Take a long haired blonde Norse DemiGod, a giant green guy with anger issues, an old school hero over 60 years out of touch, a cocky millionaire genius, an assassin with bow and arrow, and... well... a chick in a tight leather outfit and you have a quick way to sum up THE AVENGERS.
Already a comic book geek and nerd movie dream come true, THE AVENGERS will surely be a record breaker at the box office for weeks to come... but is it worthy of it?
I saw the film a couple of weeks before its opening, and went in trying not to have too huge of an expectation. I liked most of the MARVEL heroes movies on their own, AND was excited that the character of THOR’s brother LOKI (Tom Hiddleston, my favorite part of the THOR to begin with) was the villain.
First…here’s what I feel were the good points (without being too “spoilery”) about THE AVENGERS.
There are several action scenes where one AVENGER ends up fighting one or more of the others, these are great scenes with very well done effects.
Anytime humor was used in the film (which was frequently) everyone got a big laugh.
Special effects galore that were fantastic and really utilized in the 3D format very well.
The conversations between Chris Evan’s Captain America not understanding any modern references, Chris Helmsworth’s THOR talking down to everyone like a God, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark being a smart-ass worked on so many levels.
Mark Ruffalo’s as the big screen’s third incarnation of Dr.Banner/THE HULK was my favorite take on the character so far. His reserved, nerdy, uncomfortable scientist was worlds away from Ed Norton or Eric Bana in their versions.
THE HULK. When he finally makes his appearance in the film, it’s a lot of fun and the massive battle between THE AVENGERS, and an army of otherworldly invaders is spectacular.
NOW..the negatives…
Scarlett Johanssen as BLACK WIDOW (Natasha Romanov). Sure she’s nice to look at, and they certainly took advantage of her hip-hugging costume, but with the exception of her opening scene, and scenes where she is kicking ass, she was kind of a waste of time in the movie.
Jeremy Renner (HAWKEYE) similar situation as Johanssen here. Any scene where he wasn’t fighting, he really weighed down the movie. You could practically hear the audience groan in the scenes where Renner and Johanssen had scenes together. It really put the brakes on an otherwise bullet-train of a flick.
Wearing 3D glasses. While actually having them on doesn’t bother me…it’s the difference in brightness of the screen that does. Most of us are used to HD pictures at home, and with the digital screens they have at the multiplexes now, it’s almost a waste to go put on glasses that diminish the light of the film by like 40 percent. I kept thinking, “Wow the 3D looks great, I just wish it were as bright as it is with my glasses off!”
Two final things to note about the film, I did like it a lot. I just didn’t want to reveal too much about it as to keep everyone excited about the unknown. I look forward to seeing it on BLU-RAY. Finally, YES there is a scene at the end of the movie that sets up a sequel so don’t run out of the theater until AFTER the names of the cast go by.
I have decided to be generous and include two clips from the film here. One, of a battle between THOR and IRON MAN, and the other is a portion of the first (and in my opinion, the only really good scene) with BLACK WIDOW. Enjoy… NERDS.
