Some people have already given their opinion about this movie but I feel like writing up a review here so that there is a centralized place to have a discussion without filling up the TV/Movie thread. I encourage people to share their opinions and how they feel etc. etc.
The Avengers
While the story may be familiar to some, the basic premise is that the SHIELD agency which monitors global threats has been keeping track of the various superhumans and such that have been popping up. When Norse Trickster God Loki and his alien army show up to threaten the world, these heroes are called upon to band together and stop this threat too large for any one person. Of course as is natural in these sorts of stories, there is some natural friction for these individuals to overcome before they learn to work together. Directed by the popular Joss Whedon and starring a cadre of recognizable faces, this movie is the payoff for years of individual superhero movies and the building of the Marvel movie universe.
Right off the bat, I loved this movie. Perhaps I'm still running on the high from having watched it so recently, but I could find very little to fault on my initial viewing. While this may change upon repeated viewings, The Avengers represents to me the definitive superhero movie fans have been waiting for. Marvel's strategy of having each character star in their own movies before teaming up together certainly pays off. If you've seen all of them, then of course visible threads are followed up on and they all sort of begin and end with the macguffin, the Tesseract or Cosmic Cube as comic fans might know it as.
The best part about each hero (except for the nonpowered ones like Black Widow and Hawkeye) having their own movies is that there's no need to dwell on their origins and the movie touches upon each character's background either briefly or with a few snippets of dialogue which is enough to keep the movie going. Each character is succint and well defined and even for a big ensemble cast, no one ever gets lost in the flow and each character's personal conflicts (raging hulk, brother vs brother, the soldier vs the rebel, etc.) is followed up on perfectly.
Of course, Joss Whedon leaves his indelible mark on every scene and piece of banter between the heroes. If anyone is familiar with his memorable Astonishing X-Men run or even just his Buffyverse stuff, then the dialogue will feel very familiar. Of course, it gets corny at times, and there's a multitude of one liners and such, but such is to be expected from a genuine comic book movie. Whedon knows what he's doing and at this point, I can't imagine anyone else doing the sequel.
The pacing is something I was impressed with, because there is indeed a lot of talking and a lot always happening. There were times when I began to think "If they keep talking this much the movie will get boring" and then BOOM, action and explosions galore. The movie did a great job of developing this pattern of talking, action, talking, action and served to properly keep the audience entertained. Now I've heard some minor complaints from comic fans but I've found them trivial because this movie was also made for a larger audience and certain decisions were made with this audience in mind in terms of timing and storytelling.
The story isn't anything new and if anything, it's a rehash, appealing to the various Avengers origin stories throughout the years. In fact, it draws from their very first comic appearance to some of the more recent fare such as The Ultimates and the animated features. Yet the enjoyment is in the journey, because we know they have to come together and we know they have to beat the bad guys and ultimately it's a deeply satisfying film. I really cannot wait to see what's in store for the future as individual sequels have been announced, and an Avengers sequel is sure to follow in the future with the assumed success of this film. I'm just wondering how those other rumored projects will shape up and if the rumored Guardians of the Galaxy will tie in.
Help Needed
Theakon
@ 8:41 AM Mar 28th