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

How do you grade The Avengers?

  • Total voters
    321
  • Poll closed .
Trekker4747 said:
Timby said:
Trekker4747 said:
Are spoiler rules applicable in threads where the title warns of them?
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When the film hasn't been officially released anywhere yet, absolutely.
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Ah, makes sense.

Now what about when the movie is released overseas next week before its release in America? ;)
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Then I would point you to the spoiler rules, which are stickied at the very top of this forum:

- Finally, the statute of limitations on whether to consider an episode/film free of spoilers is one year from the time when it first airs, wherever it first airs. If a new episode of a series or film airs on June 1st in England then on Aug 1st in the US, the clock starts ticking on June 1st.
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Now, can we get back to talking about The Avengers, or would you like to continue backseat modding?
 
Shazam! said:
Timby said:
can we get back to talking about The Avengers, or would you like to continue backseat modding?
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I'd like the backseat modding to continue, please.
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cap_helmet.jpg


Captain Stupid-Ass-Helmet America disagrees with you.
 
Timby said:
The reviews are intriguing, but I'm still waiting for something that says anything deeper than "I liked it, the characters did cool things." I have yet to see a single review that says anything about the cinematography, the visual effects, the direction, the actual filmmaking. I keep going back to that clip of Thor and Captain America fighting in the street, which breaks the 180 rule so hard that it makes my head spin. It all feels like a bunch of inconsequential, weightless action which exists for the sole purpose of arranging the titular characters in poses that make for good posters. All that it has going for it, so far, is, "Damn, wow, if you would have told me you'd see professional actors cosplaying and doing Jim Lee poses 10 or 15 years ago, I wouldn't have believed you! What strange times we live in!"

Maybe that's what people want, I don't know. But, again, all of the reviews that have come out since the embargo was lifted feel horribly superficial, much like how all the released footage of the film feels.
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Nah, there have been plenty of scifi/superhero movies over the years with weightless, inconsequential action and characters who do nothing but strike cool poses (Underworld, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, etc), and the critics usually don't hesitate to point it out.

What's different this time (and what I see reflected in the reviews) is that Whedon makes the action genuinely exciting, because the characters have tons of charm and personality and we actually give a shit what happens to them. And unlike most overblown, CG-heavy action movies nowadays, it actually knows how to be fun and witty like a blockbuster should be.
 
So wait... does Cap not shoot guns in this movie? I can't recall seeing it in the trailers, and there's no holster on his new uniform.

The one thing I appreciated about the previous movie was they actually gave him some freakin guns to shoot, instead of simply flinging the dorky shield around. Unfortunately looks like that idea was ditched for this movie...
 
OK, folks. Here's my brief review of Avengers: http://damon-young.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/why-does-avengers-movie-work.html.

I've tried to identify exactly why it works (instead of just saying "it's awesome"). A sample:

Why does Joss Whedon's The Avengers work? Because it does: brilliantly.

(Yes, it works as action, not as drama or art-house. If you want slow existential agony or impressionistic vignettes, go elsewhere.)

It can be summed up with one word: 'balance'.

Whedon - the wunderkind behind Buffy and Firefly - clearly knows how to deliver action. The Avengers, as with the other outings in Marvel's comic franchise (Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America), is a beautiful balance of CGI artistry with old-fashioned bodily performance.

All the leads obviously trained exhaustively to fight, jump, fall, roll and generally look physical. It looks palpable. Their performances blend beautifully with the CGI, which amplifies their physicality, and provides them with fantastic enemies and weapons. Take, for example, the fight between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Junior).
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Timby said:
The reviews are intriguing, but I'm still waiting for something that says anything deeper than "I liked it, the characters did cool things." I have yet to see a single review that says anything about the cinematography, the visual effects, the direction, the actual filmmaking. I keep going back to that clip of Thor and Captain America fighting in the street, which breaks the 180 rule so hard that it makes my head spin. It all feels like a bunch of inconsequential, weightless action which exists for the sole purpose of arranging the titular characters in poses that make for good posters. All that it has going for it, so far, is, "Damn, wow, if you would have told me you'd see professional actors cosplaying and doing Jim Lee poses 10 or 15 years ago, I wouldn't have believed you! What strange times we live in!"

Maybe that's what people want, I don't know. But, again, all of the reviews that have come out since the embargo was lifted feel horribly superficial, much like how all the released footage of the film feels.
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So even with the unanimous praise for the film so far, that's still not good enough for you? :wtf:

I think you're just determined to hate this film, and nothing you hear will change your mind.
 
thefilmcynics.com - grade,unknown, but hungry for more
As for the technical aspects of the film, it’s clear that Disney spared no expense, although I really could have done without the 3D. Too much of the film happens in the dark, and coupled with the umbrage of stereoscopic photography, it was tricky to make out some of the action.

There were some out there who wondered about how Whedon, who made a name for himself working with strong female characters, would fare with just one woman in the mix opposite of some of the manliest men in fiction. Scarlett Johansson definitely turns in a strong performance, but the truth is that she is sidelined in favour of those with super powers, resulting in less cross-character flirting than we might be used to, but the abundance of super-human feats fills that gap admirably.
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emmanualelevy.com - B+ grade
I think the director and his writing partner will not be offended if I describe “The Avengers” as a complex (but not complicated), well-oiled machine (or toy box), in which no less than eight characters are interfaced, while each maintaining his or hers personal arc and yet make sense.

There is another juggling act that Whedon pulls off successfully: He has made a picture broad enough to satisfy the expectations of the fans of the previous movies, while honoring the wishes of the fans of the comic books. (There is, of course, overlap between the two groups, but they are not the same, nor are their desires).
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entertainingevil.com - A+ grade
The Avengers culminates with an explosive finale that delivers everything I wanted and more. Then there is a credits scene that sets up, not only the future of The Avengers, but possibly the future of the landscape of the next Marvel Studios films. (More about this below in my spoiler-zone). Expect to leave with joy, warm and fuzzy feelings, and most likely the urge to go back to the box office and just buy yourself another ticket to immediately return and watch it again. Thank you Joss Whedon, Marvel, Disney and Paramount. I can now die a happy man. Nothing will be able to touch this film for us geeks for years.
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I didn't read his spoiler section so go to the link where I assume he spills the info on the post credits sequence.
 
davejames said:
So wait... does Cap not shoot guns in this movie? I can't recall seeing it in the trailers, and there's no holster on his new uniform.
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There was a scene in one of the trailers where he was seen shooting either a M60 or a M246 SAW out a window.

The one thing I appreciated about the previous movie was they actually gave him some freakin guns to shoot, instead of simply flinging the dorky shield around. Unfortunately looks like that idea was ditched for this movie...
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The shield is Cap's iconic weapon and defense. "Gun Cap" is a modern re-invention of the character, and one I'd just as soon not see.

Cap don't need no stinking gun...he's Captain America!
 
There are 25 reviews in at Rottentomatoes now and the first 'Rotten' has turned up. The reviewer submits their entry as either 'fresh' or 'rotten' and he gives it 3of5 stars. I wonder if he hit the wrong radial button on his submission form? 3o5 doesn't sound rotten to me.

boxofficemagazine.com - 3 of 5 stars, *rotten*
The Avengers almost works. It's funny and it's physical, but even at two and a half hours, it plays like it's on fast-forward. Forget character development—there's not even character explanation. The lesser Avengers are most slighted. After two movies with Black Widow and Hawkeye, I know less about them then I do the fighting Panda in Tekken. But at least Johansson and Renner get to square off in the flick's best mano-a-mano battle, which is thrilling and wince-worthy because they're human and evenly matched—everyone else just slams each other against trees. Much of the movie is rotating video game mash-ups: Thor against Iron Man, Iron Man against Hulk, Hulk against Loki. It'd get monotonous if writer-director Joss Whedon hadn't written in literal punchlines—there's at least two face-smashes that get a loud laugh. And some of the best duels are mental, like a calculating showdown between Black Widow and Loki. They never touch, but the violence hums.
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"You will be begging for another Incredible Hulk film after you've seen The Avengers. They finally characterize him like he's yet to be done. It's the Hulk we've been waiting for!!"
Around the 2:30 mark give or take.
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I so can't wait to see HULK!!!
 
Yeah it looks like Ruffalo's Hulk is going to be the break through character from this movie from everything I've read about it so far, which is kind of what I expected, he's also who I'm most excited to see (other than Cobie Smulder's Maria Hill). I still think we'll get a Hulk movie sequel for 2015. It's possible that the television series might interfere somehow with this but I doubt it.
 
Admiral_Young said:
Yeah it looks like Ruffalo's Hulk is going to be the break through character from this movie from everything I've read about it so far, which is kind of what I expected, he's also who I'm most excited to see (other than Cobie Smulder's Maria Hill). I still think we'll get a Hulk movie sequel for 2015. It's possible that the television series might interfere somehow with this but I doubt it.
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I can certainly imagine this Hulk being very popular. Ruffalo's performance is excellent. He's a very gregarious actor - to me, at least - but he pulls off a really nice balance between warmth and threat, which suggests the Hulk lurking unseen.

And when the big guy does break out, Whedon does a brilliant job of combining ferocity with laughs. In my screening, the two biggest (i.e. loudest, longest) laughs of the film were down to the green dude.
 
Wait, to clarify, once the movie comes out in certain parts of the world (it's coming out here in Australia on Wednesday, just a few days from now), we can have a spoiler-filled discussion of the movie in this thread, right?

But then, why is the anticipation thread now locked? Aren't fans in the US, and other countries where it doesn't come out until May, going to want to post about their anticipation of it in a thread where they don't have to wade through a bunch of spoilers?
 
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