By Mike Huntley
When Marvel decided to form their own studio and
started building solo superhero movies that existed in the same
universe, fans were pumped for the inevitable Avengers team up movie
that would be the icing and cherry atop an already delicious cake. Iron
Man and The Incredible Hulk in summer 2008. Iron Man 2 in summer 2010,
which was basically a prelude to The Avengers. Thor and Captain America:
The First Avenger in Summer 2011. And now the moment fans old and new
had been waiting for: The Avengers in an already packed superhero movie
summer in 2012. Going up against both Batman (The Dark Knight Rises) and
Spider-Man (The Amazing Spider-Man) is never an easy task to pull off. But The Avengers was the highest grossing film that summer and beat out The Dark Knight, which before Avengers was
considered the best superhero movie of all time. Now, fans are kinda
divided on which one deserves that mantle. While I do love The Avengers
and it is the best Marvel Studios movie aside from Thor and Iron Man 3, I
still prefer The Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel, and The Amazing
Spider-Man for personal reasons. I didn't grow up with The Avengers the
way I'm sure many kids who loved superheroes did. Yes, I had heard of
Iron Man and Captain America, but aside from the outfits and names, I
didn't know shit about them. Yes, I knew who The Incredible Hulk was,
mainly due to the short animated series. But all the others? Nope.
Growing up, Batman and Spider-Man were and still are my top two
favorites in the costumed hero department. Superman was popular on TV.
The X-Men were a hit in animation. So, while I still love The Avengers
and am a new fan, I will always have Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman
closer to my heart. But that's not to say that I wasn't super excited to
see Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye
take on aliens and the God of Mischief!
Loki survived his fall into a black hole and has come
to Earth to steal the source of power that S.H.I.E.L.D has in their
possession. First, Loki puts a spell on Dr. Selvig and Hawkeye to help
him open a portal that could damn our world. This causes S.H.I.L.D's
director Nick Fury to take action by assembling a team of the most
powerful people on this planet. Those powerful people are Tony
Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Thor, and Dr. Bruce
Banner/Hulk. Together they form a super fighting force to stop Loki from
letting aliens destroy New York City.
I will never forget my theatrical experience with The
Avengers. I went with my Dad opening night and the showing we were going
to see was already sold out, so we went ahead and bought tickets for the
next show. We sat around in the van for a little bit till it was close
to time for the movie to start. Just about every damn row from the very
front to the very back was jam packed full of everybody from the elderly
to parents taking their children. I remember getting the distinct
pleasure of sitting next to some big guy who had serious B.O. and having
some boys sitting in front of me giggling and texting during the show.
But, once the lights dimmed and the movie began, I forgot all about
those annoying little boys, or my nose begging me for Oxygen. You know
why? Because I was having a total blast watching Iron Man and Captain
America stand side by side, Thor knocking Iron Man across a forest, and
who can forget Hulk giving Loki a professional ass whoopin'? Yep, that
was The Avengers. A total blast of fun, excitement, amazing visual and
special FX, Hulk/Bruce Banner finally done to perfection, aliens
crashing through a city, explosions, Scarlett Johansson giving me a nice
boner, Tony Stark making me laugh my ass off, and just being the
definition of a summer blockbuster. It's that roller coaster that you
want to catch the thrill again and again. Yes, I am not as attached as I
am a Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man, but it doesn't matter. I had a
great time at the movies despite the unpleasant theater conditions.
When I first heard that Joss Whedon was set to write
and direct The Avengers, I was more than happy. This is the same man who
gave me two kickass TV shows during my childhood with Buffy The Vampire
Slayer and Angel. Sure, he had not had much movie making experience
outside Serenity, which was the movie version of his short lived TV
series Firefly. But, I always knew that Whedon had the potential to make
it huge beyond the small screen and 2012 was the year of Joss Whedon
with The Avengers and the horror film that he co-wrote and produced, The
Cabin In The Woods. Whedon directs The Avengers with honor, respect,
and love for these characters. The film never misses a beat, and Whedon's
outerspace stuff looks frickin' phenomenal. If he hadn't already played
in Marvel's toychest, I would have said that he would have been the
perfect filmmaker to bring that Justice League film to life. Still
curious who gets that gig unless Zack Snyder jumps up and decides to, or
maybe Ben Affleck, although I have a feeling he will get to direct the
solo Batman films. Whedon also handles the screenplay well. We get that
classic Whedon humor like when Stark tells Banner that he loves it when
he turns into a giant green rage monster. And Hulk kicking Loki's ass
certainly made me cheer and giggle in my seat, even though I had to hold
the breathing part thanks to B.O. guy. Nick Fury making a flying
monkeys reference, and Captain America picking up on it made me chuckle.
Speaking of Captain America, I LOVE his new suit. It's very classic
Captain America whereas the suit in his solo film was more a military
war suit. And that finale in New York City has gotta be one of the
single greatest scenes in superhero cinema history. Words can't describe
how awesome it was seeing all these characters come together as a
team.
The cast was spot on in their respective roles. Robert
Downey Jr. is Tony Stark/Iron Man. The dude has enormous humor and tons
of charisma that you just love. He's the kinda dude you just want to
chill with. Chris Evans was a great pick for Steve Rogers/Captain
America. Finally, that 1990 movie is wiped away from the character's
identity. Chris Hemsworth is still thunderously awesome as Thor. The man
is the definition of a superhero. Mark Ruffalo replaced Edward Norton,
but ended up giving us the best portrayal of Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk
applied to film. Ruffalo was a nice surprise. I hope he eventually gets
that Hulk movie that he deserves. Scarlett Johansson is smokin' fuckin'
hot as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Plus, she can kick a lot of ass. My
kinda woman! Samuel L. Jackson is great as the slick and cool eye
patched Nick Fury. Clark Gregg is great as always as Agent Phil Coulson,
who is most likely not dead and is sadly on that God awful Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D television series that failed to capture the awesomeness of
these movies in every way. Jeremy Renner is really good as Agent
Barton/Hawkeye. But, Tom Hiddleston just about steals the show in his
reprisal role as Loki. I love Hiddleston's menace as a villain. You can
tell that the guy is having a major blast playing this character and us
audiences are therefore having a blast watching him having fun. Hell,
the man even came to Comic Con in character and talked to the fans as
Loki. So awesome, this guy.
Overall, The Avengers is the best Marvel Studios movie
to date. Love it and look forward to Phase Two going forward and
leading up to summer 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. The team will be
expanding and the universe getting even more fascinating than it already
is!
GRADE
A+
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