped of his powers for most of the film, so he was a more "human" character. In this film he was Thor, ThunderGod through the whole film.

[Procutus]

Wow, what a great movie! I don't even know where to begin, there were so many things about it I enjoyed. I really want to see this again, and soon. Joss Whedon is a god for delivering a movie that for me, met and exceeded all of my expectations.

[Caliburn24]

Best of the Marvel movies by far, probably in my top 3-4 superhero movies along with X2, TDK, Incredibles. Just not sure where at in that order quite yet.

But it is not a perfect movie. The score is instantly forgettable, but had they had some decent hummable character themes it could have been fantastic. Wasted opportunity.

The beginning of the movie drags a bit, getting all the characters to where they need to be. Whedon slips some humor in, which makes it more tolerable, but it still drags.

The Chitauri are weaksauce bad guys. And deeply uninteresting. Basically space pirates, with no piratical charm. The next movie needs someone who can go toe-to-toe with the heavy hitters of Hulk/Thor/Ironman and present a physical threat.

Finally, in the third act the council is way too quick to nuke New York. The Helicarrier should have positioned itself under the portal, and tried and failed to contain the alien invasion(c'mon, that would have been some sweet PEWPEW!). After the Helicarrier crashed or whatever, the council could have then ordered the nuke strike knowing their most advanced conventional military option wasn't going to cut it. It would also have given Nick and Maria some cool stuff to do instead of just watching things on the news.

[CaptainCanada]

Since superheroes started making the transition to live action, by far the hardest things to translate has been the literal action and the larger-than-life sorts of stories. Superman II, in the very early period, delivered some decent-looking stuff, but the technology really wasn't all there. Most of the movies in the post-X-Men world have tried to play down some of the more fanciful elements of the genre -- Marvel's own Thor, a part of this series, was pretty out there, but went out of its way to tone down the magic in favour of science. Fantastic Four shows the downside of this, where they completely stripped what should have been the most adventurous Marvel property of its wonder. I don't know if this movie is more "magical" per se, but in terms of both scope and live action fights this sets a new bar. All future superpowered action movies will be measured against this.

After so many movies worth of buildup, Whedon knits things together fairly efficiently, and so many pieces have been put in place that things start running very quickly.

The cast all works fairly well. Some characters feel a bit more unmored from their settings than others (Captain America most pronouncedly, though in a way that's fitting; but the movie mostly leaves his character arc for his next solo movie). Iron Man and the two characters basically introduced here (Black Widow and Hawkeye) feel most at home, and Banner slips in very seamlessly. I'm still not entirely sure I like Johansson as the Widow. She's not bad in the fight scenes (the opening chair scene features a few poor stagings, but that's not her fault), and is a good actress, but she never really feels foreign, which this movie confirms that Natasha is supposed to be; she doesn't have the sense of mystery that I think the Widow should have.

[Trekker4747]

LINK

The Cinema Snob begins again the Midnight Screening in-car afteward discussion videos. Usually pretty interesting and fun (more so if it was a bad movie.) Unfortuantly the group in the car with him this time aren't the "regulars" who normally do these Midnight Screenings with him (including his wife) but still and interesting chat.

[Dream]

Anyone else feel that this movie ended up being a way better Iron Man sequel than Iron Man 2?

[Warped9]

I'm planning on seeing this tomorrow.

[Dream]

I really liked Pepper Potts' cameo in this movie. She looked really looked nice in those jean short shorts.

[Turtletrekker]

I've seen it twice now. Epic. Awesome. Utterly amazing. A+

[Captain Craig]

Ditto, seen it twice now.
I have a friend who couldn't go today(Fri) due to family obligations. However, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day and after I hemmed and hawed told him I'd catch a 1:30 with him after we leave the sale at our LCS. Damn, twist my fricking arm.

I'm so sold on a "solo" Black Widow film. I use quotes cause Clint/Hawkeye could play a strong support role during part of the movie.

So Alexis Denisof is in this film right? Is he

playing Thanos at the end or is he all CGI. If not where is Alexis?

[Admiral James Kirk]

He's the leader of the Chitauri.

[Turtletrekker]

^Right. The guy who we see Loki talking to early on and then reporting to ****** at the end.

The Marvel Movie Wiki already has entries for Denisof's character, "The Other" and Thanos (And they really need to get better pics of both characters), who the wiki claims was played Damion Poitier. IMDB lists Poitier's character as "Man #1", but that would seem to be misdirection.