Marvel's The Avengers Review

    The culmination of Marvel’s titans has finally come to fruition as fans of the comics and the movies themselves that have been leading up to the “Avengers” have been drooling for this epic to come for years, and finally, it comes roaring into the big screens and rest assured; it packs a “helluva” punch! “The Avengers” is everything anyone would want or expect in a blockbuster. Regardless if it’s a comic book film or not, that only raises it up to a higher level of entertainment and imagination not seen since the days of Spielberg and Lucas. “The Avengers” is expected to be the big blockbuster of this year and after multiple viewings of it (Yes, one time is not enough) it’s clear that audiences will “eat this up”. Even a blockbuster of this caliber, one would wonder if it would trade in fun entertainment and great characters that we’ve loved in the past Marvel movies for just a couple of thrills and spectacle CGI explosions that audiences can gawk at and hoot over the summer time (Transformers anyone?). Surprisingly, it has all that, and still manages to make it’s focal point all about the characters, how relieving (Michael Bay needs to learn something from this if he’s expected to survive in this business).

    “The Avengers” is a spectacle; breezing with smart, witty dialogue; an ensemble cast fused great performances for characters we’ve loved throughout the marvel movie adaptations and a great appreciation for both the intelligence of a Hollywood blockbuster and quality entertainment that’s more than “eye-candy” for the masses. Of all the writer/directors Marvel could have chosen from; Joss Whedon was handed the heavy task to jumble these electric, extravagant personalities with a plot that doesn’t upstage or detract from the characters. Whedon has found his true calling; for years after being an enigma in the world of television and widely recognized among the comic book fans and geeks who marvel at his sophisticated style of writing and directing, he’s now become a true auteur in the comic book universe and has delivered a film so worthy of the stature of what Spielberg and Lucas made back in the late 1970’s. Not to undermine the brilliant work from Christopher Nolan’s contribution the Batman movies or even Bryan Singer’s revitalization of the X-Men movies, but Whedon has stood out as a true ringleader in the Marvel universe for creating his crowning jewel of dazzling, uncompromising entertainment.



As the entire Marvel movies since Iron Man had ended with the post-credits scene introducing the Marvel superheroes to the secret agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. led by Nick Fury, “The Avengers” picks up with Loki, who now controls the Tesseract that has been kept by S.H.I.E.L.D., intends on an all-out invasion and rule for planet earth.

With growing desperation and no options left, Fury assembles a team of highly sophisticated, unique superheroes that have been established since 2008’s “Iron Man”, and with the help of Fury’s trusted agents, Agent Coulson and The Black Widow (Clark Gregg and Scarlett Johansson) intend to put an end to Loki’s crazy reign of terror.

To ignore the fact that the plot is about as familiar a run-of-the-mill action-superhero flick, it’s all about execution that matters. And when you have a culmination of all these superheroes with their state-of-the-art, out-of-this-world powers, some big egos are waiting to clash. And that’s where the Whedon’s ability to create witty banter between these over-driven, macho-men comes into play. His dialogue is both crisp and delightfully entertaining to listen. Even with instilling some pop-culture jokes, never at the point of being smarmy about it, the script is infused with playful-like attitude and satirical humor. Whedon creates tension even with the banter when in situations involving both Iron Man’s egotistical personality clashing with Captain America’s patriotic, old school antics. But even in these serious situations, there’s a sense of funny riposte underlying all of the tensions between these characters. Something quite remarkable that Whedon has pulled off is the utilization of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner (a.k.a. The Hulk); A lot of fans of the 2008 “Incredible Hulk” were displeased how Edward Norton wasn’t returning to “The Avengers”, however, fans can be rest assured as the Hulk is in perfect hands. Ruffalo finds a unique angle; showing both the quirkiness Banner has about his “inner beast” and a sense of underlying dread of what’s to come. He easily stands out among the huge cast. His performance is so captivating as just Bruce Banner that one would one to see more. And even as his alter ego (The Hulk) he is definitely the crowd favorite; appearing and creating some of the best crowd-pleasing moments and generating big applause and excitement among movie goers.

The reason “The Avengers works is how it takes a generic plot and infuses with great dialogue, entertaining characters and action that both “wows” and gives the audience more of what the expect. It’s eye-candy with some nutritional value. It never goes repetitive as most Hollywood blockbusters would go with their huge budgets, but continues to please and dazzle that it’s more of an event to see “The Avengers” as audiences will certainly have a blast.

                                                        rating: A by Amritpal Rai