So, it’s all led to this.
Years of planning, starting with the phenomenal ‘Iron Man’ back in 2008 and the introduction of the First Avenger ‘Captain America’ last Summer, has brought us to 2012’s ‘The Avengers’. Marvel have clearly built anticipation for ‘The Avengers’ to the point where comic book nerds, movie lovers and the merely curious are frothing at the mouth to see this cinematic event. And it IS an event, one that doesn’t happen too often when you have six of the biggest superheroes teaming up to save the world from total annihilation.
At the helm is creative dynamo Joss Whedon (Firefly, Cabin In The Woods) Being given the task of bringing the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to screen and not fucking it up must have its fair share of pressure but we shouldn’t have worried though as Whedon hits the mark time and time again. ‘The Avengers’ explodes from the first dynamic scene to the last with more velocity than a blow from Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer for the un-educated)
Returning to torment our heroes is Thor’s half-brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the God of Mischief who was last seen dispatched from the Bifrost in last year’s ‘Thor’. We learn that he has re-appeared in space and is the villain for hire to an alien race known as the Chitari who seek to invade Earth. First they need the cosmic cube, the Tesseract, to help them transport realms which is under the watchful eye of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. After a low key and petulant side role as the hard done by sibling in ‘Thor’, Hiddleston totally transforms Loki in ‘The Avengers’ to a dastardly, cunning and altogether way more dangerous foe and he revels in it. Loki’s the best Marvel villain outside of the Spider-Man movies so far.
As for our heroes, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr at his billionaire playboy best) is the most familiar so far with two feature lengths already under his belt. ‘Iron Man 2’ was a disappointment with too many half baked characters trying to outdo each other, Mickey Rourke’s funky Russian accent and some outlandish humour that missed the point. Here, Stark’s mix of show boating, arse kicking and techno genius blends with the rest of the team… eventually. I say eventually because like any new team, The Avengers take time to gel. At first, they fight each other more than the bad guys and everything is close to falling apart at any given time. As Banner says “we’re not a team, we’re a time bomb…”
The team dynamic was the one thing I was worried about with ‘The Avengers’. Were they going to focus more on Iron Man? It seemed that way from the first trailer we saw that may as well have been the trailer for ‘Iron Man 3’. Was Hawkeye going to be merely the Andrew Ridgeley of the Avengers? (Google that name if you’re unfamiliar kids) At one point, Whedon was contemplating the idea of telling the story through the eyes of Captain America. This viewpoint would have been interesting as the Cap is a World War II hero re-animated in a modern world where very little makes sense and everyone he knew is long gone. Whedon ultimately decided against this and the film is all the better for it as each character is given ample time to shine.
Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow back story is still not explored too much but we do learn that she has a definite romantic interest in Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and looks great in leather while dishing out beatings left, right and centre. She’s not as ruthless or cold as the Black Widow I know from the comics but her moments of vulnerability lend some lightness to a movie that unashamedly pulverises the physical senses more than the emotional. Hawkeye himself is more integral to the plot at first as he becomes seduced by one of Loki’s spells. Again, he brings his own edge to proceedings – a mortal who is a dead shot archer. Not quite a giant green hulk of rage but still a vital cog to the team as carnage spills on to the streets of New York in the devastating final act.
Speaking of the Hulk, ‘The Avengers’ finally gives us one that is (in)credible. After the travesty that was Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’ and the boisterous but dumb reboot starring Edward Norton, this Hulk is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Mark Ruffalo (cast after Norton turned down the offer of re-appearing as the gamma infused walking time bomb) steals the movie as both Doctor Banner and the Hulk. Striking up an instant rapport with fellow scientist and pioneer Tony Stark (who actually just wants the Hulk to detonate) the two trade thinly veiled compliments whilst squabbling with the straight laced but heroic Captain America (Chris Evans) who’s stoic attitude is their is no ‘I’ in team. Or something to that affect. Make no mistake though, this Hulk will have you cheering as he gleefully dismantles and mangles everything in sight.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth – breaking girls hearts) doesn’t make team morale much better with his holier than thou Nordic attitude and personal score to settle with Loki whilst in between the warring superheroes is head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury (Samuel L.Jackson) and his trusty agents Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). Gregg has become somewhat of an unsung hero of the Marvel Universe and he shares a couple of light hearted moments with Captain America which will tickle your funny bone.
Eventually though, It takes a truly shattering event for the six of them to finally pull together and start acting like the heroes they all should be.
By the time Cap yells “Hulk… Smash!” and Iron Man is taking on giant mechanical monsters from space, you will be so lost in the frenetic action unfolding on screen, you will forgot all the remarkable sequences that have occurred before. ‘The Avengers’ is a visual feast that you can’t take your eyes off for a split second and demands repeat viewing I very rarely walk out of a theatre wanting to see the movie I’d just seen again straight away but with ‘The Avengers’ I wanted to relive every second.
The action is relentless when the plot is a little thin. My only weak point was that the Chitari are never really explained and are basically a faceless alien race thrust on to Earth for the Avengers to dispose of. That’s not too much of a problem though when you skip forward to the end credits scene and realise that ‘The Avengers 2’ has even bigger and more evil plans should it happen. Which it quite clearly will because let’s get this straight, ‘The Avengers’ will be massive. It may not be grounded in reality like Chris Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Rises’ promises to be, but in terms of pure spectacle I can’t see any other movie trumping it this year and as a huge Batman fan, I never thought I’d say that. The gloves are off…
Avengers… Assemble!
9/10
Avengers Interviews:
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