edit: no spoilers in this
Right off the bat though...I rewatched the other movies this last week before I saw this...
@$%% the final fight scene in Iron Man. I roll my eyes when I see it and just wanna skip to the press conference at the end, $*$% is too corny to me.
@$%% the Incredible Hulk. A good movie with a great beginning, but a new actor, every 5 minutes, and you're trying to tell me I should keep giving a damn? @$%% you.
@$%% Thor. Not Thor, but THOR. @$%% Natalie Portman's corny !%+ acting in that movie (that's my chick, but @$%% her in the face). @$%% Kat Dennings in that movie, the goofy !%+ tone and cheapness of the Earth stuff, the *$#!@*% who got salty cuz Idris was in this and the lame emotionless action scenes that barely make this watcheable. Loki was the sole well done thing...more on that in a second.
@$%% CAPTAIN AMERICA, the man, the actor, the movie, it's director, everything. The lamest, most dry bread 'I wish you were worse so people could see you for what you are' generic, forgettable, throwaway, catch up on 2 months of sleep 'action' movie that somehow people try to convince to me isn't terrible. There was ONE good scene...when the little kid said, I'm cool, I can swim. That's it. But this ain't got $*$% on...
IRON MAN 2 ... @$%% YOU. If you don't know, @$%% you too.
@$%% the Avengers franchise. Forgettable, undercooked garbage !%+ origin movies, no matter how well casted they are, time and time again. There's one resounding exception (Iron Man) that immediately got the worst, most derivative sequel possible. Iron Man 2 is worse than Spider-man 3 and maybe X3: The Last Stand too (I ain't watching that again to confirm). And all the other movies are just things you had to remind yourself you ever saw in the first place, admit it.
Now with all of that out of the way...my dude, Joss Whedon. I'm a full on stan for dude. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dollhouse, Cabin in the Woods, whatever...if he's involved at all, I'm there. You can feel his stamp and fingerprints everywhere. And he's the only thing saving this movie from being a complete !!+@!*# letdown.
This dude was born caring about the characters over the story, using the story as an excuse to poke and expose the characters in as many ways and combinations in line with the themes as he can. Without him...
I can see the seeds of a pretty garbage movie here, so I've got to assume he saved this. Just the way their characters get intertwined and interact so cleanly...Whedonesque.
That said...it's pretty damn sloppy and disappointing to start. Setting up the big bad guy and the big important...thing...is spotty. It's the worst way to start the movie. The tone is off, the action is off, the acting is off, the direction is ehh. The beginning is just a chore that I wanted to fast forward through. Even the people calling this the greatest thing ever have to admit...the first 30...45 minutes...you were shook that this movie was gonna be a huge disappointment. And I felt like it drags in the way they reintroduce everyone. It's all filler. It's good filler, with nice little humor in there, but still. They knew this movie had to be 2+ hours, had the last hour and a half locked in, but didn't have more than 10-15 minutes of story before the 'ship.' So they stretched that to like 45 minutes.
Even then, I can't stay mad at it, because you're not gonna remember that. ANd they paid off Black Widow and Bruce Banner's moments really well. ... Once they get to the ship, it becomes a real film that just impresses you. The simple fact that it makes you care about people you didn't expect to: Nick Fury...his partner...Black Widow...Hawkeye...Bruce Banner. I never would've guessed that they'd have moments in this movie where I wasn't only not rolling my eyes, but I genuinely thought @$%% yeah, can't wait til they put you on for the next one.
Like every character connects with at least 3 other people in a meaningful/hilarious/explosive way. And just about all of those connections justify this movie happening. It's really amazing, the lack of out and out corniness of this film. You know what I mean. That Shia Labeouf quality. Felt like the Indiana Jones IV gene got Joss'ed out until all the big character scenes didn't ring false. The dialogue and punchlines are just really well written, even if you don't especially care about the characters...except 1. One, you will care.
Hulk. Hulk went IN. Hulk went IN, in every sense of the word. From the very first scene with Bruce Banner, to when he first changed with ......... (which for me was my favorite scene of the movie) to the showdown to the guard to the scooter to his 'secret' to the "I'm a god" scene and everything leading up to it. People keep saying he stole the show. Nah...he IS the show. He makes you try and forgive the plot holes and generic bad guys. This movie is decent outside of him, except he is uniquely great in this film. His motivations feel original, and what he accomplishes and goes through in the movie are more impressive than anyone else. And he's not at all the Eric Bana or Ed Norton or 70s TV show guy, that shaky-nervous-sensitive-shook dude who's trying his best to stay calm every minute. As good as Norton was, I completely forgot that dude and that movie. Mark Ruffalo nails every Bruce Banner scene and they really truly made the Hulk his own separate character for the first time and both guys ARE the movie. Thanks to Hulk, this movie has a couple of the best movie moments of the year; the physical comedy is great. And the connection he has with each character is so damn good...especially Tony Stark and Black Widow.
Just like X-Men: First Class was a decent/whatever prequel with an amazing Magneto origin film in the middle, this is the great Bruce Banner/Hulk film we've deserved (as well as the real Iron Man sequel). There's just a lot of filler (some of it, pretty good character stuff/jokes/dialogue) around it.
As far as the other characters go. I'm whatever on Thor. I liked him in the Thor movie, because I thought jeez...they actually found him. This dude is perfect. Or at least he perfectly looks and acts the part, and they do give him some stuff to do, but he had a better story in his og movie (esp. between him and Loki) and that movie didn't do too much for me either. You can really tell we're missing some important steps between him on Asgard and him on Earth, so I'm assuming that'll be THOR 2. This guy is begging for more story, because he's killing a part that doesn't really matter so much to the film. He's a nice addition to the team and has a couple cool and funny parts, but not as much depth, nuance or importance as I expected. No real hate, just me being greedy I guess...but for some random reason I did like dude's character in Cabin in the Woods much much better. Color me biased.
But Cap...man...Chris Evans should've been the Green Lantern. He would've been perfect as that. I feel almost nothing for his character here. It just feels like he's pretending to take things too seriously. He has moments, but he's inconsistent to me. And he doesn't have that weight of character in scenes. I know enough about about comics to know that he should be a bigger deal than Iron Man, but he's almost at the bottom of the food chain to me. He's supposed to be that og Superman Christopher Reeves, but instead we got Tom Wells in that TV show Smallville. He's basically just Cyclops from the X-Men movies here. Dude is a sidekick with an ego and that's a real shame. So noticeably outclassed by almost everyone. And don't get me started on that !!+@!*# costume.
And dangling from a string? @**%*
Black Widow > Capt. America.
Black Widow. ScarJo...so
, even though she play for the other team
. That said...from the second she got hot, she kinda stopped growing as an actress after Lost in Translation, but desperately doesn't wanna be mainstream bombshell #3. Her part was terrible in IM2 and I assumed that was her fault, not Favreau's and the studio for shoving the SHIELD stuff in there (part of what ruined that movie). But she's unleashed here in a way that you just don't expect. You don't expect the cunning and vulnerability and humanity and toughness and layered way of relating to other people. Just a very well written part, that would've been a throwaway 'stand here and look hot' role in any other movie. She's one of the most compelling characters in the movie somehow, even if I don't think they sold it as hard as they should've. To me, this is beyond the best mainstream role she's played. Thank you, Joss Whedon. And she should too.
I'm ok with a Black Widow movie, because this isn't the T&A non-character she played in Iron Man 2.
Iron Man...Tony Stark...Robert Downey Jr. There were real moments where I was worried IM2 Tony would show up, but he kept coming through. It's awkward, him working with others, but it's supposed to be, and he does amazingly. He's the anchor of the film. Funny, witty, right on point. You could swear Iron Man 2 never happened. (Please, somebody take Iron Man 2 back) This is the best Iron Man we've gotten, because mind you, Iron Man 1 isn't Iron Man, that's Tony Stark with a terrorist problem. The action's great, from what he does on the ship to the city to that look in his eye when he goes to put on his other suit...that other suit...awesome. Quarterback of the film and the writing and supporting characters didn't let him down this time. Every interaction is on point and he even manages to make Chris Evans relevant.
Nick Fury
Iono ... Sam Jackson...he's my dude. He's everyone's dude. Sometimes he sounds ridiculous like he's phoning it in (which I think is him and Whedon dialogue not mixing too well together) or they edited him wrong or they shot him wrong or he's having the wrong reaction to something. He's...pretty...off and disappointing? I see where they're coming from and it's not his fault. He had all this exposition of the awkward and forced themes and plot. Just a lot of pace killing, off-tone and movie stopping speeches he has to give. Still, he had some kinda bad-!%+ moments, but the helicopter jump
comic books mayne...and his chick partner or lieutenant or whatever. The one from How I Met Your Mother. They made something just from visual storytelling out of a completely nothing character that I really liked and just assume I should thank Whedon for that too.
Hawkeye...explaining him would take spoilers, but man...if there was ever a 'are you !!+@!*# kidding me, that character's in it?
' This was it. And Jeremy Renner...I loved him in Hurt Locker...I doubt him in Ghost Protocol--he shows out. I completely doubt him in Bourne Legacy...we'll see. And I doubted the $*$% out of the lamest-seeming superhero in this movie, and he did WORK. His character's not himself for a while, but dude is great from both sides of his role and really adds this weight to the matter. He's not this faceless ...... on the ship, he brings it, and I was impressed. And he catches up with some character stuff with his little side thing. I should stop doubting dude. I'm not saying he should get a movie. I'm still not sold on how much you can do with his ability...but man is he that dude when he needs to be.
And last but not least Loki...the tesa-whatever...Cosmic Cube...and the old scientist dude from Thor. Loki is...inconsistent. Now I thought he was perfect in Thor and the best bad guy of any Avengers movie BEFORE I saw this. Obidiah woulda been it if that fight at the end of Iron Man wasn't so ehhhh. Now there are flashes and moments and scenes where this dude kills it (that perfect Trollface) and is as good or better than he was in THOR...but then those others where he just seems ******ed and doing things out of character/not in his own interest/beneath his ability/and all just to set up some next scene for no reason. Don't get me wrong, Joker in the Dark Knight had the exact same problem, except he sold his character, every line of dialogue and moment of screen time so hard that just the threat of him showing up anywhere washed all the little plot holes over.
Loki is no Joker. He wants to be, but there's too much of that dude from Transformers 3 who's trying to get at Shia's girl and betraying humanity just to be a troll. Personally, I think they made him a punk and were missing parts to connect his whole scheme into something that made more sense step by step. But I get it...they had to setup this huge battle and they had this great evil character from one of the other movies. So why not bring him in to keep the tension up until then? If that ain't a problem for you, this dude is one fun bad guy. He hams it up some, but it's all in good fun and there's some serious bite and menace in some scenes and he puts it over the plate for these heroes to knock it out the park. And that he manages to, for some reason, just do nothing, but stand around down the stretch, gets excused for cuz...
That one scene... "I'm a god." Absolute tears.
The Cosmic Cube was whatever. Carbon copy of the plot from Hellboy 1 and Transformers 3 with some of The Phantom Menace thrown in at the end...it was generic as hell, all talk-no show and much better done other places.
But I can't stress this enough...The big action scene in the middle of the movie is amazing. Every single summer we get the same cgi fest over and over again and this is what they thought they were making. This is the best of those. This one long scene is the peak of the movie and the rest is just winding the movie down, closing up the storylines, getting the last jokes in and letting Hulk put his stamp on the proceedings.
And that's what it comes down to. There's plot holes and it's very comic book-y and some of the characters don't work so well, and the pacing takes like 45 minutes before it comes correct...it's a very good movie. A crowd pleaser. And the last half doesn't disappoint at all for what it is. This is getting loved in kind of the way Hunger Games did. (this is much better, trust) But in the same way Hunger Games was this spiritual apology for Twilight, this is an apology for the Transformers' and Iron Man 2's and whatever comic book or cgi-fest movie that ended up feeling super generic and way too small a scale for what it deserved.
And it's the opposite of The Dark Knight, tonally and in what it's goals are, so I don't think it's fair comparing them.
It's been so long and I've seen it so many times...just watching Maggie Gyllenhaal ruin her part and the movie...Even though I don't think it's better, I could watch Avengers 10 times before I'd want to watch TDK again. TDK is much better made (Joss is the dialogue man, not the paint pictures guy), but this is a fun rollercoaster.
Still, you have to qualify something like this. What's it better or worse than? It's the best Avengers movie to me, but I don't think that's saying too much. Iron Man's still better beginning to end and acting wise. This had more to do and more working against it, but pulled it off and stuck the landing, though. I don't think it's better than Spider-man 2 (and I hate Tobey Maguire AND Kirsten Dunst) or the og Superman. But for now, I do think it's better than all of the X-Men movies. even X2. Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow and the ship scene are that good in this.
So yeah, that's about as spoiler-free as I could be. Some of Avengers I loved. Some of the setpieces and characters really surprised me, but some stuff did fall pretty flat and I can't say I got really emotionally attached to any characters. Except maybe in that Black Widow scene and when everyone got to yelling at eachother. Still I never felt in fear for anyone or anything. And yeah...It's overhyped, but that's a great theater movie and a crowd-pleaser. It's an accomplishment when a summer blockbuster like this doesn't annoy you or make you roll your eyes every 5 minutes. And somehow the best parts of it didn't get spoiled by trailers.
Whedon, man.
If you're completely over The Dark Knight...you don't think about movies older than 5 or 6 years...maybe you liked all the origin movies or you've been an Avengers comic book fan...then this might be the best comic book movie you've ever seen. It's everything it had to be with Whedon there to patch the leaks and bring it home.
And I really hope they make another one soon...I get that there'll ben be another Thor and Iron Man, but cmon...more of this. And please don't let go of Joss Whedon. Even though I wish he could go off and make another TV show/the movies he wants to. But if we're gonna get forced to watch these every year, I want him there.