"He's adopted..." or, The Avengers assembled
I believe I may be one of the last people on the planet (or at least the blogosphere) to see The Avengers. I went to a matinee this afternoon, thoroughly prepared to be thrilled to my toes and blown away to boot.
So, OK, a little background. Pretty much every Marvel (TM) movie from Iron Man through last year's Captain America has been leading up to this: Earth's Greatest Heroes banding together. The Avengers Initiative was first mentioned in Iron Man, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, looking ever more badass--how does he manage that, btw?--with eyepatch and black leather duster) deeming Tony Stark "too volatile and self-absorbed" to do more than consult with SHIELD on the project. But Fury's kept the Initiative on the back burner, sure he's going to need it.
And need it he does. After being defeated by his brother Thor, Loki (Tom Hiddleston, who manages to make evil sexy despite way too much hair gel) gets himself to another dimension and gathered an army of aliens called the Chitauri. Meanwhile, on Earth, SHIELD has Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) working on the Tesseract, ostensibly to create an inexhaustible power source. Loki arrives in the middle of the SHIELD labs, whips up some mind-control on both Selvig and Agent Clint "Hawkeye" Barton (Jeremy Renner), grabs the Tesseract, and blasts his way out again. The attack inspires Fury to send out the call to his potential Avengers: Tony "Iron Man" Stark (Robert Downey jr.), Steve "Captain America" Rogers (Chris Evans), and Dr. Bruce "The Hulk" Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Along with SHIELD agent Natasha "Black Widow" Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Asgaardian Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth), they suit up and square off against Loki and his alien cohort.
Sounds simple enough... except that, as Stark says, no one really "plays well with others." Rogers is old-school, all about Duty, Honour, and America. Tony's a smart-arse genius. Banner has major anger-management problems. Thor is... well, oddly, probably the most stable of the lot, being a god and all. He just lacks a sense of humour. There are several scenes on the SHIELD airship in which our heroes snipe and snap at each other. Most of the reviews I've read have bemoaned this long passage where "nothing much happens." I didn't find it either long or slow-moving, thanks to Joss Whedon's dialogue and to the superb skills of the actors involved. (And to be frank, I could watch Robert Downey jr. read the phone book to Chris Hemsworth any day.)
(In fact, if that ever happens, call me.)
But of course it's the "pow! zap! wham! blammo!" action that we're all in the theatre to see, isn't it? And there's plenty of that. Right from the get-go, when Loki grabs the Tesseract and Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders) races off to intercept him, there are chases and battles galore. In fact, the last hour or so is just basically alien invaders and Avengers blowing up Manhattan. What I really liked about this, though, was the way Whedon flowed from character to character. We'd follow Iron Man for a bit, then go to Captain America, then Black Widow, then Hawkeye, then Hulk, back to Hawkeye, then to Thor and Hulk (one of the funniest moments at the end of that scene!). The cuts were never jumps; there was a natural flow from character(s) to character(s). Utterly brilliant!
I don't think I'm revealing any secrets here when I say our heroes win--you all knew that, right? ;-) But it's how they win that'll blow you away.
So now I'm waiting for Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2. And I really, really want Hawkeye and Black Widow to have their own movie. I do have a thing for a man with a bow and a quiver-full of arrows. ;-)
So, OK, a little background. Pretty much every Marvel (TM) movie from Iron Man through last year's Captain America has been leading up to this: Earth's Greatest Heroes banding together. The Avengers Initiative was first mentioned in Iron Man, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, looking ever more badass--how does he manage that, btw?--with eyepatch and black leather duster) deeming Tony Stark "too volatile and self-absorbed" to do more than consult with SHIELD on the project. But Fury's kept the Initiative on the back burner, sure he's going to need it.
And need it he does. After being defeated by his brother Thor, Loki (Tom Hiddleston, who manages to make evil sexy despite way too much hair gel) gets himself to another dimension and gathered an army of aliens called the Chitauri. Meanwhile, on Earth, SHIELD has Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) working on the Tesseract, ostensibly to create an inexhaustible power source. Loki arrives in the middle of the SHIELD labs, whips up some mind-control on both Selvig and Agent Clint "Hawkeye" Barton (Jeremy Renner), grabs the Tesseract, and blasts his way out again. The attack inspires Fury to send out the call to his potential Avengers: Tony "Iron Man" Stark (Robert Downey jr.), Steve "Captain America" Rogers (Chris Evans), and Dr. Bruce "The Hulk" Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Along with SHIELD agent Natasha "Black Widow" Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Asgaardian Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth), they suit up and square off against Loki and his alien cohort.
Sounds simple enough... except that, as Stark says, no one really "plays well with others." Rogers is old-school, all about Duty, Honour, and America. Tony's a smart-arse genius. Banner has major anger-management problems. Thor is... well, oddly, probably the most stable of the lot, being a god and all. He just lacks a sense of humour. There are several scenes on the SHIELD airship in which our heroes snipe and snap at each other. Most of the reviews I've read have bemoaned this long passage where "nothing much happens." I didn't find it either long or slow-moving, thanks to Joss Whedon's dialogue and to the superb skills of the actors involved. (And to be frank, I could watch Robert Downey jr. read the phone book to Chris Hemsworth any day.)
(In fact, if that ever happens, call me.)
But of course it's the "pow! zap! wham! blammo!" action that we're all in the theatre to see, isn't it? And there's plenty of that. Right from the get-go, when Loki grabs the Tesseract and Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders) races off to intercept him, there are chases and battles galore. In fact, the last hour or so is just basically alien invaders and Avengers blowing up Manhattan. What I really liked about this, though, was the way Whedon flowed from character to character. We'd follow Iron Man for a bit, then go to Captain America, then Black Widow, then Hawkeye, then Hulk, back to Hawkeye, then to Thor and Hulk (one of the funniest moments at the end of that scene!). The cuts were never jumps; there was a natural flow from character(s) to character(s). Utterly brilliant!
I don't think I'm revealing any secrets here when I say our heroes win--you all knew that, right? ;-) But it's how they win that'll blow you away.
So now I'm waiting for Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2. And I really, really want Hawkeye and Black Widow to have their own movie. I do have a thing for a man with a bow and a quiver-full of arrows. ;-)