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

[Turtletrekker]

Got my copy. The Joss Whedon commentary was interesting as Joss's commentaries always are. Two bits that I liked were Joss commenting that he wasn't proud of the choice to just have the Chitauri fold immediately after the nuke detonation, and that if the only thing he accomplished in two years had been the "Puny God" scene, he would have considered it a worthwhiile endeavour.


"Item 47" was "meh".


I loved all of the deleted scenes. A shame that there will never be an expanded cut.

 

[Ian Keldon]

RE: the edited version of the film--
Disney UK reports that they removed the spear tip as it was deemed "inappropriate".,

That's what you get when Disney buys Marvel.

No, that's what you get with overly complex and irrational censorship schemes.

Why is it that the one-disc version no longer has any significant extras? Up until a few years ago, we didn't have to buy the "deluxe" or "collectors" editions to get a good range and amount of extras. Now they expect us to pay more to get the behind the scenes stuff.

Oh, and I spotted something cool re-watching the film last time...in the scene where Fury is telling the Helm officer to head south, watch how he handles the control and how the console lights respond. The man is literally spinning a digital "ship's wheel".

 

[Procutus]

Is anyone else besides me disappointed that the BD/DVD wasn't released in 16:9 widescreen? Didn't read over the packaging too carefully, and it kinda through me a curve when we started watching it.

That said, it still looks great on our TV.

 

[DWF]

Is anyone else besides me disappointed that the BD/DVD was released in 16:9 widescreen? Didn't read over the packaging too carefully, and it kinda through me a curve when we started watching it.

That said, it still looks great on our TV.

It was filmed in 1.78:1 so on a widescreen TV there's no bars.

 

[Samurai8472]

^
I like it when blu-ray movies are like that. The movie just engulfs your tv screen. Especially if your TV is 40 plus inches.

I do love wide screen more than full screen.

 

[Ethros]

I read that it was filmed in 16:9 as opposed to 235:1 because of the radically different hights of the Avengers themselves. So in a group shot they better fit the 16:9 ratio

 

[Procutus]

^
I like it when blu-ray movies are like that. The movie just engulfs your tv screen. Especially if your TV is 40 plus inches.

I do love wide screen more than full screen.

Yeah, we've got a 42 inch screen and my wife was commenting that she liked it totally filled from top to bottom like that. I guess I expected the aspect ratio to be the same as the other MCU movies.

 

[Samurai8472]

If only all "widescreen" epic movies were like that.


I sometimes change my movie settings to stretch the picture so the black bars are less than an inch at the top and bottom.


"The Dark Knight" kept shifting back and forth from the IMAX scenes(full screen) to the standard 16:9 format after the IMAX scene was over.

 

[Trekker4747]

I've long out grown the need for the picture to "fill the screen." I do wish some 4:3 movies were matted to that ration rather than it being a bright, gray-white, dead space on the sides of the screen (a bit more annoying than the black space) so for some 4:3 shows I watch on DVD I do "stretch" the picture through TV functions. (The TV's stretching method causes minimal distortion.) But the black bars on the top and bottom of non 16:9 movies? Meh.

 

[Turtletrekker]

TOR.com has a summary of the Joss Whedon commentary here.

 

[JarodRussell]

TOR.com has a summary of the Joss Whedon commentary here.

The jet that the Hulk tore up and crashed was the same one from the film True Lies.

Arnold has something to say about that.

 

[Samurai8472]

I listened to this part of the commentary

All script weaknesses are duly noted: Whedon himself wasn’t a fan of how the Chitauri basically “had their strings cut” once the mothership was blown up, but it had to be done to prevent the battle sequence from continuing.

Joss also didn't want the Avengers to do clean up for 17 hours

 

[Gaith]

"[Whedon] loved that Ruffalo actually looked like someone on edge, dangerous, rather than an adorable nerdy scientist."
​

I'm a big Ruffalo fan - heck, I've even acted alongside him (see below) - but, uh, that's a big "no" on the ol "dangerous-looking" front. Norton looked "on the edge". Ruffalo looked as though he was planning on busting out some Beach Boys at the next SHIELD karaoke night.

​

Pictured: The Hulk and myself in Just Like Heaven.

 

[Captrek]

I finally got around to seeing this. As is usually the case when I go into a film with this much hype, I came away a little disappointed. The only thing I want to comment on right now is the lame ending.

Earth is under attack by a technologically superior force coming through a portal from another world. A small group of fighters, far more skilled and better equipped than their fellow humans but still overmatched, combat the invaders. Finally, they send a single nuclear warhead into the portal from this side, and it destroys the invaders’ home world and immediately neutralizes the invading force.

Does that sound like Joss Whedon’s work? It’s actually L. Ron Hubbard’s. The idiotic climax of The Avengers is ripped straight from the pages of Battlefield Earth.

IMO, that has to lower the film by at least a full grade. Even if it were otherwise flawless, a film that so shamelessly pilfers from dreck like Battlefield Earth could rate no better than a B+.

 

[RoJoHen]

For what it's worth, Joss Whedon has stated that he didn't want the Chitauri force to be immediately neutralized after the nuke explodes. That was something imposed on him by the studio.

 

[Sindatur]

I haven't seen either Iron Man movie, Thor, nor the Norton Hulk Movie. I've only seen Captain America (And about half of the Ang Lee Hulk which was terrible). I got The Avengers and tried to watch it, but, it started out so very obvious that you need to see at least the Iron Man's (and probably Thor as well) to appeciate the film, so, it'll be awhile before I get to see it

 

[RoJoHen]

I'd say that Thor is probably more important than the Iron Man movies, actually.

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
I would tend to agree with that. Given Loki's motives for his attack on Earth are rooted in the events of the solo Thor film. That discussion he has with Thor on the mountain during the film essentially confirms it. There may be another mention or two but that one is a crucial tie back.

 

[Sindatur]

I'd say that Thor is probably more important than the Iron Man movies, actually.

I'm not a comic reader, so, I'm not even up to snuff on SHIELD, I only know of their existence at all from the boards

I do have Thor and the two Iron Mans now, so, it's only a matter of having the time to watch that much (I'll probably tackle the Series when I finish Andromeda (Currently on Season 5, Episode 12, so, not too much left to go)

 

[RoJoHen]

I'd say that Thor is probably more important than the Iron Man movies, actually.

I'm not a comic reader, so, I'm not even up to snuff on SHIELD, I only know of their existence at all from the boards

I do have Thor and the two Iron Mans now, so, it's only a matter of having the time to watch that much (I'll probably tackle the Series when I finish Andromeda (Currently on Season 5, Episode 12, so, not too much left to go)

I'm not a comic reader either. Just in terms of the films, though, the events of Thor play a much more important role in understanding The Avengers, especially regarding Loki as a villain.