Saw it last Saturday and absolutely love it.. one of the best mainstream summer blockbuster movies i ever saw... Grade A (could have been A+ but i'll get to it).
Now i've been a Marvel Fan since a kid so i know my superheroes.. their origins, their gadgets and so on and i most likely know more about the comic backgrounds than most people with me in the theater and i've seen every new breed Marvel superhero movie since Blade and X-Men re-started it all those years ago.
Most of them are good, some of them near brilliant and some stiinkers but Avengers almost instantly takes top spot.. in front of Iron Man and Spider-Man.
When Marvel decided to build a cohesive movie universe i wasn't aware of it that much.. i watched Iron Man and hugely enjoyed myself and for whatever reason i never put 2 and 2 together when Coulson (the always great Clark Gregg) refered to his branch until he spelled it out at the end of the movie which nearly gave me a fan induced heartattack when he said Shield
Only moments later (smart man that i am i stayed to after credits) i see Ultimate Nick Fury played by the Man himself talking about the Avenger Initiative and i lost my mind the second time in a few minutes.
Ever since i enjoyed the buildup movies but i also feared that all the hype and anticipation just guaranteed that expectations couldn't be met.. that we'd get a lukewarm movie that just a collection of set pieces, intricate (and well done) special effect shots and some jokes and nods which only comic book fans would understand fully.
In short.. due to the Hollywood system.. i had little hopes for Avengers to really blow me out of the water.
First signs of hope were when they hired Joss Whedon to helm that whole thing.. they got the King of Nerds to make the mother of all nerd movies and i was happy. Then i thought about the system again.. Whedon gets pop culture and comics, he's basically one of us but with real writing and directing talent but will he be able to resist studio meddling and all those marketing people telling him what needs to be in the movie because their "research" has shown that it's popular and it sells.
Unfortunately he's no Spielberg, Scorsese, Scott or Cameron with a proven financial track record so he could tell the studio to fuck off and let him do the movie how he wants but either the studio understood that they got the perfect guy to helm their 100+ million tentpole movie or he's way more persuasive than i gave him credit for.
So the movie starts and ii'm in blissful heaven.. as i said, i love it. Whedon really did put together a movie that was entertaining as hell, that didn't put any of the huge stars or characters above anyone else and from all these ingredients he made a brilliant team movie. I'm no movie expert and maybe i'll find flaws when everything has setteled but then no one can take away my initial feelings of brilliance come to screen.
Most favorite scenes include:
- Stark jabbing Banner in the side and then watching him like a scientist who just prodded an animal to get a reaction
- the 3 main egos duking it out in the woods
- Banner hulking out and chasing down the Black Widow
- Black Widow.. just everything (especially when she/Scarlett Johannsen extracted information from Loki.. i really believed he got to her.. amazing acting by Scarlett
)
- Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye.. especially the automatic quiver arrow assembly controlled by a button on the bow.. brilliant idea
- The Hulk.. maybe the breakout character of the movie. In both forms just brilliant.. Mark Ruffallo pulled off a very good Bruce Banner.. i was a bit sad that Norton had to abandon the role but Ruffalo was a good replacement but his alter ego was just cool as hell. Hulk got the biggest roar of laughter when he cut short the monologue of Loki by bashing him around Looney Tunes style to shut him up.. and it got the only round of applause from the audience! Well done!
- Cap taking command.. that was just so cool to watch. I'm not the biggest fan of the Captain America movie because of the story and some elements in it but Chris Evans is an amazing Captain America.. he really owns the character and is able to show what makes him tick. Here it was just so cool to see him issue command and take charge just like in the comics.. loved the scene where he starts commanding the policemen, they stand confused and initially are reluctant until they see him kick ass which makes them execute his commands precisely
- loved how the battle teams got mixed up during the final fight.. everyone got to fight with everyone and it didn't feel forced or unnatural. It's just a very chaotic battle and you fought whereever you were.
- Fury is a devious bastard.. true to the character established in the comics. He used the one great tragedy of Coulson's death (that really shocked me but it shouldn't since it's a Joss Whedon movie) to get something good out of it.. some would call it a disrespectful move but i believe Coulson would approve
- Tom Hiddleston was an amazing Loki and villain... just so full of himself and his perceived superiority. Really good.. he was no Heath Ledger/Joker but then that is a bar no one will ever reach again so we can only hope for a shadow of that
The only thing that bothered me was the left out Captain America signature line "Avengers Assemble!".. there even was the perfect moment for it during the final fight but nothing. I was so prepared to nerd out like there's no tomorrow but it was missing
That's why it was not an A+ movie but then it's a small nitpick in an otherwise perfect action movie.
I'll go see it another time and this one i'll pay full price for the pre-order Blu Ray.
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