The Avengers review

The day has finally come. Marvel’s flagship characters have all come together in a cinematic popcorn tour-de-force. (Wow, what a cliche term. I don’t even know what that means, but it just felt right.) Marvel has put all their chips on the table for this movie. Just imagine if the Avengers was a giant bomb. Then we’d have stinkers like Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America which were only created for the sole purpose of building up to the “biggest superhero movie of all time!” And it’s very possible it could have fallen apart instead of assembled. Marvel’s greatest success, besides making people think that Thor and Cap were good, was the first Iron Man.

I have been nervous for this movie for the past year. I love comic movies more than the average Joe and I always hope for the next Spiderman 2 or Dark Knight when it comes to quality. The aspect I was most nervous about was Joss Whedon being signed on to direct this a little over a year ago. It’s not that I was worried about his brilliance when it comes to screenwriting. I was worried that he’d try and make his movie and Marvel’s president Kevin Feige would step in and cut everything good just as he did in Edward Norton’s The Incredible Hulk. I knew that if The Avengers bombed at the box office, then Joss Whedon would have to go back to Fox and make great shows that would inevitably be cancelled.

The good news, no, the great news, is that The Avengers hits it out of the park! I would venture to say most nerds out there breathed a sigh of relief when reading the first reviews.

The Avengers centers around, Thor’s Brother, Loki’s need for the power cube and world domination. SHIELD’s leader, Nick Fury, knowing that $#!@ has hit the fan, gathers the Avengers he has been scouting for years. In short, without ruining anything vital in the story, the avengers meet up, fight each other, have friendly banter, fight some more, and then unite to battle Loki’s army.

The last 45 minutes is a non-stop war giving you everything you ever wanted in an explosive summer blockbuster. Iron Man excels as a wannabe leader of the Avengers, but you know that the vanilla Captain America is the true strategist leading the fight on the ground. There are few better moments in this movie then when Cap gives orders to the team, and ends with “Hulk. Smash.” I love being a nerd.

And that brings me to the Hulk. I am still not a fan of Mark Ruffalo in the role. He plays it too quiet and a little drunk. I missed the paranoia of Edward Norton. But in this movie when we see the Hulk in full Hulk mode it is fantastic. I could have watched Hulk and Thor fight each other for a very long time. And in the final battle when Hulk is on the scene he almost single-handedly takes down the entire enemy force. And watch closely for Loki’s last empty-confidence stand against the Hulk. True comedy and very Whedonesque.

This movie has everything a summer movie fan could want: Humor, Over-the-top action, Drama, and Aliens. This could easily be the crowd favorite for most people this Summer. I have a few issues though. The first half hour is soggy. It has odd pacing and it feels like your average Marvel movie (see: Thor). Also, way too much time is given to the humans, Black Widow and Hawkeye, when all you want is Hulk smashing more things. But after the first slower act, the Whedon humor is there in full force and I was actually happy to see Tony Stark being himself, especially after the embarrassment of Iron Man 2.

Thank you Joss Whedon, I have a feeling you’ll be directing quite a few more movies. I’d be happy if you took on the Avengers 2.

The Avengers get an A-. It’s a must see!