The Avengers

Before I begin this review I must admit some biases that have slightly affected my review of this particular film. I am a huge fan of Jon Favreau's Iron Man and it's sequel, Joss Wheadon and comic book movies in general. I will endeavour to maintain a non-biased review as best I can. 


The Avengers is billed as this summers first blockbuster offering in a year filled with top contenders. The set up for the film stretches untold pages of comics as well as 6 feature length films. A group of individual heroes rises to combat an evil army from the great beyond. Doesn't seem so original when you spell it out like that, does it? The difference here is that the characters in The Avengers are all larger than life concoctions from the minds of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Joss Wheadon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, Dollhouse) had the herculean task of writing a script that gave each character the chance to shine not only in a narrative and character development light, but in the films many action sequences. Wheadon's experience writing for ensemble casts no doubt gave him a leg up on other would-be suitors for the reigns of the estimated $220 million Avengers. 


The cast for this movie was a financial gamble. Utilizing Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Stellen Skarsgard, Clark Gregg, and Tom Hiddelston in one films budget was daunting enough. I only omit Mark Ruffalo because he was in neither of the previous Hulk films. Writing them all meaningful roles and functions within the film was quite another. 
Tom Hiddelston must be given consideration being he was dealing with 4 super heroes and held his own from an acting perspective. 


I feel that the movie was fairly well paced without being too pushy. While the action scenes move the plot forward, it's the dialogue scenes that draw in the viewer. Back story takes a slight backseat to the action, but in a good way. With 6 feature films before it, explaining much of the initial character introduction is mostly bypassed. This allows Wheadon to focus on the true meat and potatoes for the film, the actual relationships between the heroes. 


The story focuses on the journey from very distant characters to a cohesive fighting force by the films climax. I keep drawing parallels between The Avengers and X-Men in that both are ensemble cast films. I feel that the former does a better job of distributing the acting load while the former relied almost too heavily on Hugh Jackman. The cast of The Avengers started farther apart and ends up rounding out their alter ego's much more cleanly than Singer's X-Men. The characters end up working through their differences after each experiencing a personal moment of self doubt. In this we see the humanity behind each of their heroic facades. 


Wheadon's distinct cinematic style is not lost on The Avengers. POV camera angles, fast cuts during fights, and lots of non-steadycam shots add a gritty feel to the otherwise well polished cinematography. The version of the film I saw was the 3-D IMAX version of the film. Scenes during the climatic final battle and of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier benefited from the extra scope offered by IMAX's enhanced aspect ratio. The 3-D effects were well done and not over the top as in some films. 
While you won't necessarily miss out on much by seeing the non-3d version of the film, I do recommend it.


Alan Silvestri's score added some emotional depth to the film while not overpowering the audience. I felt going into the film that I would miss the enthralling John Debney score from Iron Man  2 but it just didn't happen. The actual plot of the movie wasn't ever brought to the forefront because in true comic style it frankly wasn't as important as the action, dialogue and themes of the material.  


Some of my favorite moments of the film were the comic relief that Wheadon wrote into some of the films tenser moments. Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark provided a good counter to Evan's dogooder Captain American. The relationship between Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton was a nice subplot, and quite frankly something I hope there is more of in the directors cut, rumored to be near 30  minutes longer. Ruffalo's Banner I felt needed some time to get going but the Hulk managed to steal the screen. Hemsworth and Hiddelston continued the chemistry from Thor and added perhaps even more depth.   


While The Avengers was not a perfect film it's high points glossed over the films few flaws. I thoroughly enjoyed the film from beginning to end, it was just plain fun. If you want a movie for deep discussion rewatch Fight Club or The Matrix. If you want to see the bad guys get beat and the heroes drop one liners with aplomb see The Avengers. All in all Joss Wheadon's writing, a tremendous cast and spectacular visuals combine like The Avengers characters themselves to create something better than it's individual components.  


The Avengers - Overall rating (1-100) 88