The Avengers

But first...


Reviewers Note:

Well it appears that I’ve once again neglected my beloved movie blog. In the hopes of defending myself, it has been an incredibly crazy year and, as it turns out, a movie review blog that I write for fun generally falls to the wayside when it comes down to writing about 21 Jump Street or finishing that paper before it’s 9am due date.

My love for movies and you, my dear readers (all three of you) has not diminished. I saw 54 films last year, 27 after I stopped reviewing (yes, I have a problem but that’s between me and my therapist). Needless to say, I’m still a movie fiend, but I won’t bore you with 27 reviews of things on DVD already. Instead, I’m going to start with my current favorite movie of the year and work my way through the summer, helping you guys figure out what you should see this summer.

This review will be for The Avengers and we’ll go from there. Hope you enjoy it!

Your loving reviewer,
Spencer

The Avengers

Directed by: Joss Whedon (!!!!)
Cast: Can be found here
Rated PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*

Where to begin with The Avengers? In it’s fourth week of release, it’s on track to become the third highest grossing movie of all time and is the second highest superhero movie of all time. And it’s packed with all kinds of awesome. But, with Joss Whedon at the helm of a bunch of superheroes, what could go wrong?
(The correct answer is: nothing.)

What I Liked:

This movie was incredible, but I’ll keep it brief. To start, I really like the unspoken “new formula” that superhero movies are taking of using smaller villains first. It started with Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, where the first bad guy was Scarecrow and then moved up to the big one, Joker. The same is being done in the Spider-Man reboot with Lizard and was done in Avengers with Loki.

The great thing about this formula is that it allows for more exploration of the heroes’ character before they have to deliver on a highly anticipated villain. This was especially needed in The Avengers.

While all the heroes have had their characters developed and explained in their own franchises, we’ve never seen them together and audiences needed to get that feel before we’re attacked by *CENSORED DUE TO SPOILER* in Avengers 2. Loki was an excellent choice because his villain’s character was already set and was tweaked in the first two minutes of the film. As Jenna Marbles said on Twitter: “Loki needs a hug”.

As far as the team exploration and their display went, it was perfect. Every part was played perfectly, with every character having to overcome their own weaknesses to deal with the others on the team. This was done very well in the time given and their coming together as one at the end was really fun to see.

The plot for The Avengers was also incredible (another shout out to Mr. Whedon). Each character had equal time and the story actually made sense and gave them all something to do, a feat I might have assumed impossible with anyone else at the helm.  My only complaint about that was Thor, but that’s the next section.

I think that’s all I can say without giving anything away, so let’s move on.

Things I Didn’t Like:

The main thing here is Thor and Captain America’s place in the story. While Thor is brought in as someone to bring Loki to justice, I felt that it was somewhat forced and seemed a little bit like “Oh, hey, we need Thor in here.” On the other hand, it kind of would have been impossible to bring him in any other way intelligently, so I’ll let it slide.

Next, there was Captain America. Cap is one of my personal favorite Avengers and seeing he and Iron Man go at it was pretty great. But there were plenty of times that he felt lost in this newer generation and didn’t seem all that necessary to the team. In the comics, he’s kind of the only reason the Avengers can move on their own, let alone uniformly and like a team. I just would have liked to see his leadership role explored a little bit more.

Other than that, there’s really nothing I have to complain about, but I’m pretty biased considering I love the crap out of this thing.

Final Thoughts:

I’m admittedly biased, but this is the best superhero movie we’ve ever had (barring Dark Knight; nothing can touch that). It’s fun, edgy and fast paced and sets an incredible bar for every forthcoming superhero movie, Marvel and DC alike. If you haven’t seen it yet, go now. If you have, go again. I’ll just go back for my fourth time and keep this stored as my favorite movie of the year (so far).

When Should You See It?
Yesterday. You're already late. Get up and go NOW.

Personal Rating: 9 of 10
Plot: 10 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: .25 of 10
Spiritual Aspects: .10 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: .05 of 10

NEXT UP: Men in Black 3