Viewed in
2012
Formats
IMAX 3D
Premise
Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor and company assemble!
Loved
Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, the Hulk.
Liked
The rest.
Thoughts
Like most folks, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My favorite moments were whenever characters interacted with each other. The chemistry and dialog was so good, I probably would've had a blast had it just been them zinging each other without explosions. Everyone had their time in the spotlight, and everyone delivered. As expected, Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow were charming as heck, in fact, I wished there was more of her (but I shouldn't fret as Iron Man 3 is on the way). As someone who had seen all the five flicks leading up to this nerdasm, it was really cool to see Clark Gregg get some serious screentime and very funny/touching moments.
But really, the show belonged to Mark Ruffalo, his CGI alter ego, and Tom Hiddleston as the antagonist. One nitpick with the current run of Marvel Studio movies had been its lack of a memorable nemesis. Hiddleston finally created one. While he was interesting in Thor, he took Loki to an unexpected delicious level with an arrogant, gleeful, smirking performance.
General consensus said this was the best movie version of Hulk, and I agreed wholeheartedly. Ruffalo effortlessly brought the funny, brains and zen philosophy out of Dr. Banner. As a fan since You Can Count on Me, I was so happy for him to finally get recognized by the mainstream. Meanwhile, CGI Hulk had the most hilarious moments in the entire film, thanks to Whedon's quirky sense of humor. If I ever feel glum, I just think of the punchline of Hulk and Thor smashing things, or the meme-generating Rag Doll Loki scene.
Even though Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner had the weakest subplots, I really liked how their relationship, history and baggage were never spelled out, as if there was an origin movie that existed in a different multiverse. Also, I was really surprised by Johansson's acting and comedy chops. Even though she was the only female of the superheroes, she wasn't a slouch, and in fact had a brilliant mind games scene with Hiddleston.
Much like how this string of Marvel flicks lacked memorable enemies, this film also lacked memorable action. There were some really well-produced skyscraper and minion destruction, and I dug the sick "one-take" shot of the camera flying from one battle to another to another. But overall, none of it blew me away as I had hoped for such an action flick. My friend blamed it on being too reliant on CGI, and I think he might be right. Even in IMAX 3D, my thoughts were mostly thinking "that's pretty cool".
After one viewing, I'm reluctant to place The Avengers in the pantheon of great comic book movies, but you could talk me into it. I'd rather have great characters and writing than just great action. While it's not exactly comparing apples-to-apples, but if I'm re-watching Matrix Reloaded, I'm fastfowarding to the ridiculous fight scenes and ignoring the rest. On the other hand, I'd gladly stick around to re-watch all of The Avengers because the characters were just so wonderful company.
The 3D and IMAX won't really make that big a difference, but I highly recommend The Avengers. Even though I'm not familiar with the original comic book creations, I did watch all the previous movies, and they contributed to the enjoyment of this one. I'm definitely curious to see how much people liked it if they haven't seen the first five Marvel flicks. Overall, I was glad the long-term gamble to create a tapestry of characters and origin tales to culminate in giant all-star explosion paid off financially and artistically.
