THIS is How They Need to Do It!
Superhero team movies are often muddled and mixed up. I think it’s because they have not one but multiple stars and trying to satisfy the demands of fans to give everybody a bit of screen time is hard and instead, often one character rises above them all and is the focal point of the whole movie.
What was brilliant about The Avengers was that it uses the previous Marvel films from Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger as building blocks. We get introduced to the characters, we learn how they came to be and their histories, and each movie is dedicated towards their individual screen time. Yet those movies are also introductory chapters to this finale where it all comes together. Marvel went through a lot of time, effort, and trouble to coordinate all of these movies together and it shows and we, the fans are admirably rewarded for this.
I admit that I was leery of going to see The Avengers. I was willing to wait until it came out on DVD; because these days, spending money on a movie ticket is just ridiculous and I was worried that this conclusion would fall flat.
Still, I kept hearing all of these rave reviews that finally, I broke down and actually spent money on a ticket. And I am glad that I did—because The Avengers wasn't good ... it was EPIC! All of the previous appearances in their own individual movie chapters enabled that this movie to be really about the Avengers as a team and their interacting with one another rather than just simply one or two members getting introduced to the audience one at a time.
I suppose one of the greatest weaknesses of this film is that you need to have seen the various prequels—or at least most of them to grasp what is going on. However, I personally believe that it’s worth it but I am an unabashed superhero fan. But what I felt was the true tipping point for me was the death of Agent Coulson.
Coulson has been a HUGE supporting character in so many of the previous films. He was probably the only character whose death was such a huge personal impact to the various Avengers. His death, sad and tragic though it was; was what brought the team together.
The story flows well and the characters all have their own individual parts to play in it; there’s nobody left simply standing off to the side and acting as background filler. The serious moments were balanced by moments of witty humor and frankly all of the actors were spectacular in their roles, particularly Loki (Tom Higgleston) who was even badder and madder than he was in Thor and Robert Downey Jr. was as irreverent and funny as ever with his portrayal of Tony Stark/Iron Man.
The various battles were a special effect bonanza and all of the sequences were truly jaw dropping and masterworks of CGI. I found The Avengers to be a great superhero film, filled with style and energy and incredibly satisfying to watch. It was worth the wait. Hollywood needs to pay attention because THIS is how a superhero movie should be made.
RATING: 5 STARS!!!!!
