I read a few reviews before I went to see The Avengers, and then I read a few reviews after I saw The Avengers. I have to agree with a majority of them – it is an awesome movie from a comic book nerd’s view. And it’s a good movie from the normal person’s view. It had everything people wanted in a summer blockbuster movie. It was tense, direct and fun.
It was a Joss Weadon film, so – as everyone else had already put it – it was destined to exceed expectations. It did, if you paid attention to how much money it made this weekend. Some people went THREE TIMES. In this economy, that means something.
As everyone else pointed out, people probably have two new favorite Avengers. The Hulk is the first, since they made him the Hulk everyone remembers from earlier Hulk comics and cartoons. When he loses control, he’s truly a monster. But when it comes down to the last minute, Banner manages to direct the Hulk just enough to be a true Avenger teammate. And I think he has the most bad-ass one-liner in the whole movie when he’s on the street just before transforming into his bad-ass green monster self.
Thor was the other. Unlike his first appearance in his origin movie, he actually has more depth and character. He feels like Thor. Plus, he’s using all of Thor’s signature moves and fights like a demi-god. The fact that he and the Hulk start a rivalry in the middle of a movie makes for good comedy. He actually has passion for the human race now, and really wants to do the right thing. He and Captain are the two … lesser brainy guys, and they work well together, too.
Black Widow was awesome. Her ability to manipulate her victims – even the bat-shit insane Loki – into to telling her everything was crazy good. And Johannsen was perfect. She made me care about Hawkeye, actually. XD
I didn’t care about all the weird ass crazy “Hawkeye is a terrible archer because his form is terrible” stuff archery people were bitching about. I mean, I did look for it and notice it, but the reality is that he fired impossible trick arrows and merely offered back-up. Like he does in the comics. He’s not really a main Avenger since he’s a normal dude with superior eyesight. He’s a cold mercenary who’s along for the ride since he works for SHIELD. And that was OKAY.
What I wanted to add – and I haven’t seen anyone else talk about this – was the evolution of Tony Stark into a real hero, rather than just some guy in a super battlesuit. Throughout most of the movie, he’s exactly what he tells Captain America he is in the trailer – a genius philanthropist playboy billionaire. And his main hurdle is that he acts like a spoiled, self-centered show-off. So much so that he pisses 0ther heroes off. He shouldn’t be on the team except that they need his smarts and his suit. When Loki kills “that guy” (I won’t spoil it for you), you see that Tony starts understanding what a real hero is. He bottoms out for a bit and then has his internal revelation. So much so that by the end, he does a totally selfless thing. He truly becomes the hero Iron Man there, when it counted. And that was the most brilliant, fucking fantastic thing I saw in that movie. A true evolution to hero story.
And then there’s the teaser ending with that other guy. I won’t spoil it for you, but when you see it, you’ll understand how that’s REALLY the bad guy that the Avengers first fought. So it makes sense. And then there’s the second little blooper thing at the very, very end of the credits.
Shwarma indeed. LOL
The Sound of EmCeeKhan 