Avengers Review

The Avengers

From X-Men in 1999 to Iron Man in 2007, comic book adapted movies have come back into the limelight, long after Christopher Reeve first took to the skies as Superman back in the 70’s.  Most of the recently released movies have gone on to smash the box office and set records.  Spiderman 2 set the bar high for the highest grossing comic book movie ever. Just last year, the last Harry Potter film took the highest grossing movie of all time title. This year, a new “highest grossing movie” may be crowned.

The Avengers brings together four Marvel franchises on the big screen - Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America.  Each of the aforementioned characters’ individual movies hinted at the possible team-up, teasing fan-boys about the alliance like waving a steak in front of a hungry dog. I have to say, Marvel and Disney truly delivered. The Avengers starts out slow, as all origin movies do, despite the movie’s explosive opening sequence. Nick Fury, who has shown up at the end of the previous franchises respectively, seeks out people with unique abilities to become members of a special team whose goal is to recover a mystic artifact known as the Tesseract.  He contacts Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to locate and gather Bruce Banner. An early fight scene where she takes out bad guys while strapped to a chair showcases Black Widow’s agility and combat expertise, just as she is depicted in the comics.

 

As mentioned, Avengers starts out a bit slow, but I prefer call this the “developmental” stage in the movie.  Some people in the theater were getting a bit anxious; they wanted to see all the good stuff hard and fast - fight scenes, explosions, etc. However, a film that takes time to build up the plot, without running out of time, and truly forming into an effective climax makes for a better experience. In one scene, Marvel used just the right amount of time when everyone is on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier to develop interaction between the four main characters and give a better sense of what’s going on. Nick Fury disclosing so much yet revealing so little is well played out, as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner discover the espionage group’s true intentions.  A real scenario that also plays out is distrust, especially amongst a team of strangers. Thor, Tony, Bruce, and Steve—these guys know so little about each other that it drives a nail between them before they even try to fully come together.  This leads to conflict and banter amongst them that is oftentimes noteworthy of an evening sitcom.

Speaking of which, comedic moments are blended well here and fit the personalities of the characters, especially Tony Stark, who is as eccentric as always. There’s even a bit of banter between Thor and Black Widow regarding Loki. Widow bad-mouthed Loki, and Thor came to his defense stating that the Mischief God is still his brother.  But when he is told that Loki killed eighty people in two days, Thor withdraws his objection and states that his brother is adopted.  Just this small comedic moment, small as it is, will stay with fans for some time. Full of action, very comedic and very much talked about on Facebook.

The action in this film is over the top.  Loki has the Tesseract and he has opened a portal to another world.  An army of beings called Chitauri begin pouring through the portal, ready to conquer Earth.  There’s panic in the streets and mayhem everywhere. The Avengers finally get their act together, come together and clean house.  As much as I like the Transformers movies, Michael Bay’s got some competition in the large-scale action department. The special effects and action scenes were great!  Marvel and Disney really upped their game for this. Guess making all those “Pirate” movies helped. Thor’s got his hammer, zapping invaders out of the sky. Hawkeye is on the roof plucking them off like flies with assistance from Iron Man. The Hulk is doing his thing, bashing anything and everything non-human.  He took down a giant creature easily larger than a nuclear sub with one punch. And Captain America, he handled everything like a soldier does, getting people to safety and taking out a few Chitauri while doing so.  I don’t read Marvel comics much but the last half of the movie definitely appeared like it was pulled straight from the pages.

The acting was excellent. All the actors pulled off their roles without a hitch.  Since Marvel Ultimate Universe’s Nick Fury is based off of Samuel L. Jackson, it was likely for him to be the right man for the character. He didn’t get much air time before so it was nice to see him get more fleshed out for this. Though I have yet to see “Thor” or “Captain America”, I’ve enjoyed Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in these roles. Mark Ruffalo takes over as Bruce Banner and all I have to say is: why didn’t Marvel acquire this guy for the previous “Hulk” films? But not to worry, word is that the Hulk series is getting rebooted, likely with Mark at the helm.  Scarlet Johansson and Jeremy Renner were great as Black Widow and Hawkeye.  Maybe we’ll see them in their own movies. Who knows?  Tom Hiddleston makes evil look good as Loki.  And Robert Downey Jr. is dead on as Tony Stark/Iron Man.  He is just as entertaining here as he is in Iron Man 1 & 2.  I can’t wait for part three.

Again, kudos to Marvel for bringing us this awesome movie; it was a real delight.  Hopefully we receive the same experience for the sequel where they take on…whoa, that was close. Wanna know? Then go see this movie to find out the next baddie for the next movie.

Definitely seeing this one again,

Brian M.

2012 ComiCinema

Hey there readers! Guess what! We have ourselves a guest writer this week. He is a very knowledgeable young man by the name of Doug Beaver. He is more up to date on movies that are based on comic books than either Danae or I would ever hope to be. I trust his opinion on these things. So read on to see what he has to say about the upcoming comic book centered movies.


2012 ComiCinema
By Doug Beaver

There are a ton of movies that are going to make 2012 a much better movie year than 2011 turned out to be: this year, we can look forward to The Hobbit, The Woman In Black, Casa de mi Padre, The Hunger Games, Expendables 2, MIB: III, Prometheus, Brave, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, among others.

And then there are this year’s comic book movies, or “ComiCinema”. There are really only five that stick out this calendar year; one immediate-looking bomb, one that may not qualify for the category and three others that will compete for this year’s top spot. Here they are in order of anticipated box office:

5. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
Some questions come to mind: Why was this made? What is Nick Cage even doing in the Marvel Universe when he was formerly auditioning to be the man of steel in a failed Superman movie? Why not go balls-to-the-walls with the “Marvel Knights” brand films?
All the PG-13 Rating does for Ghost Rider is water down the potential for great content, and guarantees an “Unrated Blu-Ray Edition” when it arrives in stores. The Punisher movies have also been a disappointment (though they carried the R-Rating) because the grittiness and darkness they were trying for just felt forced. Marvel Knights could learn a lot from the only great Punisher film, 1989’s “The Punisher” starring Dolph Lundgren; that is a classic that can really be credited as a forefather of the style that Christopher Nolan has now with the latest incarnation of Batman films.
Marvel Knights has not yet produced a real hit, and it doesn’t look like this sequel to the 2007 disappointment will change that trend. The original Ghost Rider is a decent enough movie, but it did not gain a large enough fanboy following or word-of-mouth appreciation to garner this follow-up.
This movie will not make much of a splash at the box office, and unless you are a diehard Ghost Rider fan, the first time you will see this is when you switch your PS3 over to stream Netflix and see it come up under “New Releases.”

4. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Whether to include this as a ComiCinema movie is debatable , because G.I. Joe is a trademark of Hasbro, and yet the product’s love affair with the comic book medium runs deep. Not many other franchises can claim to have been represented by DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Devil’s Due, and IDW. Therefore, it’s been included.
Though it’s technically a toy movie like Transformers, it’s not as bad as making a movie about a board game (Battleship – Really?? Don’t aliens know Liam Neeson can’t be defeated? Didn’t they see “Taken”?).
After viewing the trailer, this appears to be the opposite of what happened with the Transformers first two movies. Where the first Transformers film was really good, the second one was just shy of franchise suicide. Transformers 2 was the most incoherent piece of film garbage that made its money based on the goodwill that audiences gave it based on the original. The second G.I. Joe installment looks like it will earn its wings DESPITE the negative perception garnered after G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, which received poor critical and audience reviews.
This movie will be a hit as long as Paramount continues a strong marketing push with The Rock, Bruce Willis, and shots of the Cobra banners flapping from the roof of the White House.

3. The Amazing Spider-Man
While many people not familiar with comics think that this is too soon, most fans of Spider-Man are optimistic about a reboot. Spider-Man is rebooted in the comics fairly often, also with multiple series happening simultaneously (There has been “Spider-Man”, “The Spectacular Spider-Man”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Web Of Spider-Man”, etc.). So this is actually a good thing for Spider-Fans out there, and a good thing for a new generation of moviegoers that can relate a lot more to Emma Stone being more desirable than Kirsten Dunst.

There is no question that all comic fans will see this movie. The only thing that remains a mystery is if Andrew Garfield will be able to pull off being Peter Parker. He did an excellent job in The Social Network, but this is a different genre with the most critical fanbase, and there is A LOT of pressure to restart the franchise, as Spider-Man is easily Marvel’s most recognizable hero. If this is a “one and done” for Marvel, it could depress the whole company.

2. The Avengers
It’s time to “Make Mine Marvel” with the culmination of a set up that has been building audience’s anticipation for years. This could either be the best thing a production company has ever done, or the biggest letdown in film history (Star Wars Episode I and II included).
Pairing Joss Whedon with the characters of Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Loki, and Captain America (aka the same guy that played The Human Torch in two other Marvel films) seems like a match made in fanboy heaven. Whedon has proven he is trustworthy with characters – but in the past those have been mostly characters he has created himself. Firefly and Buffy were both series that depended on interactions between personalities that were strong and often butted heads, so this seems like a natural fit. The only caveat that remains a question is whether Black Widow could play a bigger role due to Whedon’s historical love for strong female characters. It’s not a problem, but more of a point of intrigue.
The audience for this is also widened by the incorporation of all the characters. People that didn’t like Captain America but enjoyed Iron Man will go to see their favorite character, and vice-versa. It’s almost like all of the individual heroes’ movies get a sequel all at once. So this will definitely be the second highest grossing ComiCinema movie of the year, if not the top spot.

1. The Dark Knight Rises
For people who like their ComiCinema with a bit of social relevance, this movie hits the mark. The trailer has Anne Hathaway espousing rhetoric reserved for the self-proclaimed “99% percent.” And coincidentally enough, the Occupy Wall Street crowd was very close to the filming of one of the film’s final scenes.
Would this final act of the Dark Knight trilogy have had a different crescendo if Heath Ledger had lived? Regardless of the answer to that, Bane makes an interesting villain to close this series on. Christopher Nolan could have gone with the Riddler as an obvious choice, but Bane was selected to challenge Batman “both mentally and physically.”
The main draw to this whole series has been that it looks cool, and treats beloved characters seriously as its fans do. This great series has raised the bar for all ComiCinema, but for Batman fans this could also be a double-edged sword. What directors or actors could touch the franchise again without appearing to be meddling, or failing to live up to this new standard?
This movie will be watched and enjoyed by all audiences – including people who never see movies based on comic books. This series transcends particular audience groupings, and will probably be considered for the next Academy Awards if it even approaches the previous two films’ level of excellence.


I hope you all enjoyed our guest reviewer this week. I know I did.
Until next kids, this has been Hava (and Doug)!

THOR

Thor (2011)
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 115 minutes

Based on ancient Germanic/Norse theology of Thor (a powerful god, with the well-known attributes of wielding a powerful hammer and the ability to control thunder), we now meet Marvel's version of Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth. Thor's father, King Odin (Anthony Hopkins), has, after defeating the Frost Giants, set a precedence of peace throughout the Nine Realms (earth comprises one of these realms). He keeps protected, the one thing the Frost Giants need in order to regain their power, The Casket of Ancient Winters. His two sons, Thor & Loki (Tom Hiddleston), both have a chance to become the next King of Asgard. After deliberately disobeying King Odin, and putting the whole kingdom at risk, Thor is stripped of his powers and cast out of Asgard. His hammer is to follow with the hexing that the hammer can only be wielded by one worthy. Upon Thor's arrival to earth, he runs into ;) a young scientist named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and you can only imagine the spectacle that then ensues.

Attempting not to give much away about the rest of the story, I will say that the director chose well in his casting of Thor. Chris Hemsworth is a fairly new actor, with no major movie roles (except a minor appearance in the newest Star Trek movie). He did a great job played a young Thor, and that which you would imagine him to be - a warrior, charming, immense, heroic, and even cocky. Also, Tom Hiddleston as Loki brought just the right amount of mischief and looked around with eyes full of need for attention - yet you couldn't help but feel for him. I won't give everything away but for those that know about the comic, you know that there is more than just a little sibling rivalry between the two brothers. Natalie Portman did an alright job. I love her as an actress but this role didn't seem quite the right fit. There was a moment in the film in which you could tell the director put in as he likely hoped it was be a memorable catch-phrase moment involving Jane - it ended up being cheesy and quite misplaced in the atmosphere of the movie. Anthony Hopkins as King Odin kills it (why should we be surprised?!).

In other news, while I don't have crushes often, seeing Thor toss around quite a few federal agents and not bat an eye when threatened by massive opponents was thrilling; I may have to move on from my previous infatuation, Wolverine, 'cuz Thor is no joke!

This is the fourth installation in the Marvel movie series for the Avengers (consisting of The Hulk, Ironman, and Ironman 2). Three more are planned: Captain America, Ironman 3 and, to star all the heroes listed so far; The Avengers (set to be released in 2012).

Overall, solid, solid action movie. If I had to compare to the other Marvel films leading up to this, I'd rate them in this order, with all being at least three out of five frames and in decreasing order: The Hulk, Ironman, Thor then Ironman 2. Now I'm indeed looking forward to the team when they form their alliance and we get to be a part of it!

I give this a 3.5 out of 5 frames!



Here's a trailer:



Head on over to the forum or shoot me an email at pictureonawall@gmail.com with all opinions!

Danae signing off!

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