The Avengers
Rated PG-13
2 Hours 22 Minutes
Starring
Robert Downey Jr.
Chris Evans
Mark Ruffalo
Chris Hemsworth
Scarlett Johansson
Jeremy Renner
Tom Hiddleston
Samuel L. Jackson
Storyline
Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.
Rotten Tomatoes Score
93%
("With a script that never forgets its heroes' humanity and no shortage of superpowered set pieces, The Avengers lives up to its hype -- and raises the bar for Marvel at the movies.")
My Grade
B+
Well, Marvel's "The Avengers" has done it! It has broken the all time 3 day opening day box office record. In it's first three days of release the film grossed $207 million, shattering the previous record held by "
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part II" which earned roughly $169 million in it's opening weekend. Many people predicted this would happen, and I was one of them who suspected it would rake in a shit ton of moolah. How could you not think it would be huge? So then what about it? Is it the best superhero movie to date? Does it live up to the hype and then some? Well, that will depend on who you ask, as everyone will have their own opinion on the matter.
I've never read a comic book in my life, just not my forte. I have however, seen almost all the movies based off various comics and while I'm not a "nerd" for these movies, I do enjoy the majority of them on a cinematic level. When it comes to just the Avenger based movies, I absolutely loved the first "
Iron Man", I was totally surprised by how good "
Thor" was, and "
The Incredible Hulk" was a much needed reboot of that terrible "The Hulk" movie. Only one I was not impressed by was "Captain America". Personally, I found the movie to be dull on story and action, but it looked fantastic. So is the sum as good as it's parts? For me, yes and no.
The Avengers first half moved a bit slow for me. I understand it's important to first build up our story, get our characters together, and so forth. But it's my feeling that they did all this a little to casually. Most people in the theater know who the characters are, and they know why they are coming together. All great action movies still require story like any other well done film, but perhaps they could have trimmed a few minutes here and there. I love a long movie as much as the next guy. For instance, I sat through all Lord of the Rings films (which all clock in at or around 3 hours) and the movie moved so briskly that it seemed like I was in the theater for only an hour. A solid blending of storytelling, character development and action will make a 3 hour movie fly by. Problem for me with the Avengers is that it felt like 2 hours and 22 minutes. The first half dragged for me, I'm sorry to all the comic book fans who were so desperately waiting for the release of The Avengers, I don't mean to insult you all on personal levels, that's just how I viewed it.
Now the second half is a whole different story. It was jam packed with breathtaking action. Recent action movies like "Transformers 2 and 3" can take a queue from The Avengers on how to do it and do it well. You don't need to go over the top and into the realm of ridiculousness (even when the story is already at the level of fantasy unbelievability) to be cool and fun. When the group was finally together out in the city fighting off Loki's horde of aliens, it was bad ass. When Bruce Banner transformed into Hulk and destroyed that flying alien robot snake thing it was jaw dropping. When he scaled buildings and annihilated those aliens it was totally sweet. Same goes for all of them. Thor beating the shit out of them with his hammer, Captain America doing the same. Iron Man flying around, and Hawkeye with some of the cooler arrow shooting moments in movie history. Black Widow...well...she helped too. The sum of the parts banding together to save the day was just awe inspiring for action flicks. It was loud, but not to loud. It was explosive, but not drawn out. It was just awesome. Without a doubt some of the greatest action moments in recent film history.
The characters are all so well developed and played. Downey Jr. is charismatic as Tony Stark/Iron Man and he provides a good portion of the comic relief. I was hesitant at first over the casting of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk (after Edward Norton had to turn down the role) but I believe he held his own. Perhaps a little depressing at times, but then again, that's kind of how the character has to be. Chris Evans as Captain America was far more appealing in The Avengers then he was in his own film, and way more likable. Chris Hemsworth is probably the only person I could ever picture playing Thor. Sam Jackson was great, but didn't seem to have a large enough role in the grand scheme of things. Obviously his Nick Fury characters is the hub of the Avengers but I assumed he'd be a bigger part of the fighting...but then again, I don't know much about the series. Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow was OK but we don't have enough of a back story for her (she was featured in
Iron Man 2) to really feel either way about her (at least I didn't). This is also true for Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye. He had no back story. He didn't get his own movie beforehand. So I don't know where he came from. Renner is great performance wise, but I didn't see the importance in the character. While I thought the first half dragged focusing primarily on the heroes we already knew well...they should have spent more time developing Hawkeye and Black Widow.
The Avengers is definitely a movie you should see in theaters if you have the chance. I am not here to knock the movie, because I really enjoyed the whole thing. It has fantastic action, and a lot of great performances with some really wonderful characters. I just wish it was maybe 20 minutes shorter (or faster paced at the length it's at now). This is more than just a mindless popcorn flick, it's a genre defining movie as action movies from here on out can learn a thing or two from this. You don't have to be overly silly with your stunts and you don't have to go insane with your visual effects. If you keep it balanced and controlled, you can make a damn fun roller coaster ride of a film like "The Avengers".
I still think "
The Dark Knight Rises" will break the opening weekend record....anyone else agree?
**UPDATE...I was wrong about that last statement...ha**
