In what Time magazine (May 7, 2012) calls the "first of this summer's ultra-expensive, apex-predator blockbuster movies," and the "Travelling Wilberys of super-hero franchises," six super-heroes assemble to defend earth against an alien invasion. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) of S.H.I.E.L.D calls together Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Rufallo), Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to join forces against Thor's [adopted] brother , Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who has enlisted the evil Chitauri to help him enslave the human race. The film is directed by Joss Whedon, a super-hero among super-hero fans and creator/director ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and the most recent The Cabin in the Woods.
This film has some of the funniest lines I have ever heard in an action movie. The team of super-personalities is supported by witty, rapid-fire dialogue which keeps pace with the motion of the plot. If you have not seen the four "tent-pole" movies feeding into this one (Iron Man (2008,2010),Captain America (2011), and Thor (2011)), you might have some difficulty in understanding the background stories, and consequential motivations, of each hero. It can be tremendously difficult to keep track of who has what super-power and who is vulnerable to what. This can be especially puzzling when the super-heroes are quarreling amongst themselves. For example, who knew that Thor's hammer could send Iron Man hurtling through the woods but fail to penetrate Captain America's fancy-shmancy shield? Actually, one thing that sets this group apart from others like the X-Men or the Fantastic Four is that technically not all of them have super-powers. Iron Man just has a fancy suit, and the Black Widow, well I don't really now her power. She's a good spy? She can shoot really well? She looks good in a body suit (more on this later)? I would recommend honing your Avengers knowledge before attempting to understand exactly what's going on in this movie.
Director Joss Whedon
That's not to say that this movie is only for Marvel Comic fans. At bottom, each super-hero in The Avengers represents a distinct subset of American values. I think we are a conflicted nation, suspicious of our government, dissilusioned by the concepts of "freedom" and "democracy," insecure about our status as a world power, and cynical about our future. We can sympathize with Loki, who wants to quiet everyone down to submission, but we are tied to a history and a set of ethics that resists tyranny and encourages freedom of thought, speech, and action. As Joss Whedon (right) himself says in an interview with Time, The Avengers is "a story about broken people... about what we've lost that we used to have culturally, in terms of this sense of community, this sense of helping each other, this sense of sacrifice." We find strength in the idea that individuals of moral fortitude can summon the power to unify and defeat the foe. Because of this driving urge that lives at the heart of our civilization, super-hero movies like The Avengers come to have a much deeper significance for the American movie-going public.
I really don't know why I should be writing a review about this film. They always say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." But if Thomas Paine had lived up to that adage, where would this country be today? I also believe that this is a very popular movie, everybody likes it, it's just not my kind of film. But in my defense, I've been pretty flexible. I enjoyed suspending belief for Cowboys and Aliens. Even the first Sherlock Holmes (2009) was bearable because of its inventiveness. There aren't very many film genres which I wholly dislike. Unless you want to start a genre called the "rotten-Hollywood-film-adaptions-of-good-books" genre.
It seemed like, for most of this movie, we were watching a lot of movement, but little action. There was a lot of dialogue, but very little was said. Everything was so fast-paced and flashy that the audience was too lost to even realized it was confused. There would be some fast exchange between Holmes and Watson, and we're so impressed by the style of their banter that we never stop to ask, "Okay, so what's the plan again?" The film takes us places when we don't even know where or why we're going. There are fight scenes when we don't know who we're fighting or why, or even why we care!
The Sherlock Holmes I know is not as out-going as Robert Downing , Jr.'s portrayal. I think even the last Sherlock Holmes captured him a bit more accurately. And, now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Watson doesn't get married until much later. And when did Sherlock Holmes ever have anything to do with keeping world order? And who was that chick who was running around with them, and why was she there? And since when are Holmes and Moriarty on speaking terms? And I know Holmes was a boxing champ, but how often did he get into street brawls? Certainly not every other scene. He had so much more class than that. And he was certainly had a lot higher standards of personal hygiene. Why was he unshaven for the whole film? And what time period are we supposed to be in, remind me? They repeated the year a number of times, but I don't remember Holmes and Watson ever driving around in an automobile. They most definitely never had automatic repeater weapons! And they keep talking about a huge European conflict, but WWI is ages away. Are they talking about the Franco-Prussian War? Nobody knows anything about what happened then, except the French.
Sometimes, the film would take its sweet time explaining things in the story. They'd explain something and I would think, "Thanks for telling me now why I was supposed to care about ten minutes ago!" The whole first half of the movie, Holmes was being peculiar just for the sake of it, not because any of his peculiarities had anything to do with the thrust of the plot.
Stephen Fry as Mycroft
So, can I think of anything positive to say about this film? Hm. It looked pretty good for the most part, though the sets, scenery, background, etc. seemed really busy and dirty all the time - but not in an effective way. The scene when they're running through the woods getting shot at in slow motion was kind of cool, but I don't know what the point of it was, nor why it was so drawn out.
I did love love LOVE seeing Stephen Fry as Mycroft! He was soooo funny! But I don't think anybody in the theatre I was in knew that they were supposed to laugh basically every time he came on the screen. I did - nearly gave myself a hernia.
In summation, I think most everybody will go to this movie and love it and think it's the best thing ever and quote it forever. But I think they're stupid. This film lacks substance. It is void of any ingenuity, cleverness, innovation beyond what we already saw in the first one. Frankly, I think audiences are getting wise to the muck that Hollywood is turning out. But too many people are willing to pay for that muck, and what I'm learning is that box office numbers literally govern the decision-making process in Hollywood, and that is very discouraging.
This film has some of the funniest lines I have ever heard in an action movie. The team of super-personalities is supported by witty, rapid-fire dialogue which keeps pace with the motion of the plot. If you have not seen the four "tent-pole" movies feeding into this one (Iron Man (2008,2010), Captain America (2011), and Thor (2011)), you might have some difficulty in understanding the background stories, and consequential motivations, of each hero. It can be tremendously difficult to keep track of who has what super-power and who is vulnerable to what. This can be especially puzzling when the super-heroes are quarreling amongst themselves. For example, who knew that Thor's hammer could send Iron Man hurtling through the woods but fail to penetrate Captain America's fancy-shmancy shield? Actually, one thing that sets this group apart from others like the X-Men or the Fantastic Four is that technically not all of them have super-powers. Iron Man just has a fancy suit, and the Black Widow, well I don't really now her power. She's a good spy? She can shoot really well? She looks good in a body suit (more on this later)? I would recommend honing your Avengers knowledge before attempting to understand exactly what's going on in this movie.
