The Avengers (2012)

The Avengers is one of the best summer movie action films that I have seen in a long time. It has everything you could want in this type of film. The Avengers has witty dialogue, good action sequences, a decent plot and just enough backstory. I thought this movie was fantastic. I saw in in 3D, but think it would probably be better in 2D. Just a hint for the movie watcher while you can skip seeing some of the feature films of the Avenger characters, I would strongly suggest seeing Thor and Captain America before seeing this film. There is some helpful background information in those movies that help with the plot of the Avengers Film.

Plot: Loki (god of chaos in Norse mythology, and brother to Thor and his nemesis in the Thor film) is up to no good. He has stolen the Tesseract (that the Nazi’s were using as a weapon in Captain America) from the government agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. He wants to use it to open a portal to let the Chitauri aliens through to Earth. The Chitauri agree to help Loki subdue the humans so he can rule them if he will give them the Tesseract. The Chitauri want to use the Tesseract to open portals to different worlds in order to conquer them, and take over the galaxy. In the course of stealing the Tesseract, Loki also uses some alien power to take over the mind of two S.H.E.I.L.D agents Dr. Erik Selvig (astrophysicist from Thor) and Agent Clint Barton or Hawkeye (also from Thor). The director of S.H.E.I.L.D, Fury, calls in all his superheroes that were once a part of a special force unit called the Avengers. This group includes a spy named the Black Widow, The Hulk, Captain America, and The Iron Man. Thor is back on Asgard, and S.H.E.I.L.D is unsure whether or not he can be counted on to help them to deal with his brother, Loki. Fury is unsure if such differing and strong personalities can work together as a group. But the Avengers must work as a cohesive unit if they expect to rescue Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig and save the work from the invading Chitauri aliens. Will Thor come to Earth to help? Will all of our heroes be able to work together to save the Earth? You will have to watch the movie to find out.

This movie has several things going for it first of all it is directed and written by Joss Whedon. One of the main things he brings to the script is the wonderful witty humor that is found throughout the film. This film was a riot in a way that didn’t take way from either the action or the seriousness of the plot. The audience was actually laughing out loud. This movie also does well on one thing were I think other Marvel movies have fallen a bit short. It gives us enough background information without smothering us and gives us enough action without overdoing it. Yes, the movie is 2.5 hours long but it has to be to get everything in properly. I also thought the action scenes were well done and not so overdone that they were ridiculous. The action sequences at least hint at reality where the heroes get roughed up, scratched, tired, and run out of arrows and bullets. I also liked that for the most part the actors that were in the title film for their characters reprised their role in this film (except for the Hulk).

The acting was also well done. Robert Downey Jr. nicely reprises his role as Tony Stark/The Iron Man. He is still the witty, glib genus we have come to know and love from the Iron Man movies. He has some of the best lines in the film. Chris Evans is back as Captain America. He is a man out of his time. He has an old set of ideals and thoughts that sometimes put him at conflict with his more contemporary fellow heroes. He is still the soft-spoken polite man we loved in the Captain America film, although now he has some melancholy around him since he lost it all saving America. Mark Ruffalo steps in as the Hulk and the alter ego Bruce Banner. Bruce Banner is the mild mannered scientist that can help Stark figure out how to track the Tesseract and find Loki. His alter ego The Hulk can maybe be of help smashing the Aliens if the portal does open up. Chris Hemsworth is back as Thor. He does a lovely job continuing the character from the film. His battles are always well choreographed with lighting and the flying hammer. His character isn’t concentrated on as much, he is prominent in the battles but I didn’t feel like he got a lot of character development like some of the other characters. He still has the god attitude tempered with a love for humanity that he developed in the title Thor film. I really liked the Black Widow character played by Scarlett Johansson. I don’t know much about her background (apparently she is in Iron Man II which I haven’t seen yet). The Black Widow has a deep, layered character and I would be interested in a movie about her and her origins. I thought Scarlett did a phenomenal job playing this two-faced spy. She gives us a very thoughtful and intriguing character. Jeremy Renner does an excellent job reprising the role of Hawkeye from the Thor film. In Avengers we get some depth to the character that I don’t remember us getting from he appearance in Thor. We learn of a connection between him and the Black Widow and he has some awesome action shots with that bow and arrow of his. Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., is played by Samuel L. Jackson who knows how to play the bad-a** military/government man. Some other familiar faces are Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. They both did great job in their reprising of those roles. I was very glad to see that the actors all returned for their role with very little replacement, and all were true to their original character from the other films. I also like the care that the plot/script took to connect all these stories together in Avengers to make it seem like all the individual movie stories are one tapestry. That must have been difficult for the writers to do.

The only negative I have for this movie is that the 3D wasn’t very clear. It seemed fuzzy throughout the film and the 3D effects just weren’t worth it to me. I would say see it in 2D. Otherwise, I truly enjoyed this film and would see it again on the movie theater and definitely will be adding it to my Blu-ray collection. If you are a fan of The Iron Man Movies, Thor, Captain American or just a good comic book action movie then you should love this film.