The Avengers

I remember going to see “The Incredible Hulk” in 2008 and I loved the clip at the end when Tony Stark showed up. That is when I first heard about the “team” because I did not find the post credits scene of “Iron Man” until its sequel came out. Ever since 2008 I have been waiting but wondering whether it was possible to create “The Avengers” and have it be as good as fans were hoping for. I kept thinking about the phrase “too many cooks spoil the broth”. The use of so many superheroes might ruin the film. After the release of “Captain America”, I began to have a lot more hope because Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans’ characters had the potential to carry “The Avengers” no matter who was making it. They and the rest of the cast were amazing but director Joss Whedon was able to accomplish an impossible task almost perfectly.

The best part about “The Avengers” is that it is genuinely funny. There was great comedic potential in having all these heroes in one movie and Whedon took full advantage of that but at the same time, he did not make this film a comedy. Tony Stark is a funny character and has so many great moments. His first scene in the movie is funny and Iron Man's appearance in Germany is awesome. It is a neat contrast from the well done montage a minute earlier that was accompanied by classical music. Iron Man's bout with Thor was very cool too (I love the Shakespeare joke). As eluded to, my two favorite Avengers are Iron Man & Cap and their first scene together shows the great chemistry they had in this film from the get go. The scene between the Hulk and Loki was probably when I laughed the hardest. Other great moment include the SHIELD technician playing Galaga and the Shawarma restaurant (there are two post credits scenes in this movie). I can't believe that restaurant scene was shot the day after the premier and then rushed on to the end of the film before the worldwide release. As funny and cool as the movie is, the most amazing thing is that Whedon was able to maintain balance in the storytelling. What happens to Agent Coulson was something I did not expect and added so much drama. Other filmmakers might have ignored the need for drama in a movie like this but Whedon is smarter than that. I also like the dramatic moment when the elderly man stands up to Loki. Composer Alan Silvestri even makes a small musical allusion to "Schindler's List". Another element that made creating “The Avengers” nearly impossible was that the mythology of “Thor” would have to be mixed with the high tech but realistic environment of “Iron Man”. Considering the difficulty of that task, it is mission accomplished in my book. I was grateful for the reference to Jane Foster because the story of “Thor” required that. Another great quality about this show is that it can be watched over and over again and every time you understand something new that you didn't catch the last time. Great movies have a great first impression but immortal films entertain you every time you revisit them.

The cast of characters works so well together and that is more than worth noting here. One might ask who is the leader in this bunch. This is Thor’s adoptive brother they are fighting and Cap has the leadership experience but Tony Stark has the brains, resources & charm. The cool thing is that even though you can’t really identify a leader in the first film, the Avengers work so well together as a team that you don’t need one. They each have their own role. Iron Man is the face of the team and thanks to the plot twist; Tony becomes emotionally invested in fighting evil like never before. Oscar-nominee Robert Downey Jr. wanted to have Tony Stark in a more central role from the start of the story but then he saw that it wasn’t working. Downey put the story ahead of himself and that is a little uncharacteristic of him I think. It shows just how important the story was in production of the film. Captain America seems to handle the organizational side of battle and I like that moment in the climax. He represents the patriotic side of the Avengers and this role is amplified by the fact that he is from another time period. His purity contrasts the other Avengers and that is a nice touch. Thor is the inside man when it comes to the enemy they are facing. Thor underwent a character change in his last movie and so before he will fight, he will talk with Loki in an attempt to redeem him. Again, this is a nice element to the film and Chris Hemsworth pulls this off well. The Hulk is the brawns of the team and also humorously represents the frustration that all heroes have inside them as they are out to avenge something. The way the Hulk was depicted for this film was unfortunately the only minor flaw I could find and this really couldn’t be helped. I love continuity and because I had to get used to Edward Norton playing a good guy in “The Incredible Hulk”, it was hard to let him go. Mark Ruffalo did a good job but it just wasn’t the same kind of character on both sides of the coin. Hulk for the first time is apparently motion capture & not animated and to still have Lou Ferrigno as the voice of Hulk is paramount. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) round out the team nicely in that they are not superheroes and represent warriors (male and female) from real life. Samuel L. Jackson no longer shows up for a brief cinematic moment like in other movies but instead runs the show like a police chief. He was wonderful himself as was Clark Gregg and Gwyneth Paltrow. The romantic chemistry between Tony and Pepper worked so well thankfully. Stan Lee’s cameo was funny but I wanted funnier. His cameo in a deleted scene for this movie was better. For quite some time, I didn't know that the woman that Captain America saves was Ashley Johnson. She was a voice actor in cartoons I watched when I was younger. By the way, she and Gregg both had roles in Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing". He piggybacked its production off this movie. There was one long shot during the climax where we get to see all the Avengers fighting and that was very cool.

I have been familiar with director Joss Whedon’s work as a storyteller on such films as “Toy Story”, “Titan A.E.” and “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (the first film earned him an Oscar nomination). The fact that he was the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” gave him a little more credibility to take on “The Avengers” but I never knew things would turn out this good. I first saw this movie exactly four years to the day after I saw “Iron Man” for the first time so that is a happy coincidence. "The Avengers" is my second favorite comic book film after "The Dark Knight". The 3D conversion was good. I did not see any major flaws with that. Some filmmakers can overuse 3D but when it is used as a tool instead of as a gimmick, great things can happen. I am so happy that Jon Favreau was an executive producer and that Alan Silvestri was the composer. The London Symphony Orchestra was the obvious choice in playing the score he wrote. I was amazed by how many visual effects companies were involved in this show and that New York City was created almost from stratch in the computer. This truly was a film with an ensemble cast & crew and they assembled something that was truly special. The special effects by the way received an Oscar nomination. When 2012 came to a close, "The Avengers" would have been my favorite movie of that year had it not been for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". But then the Hobbit Trilogy as a whole became a tiny bit of a let down, which made way for "The Avengers" to take the crown for 2012. "The Avengers" was the ultimate exclamation point for Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

5 Stars out of 5