The Avengers

After five individual super hero movies, The Avengers ends up being the culmination of these movies and finally getting to see the forming up of The Avengers. Once the rumors stated flying of The Avengers movie I was very excited for this movie to finally come about. The buzz for The Avengers has been huge that while they had a good advertising push for the movie, the real push for The Avengers has been the fact that the five individual movies have been strong representations. With this it has truly only added to the expectation and excitement that I had for The Avengers. One of the greatest strengths I found throughout this movie was that it had that huge feel of a comic book that it is light and funny while still being a great action movie.

The acting continued in The Avengers to be just as strong and enjoyable as the performances that came about in the individual super hero storyline movies. Robert Downey Jr. once again in the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man fits perfectly in every scene he is in. The development that has taken place with his character has been minimal, but it has worked perfectly because he plays the eccentric billionaire playboy very well. His character flows so well with all of the characters in such a way that the one-liners come off the cuff so smooth and with such an ease that you feel like he is just talking normally and not going off of a script. With the way Downey Jr. is able to come off with such an ease that I feel like you do not view as him playing a role, but that he is truly Tony Stark/Iron Man. Chris Hemsworth in his role of Thor really showed more then just strength, but also a caring emotion throughout the movie that was not as prevalent in the Thor movie. This caring side came out strongest in his interactions with his brother Loki. While he could have easily just been physical and overpower Loki with his strength, he tries to appeal to his brother in trying to tell him how much he still cared for him and that he wanted his brother that he grew up with back and that there was still time for Loki to turn things around. Mark Ruffalo in the role of Bruce Banner/The Hulk was the biggest wild card going into this movie. Being the third iteration of The Hulk I was not sure how I felt about him in the role going into the movie. After seeing him in the role he ended up fitting the role very well. He ended up really having the look that you would expect Bruce Banner to have especially after being in hiding in third world countries for so long. Tom Hiddleston in the role of Loki once again he played the villain perfectly. The audience in this go around immediately does not like Loki, and as the movie continues forward the way he commands the screen works. The character of Loki is a strong villain for the Marvel franchise, of the opponents so far he has been the strongest and his character development has worked so well. While he imposes the fear in all of us, I am sure that many can relate in some ways to Loki and the feeling he is the son that can not compare at all to the power of Thor. The rest of the cast all do similar strong performances. It was nice for the role of Nick Fury to be more prominent and Samuel L. Jackson does a strong job. Likewise Scarlett Johansson in the role of Black Widow/Natasha is able to twist and get her out of a lot of different sticky situations.

The story for The Avengers was really done well. Having a movie that features six separate super heroes working together to defend the Earth is a story that could easily get muddled with so many different superheroes  or in trying to avoid this so much that we feel like we are viewing the depth from miles away. I felt that the story was brought about perfectly in the simple fact that we were not thrown into the team being together and working together, instead we get to see the super heroes having the issues that cause them to be at each other's throats throughout. Director Joss Whedon is truly spot on with The Avengers. Whedon's scripts usually include clever banter, gripping action sequences and an air of mystery and The Avengers is no different. Whedon has an utter love for comic books, and it is proudly put on display in The Avengers. The feel for this movie works perfectly as Whedon gives each super hero moments to shine and during these moments the super heroes take full advantage of these moments. Whedon has such a great ability to bring everything together with such great pacing, even though The Avengers  is two and a half hours long the pacing was set perfectly that it truly did not feel like it was that long of a movie.

In The Avengers they are able to successfully give us a full of action movie, that has great moments of feeling light and not an overly serious movie through the use of clever banter and off the cuff one-liners throughout the movie. While Tony Stark seems to have the most of the one-liners, most all of the main characters get these one-liners from time to time and they have been written into the script so seamlessly that nothing feels forced from the comedy. A lot of times in action movies you get the one character that is the comic relief and other then that the purpose is not clear as to why they are even in the movie. Because of that by the end the jokes seem old and forced by midway through the movie. The Avengers spreads the humor out so well that you never feel bored with the comedy. To counter the comedy Whedon gives the audience some great and nearly perfect action sequences The camera angles are set perfectly for all of the fighting, because you were able to sit there and watch the action unfold and you actually could tell who was hitting who. With the camera not being the shaky action where in wanting you to feel like such a part of the action that you do not know what is actually happening, it works greatly to actually know what is going on with the action sequences.

I went in to The Avengers with very high expectations, because of how well executed the individual super hero movies had been I expected no less. The Avengers went out and improved on the individual movies. Whedon in his directing was perfect with his touch as he gave the audience perfect moments of each super hero. While Downey Jr. in the role of Tony Stark was just as charismatic and perfect as he had been in the Iron Man movies, it ended up being the interaction between all the characters and the chemistry that was strong between them all that really helped make The Avengers be such a strong movie. The comedy and action sequences flowed together perfectly. The Avengers has been the best movie I have seen in a while, that is why I am giving The Avengers four and a quarter buckets of popcorn out of five.  The Avengers was well worth the price for a ticket to see in the theaters and even after seeing I would be very intrigued to go back and see it in 3D/IMAX.

-The Movie Man