Movie Review: The Avengers

Better late than never, I always say.  Yes, ok, I know I say a lot of things.  But you'll find this review refreshingly short, if you are in that "brevity is best"-camp.


The Avengers (2012)



Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.  Short synopsis of The Avengers taken from IMDb.com 


Not to spoil the end of this admittedly brief review, but let me say right now, I saw this one in the big theater back when it came out. And then half of it at work a month or so back when it came out on DVD (and we had a light night and my boss wanted to watch a movie, but I had to leave at my normal time and missed half). And then the other half when I rented in from Redbox. And I'd own it if I had two unoccupied pennies to rub together. So to answer the recommendation question, I'd say this one was definitely worth the big screen main theater ticket price. And that is said even before I get into the meat of the review, so I guess you could say this one is good, in my opinion.

Not to say that The Avengers is without its flaws. For one, the Phantom Menace-nature of the bad guy army in the climax scenes. They all turn off when the wormhole that the Tesarac causes gets closed? Yeah, that was convenient. And that guy in the mid-credits scenes? The one with the purple-pink face and the evil smile? I know comic fans may know him, but the rest of us so-called "newbies" got a bit of a "O----K--- ...who the hell was that?"-moment.

If I thought about it, I could come up with some other gripes. Joss Whedon wrote and directed it. That could be called a strike, in my book. For all the good ones out there with his name on them (the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV series Firefly, and the movie Captain America - that one I have mixed feelings about), there are ones I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pointy stick (the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Firefly's spinoff movie Serenity - my wife hates that film because they killed off the pilot guy, you mention that movie in our house and she gets pissed; Alien Resurrection - yeck, nice way to help run a dying series into the ground, Whedon). But I must say, this was Whedon's better work. Now I just have to get up the nerve to try The Cabin in the Woods and see if it is as good as the critics opine. One of these days.

It's The Avengers, retro-style!  This proposed Aerial Landing Field was supposedly "sunlight-powered,"(as per the cover) and... well, it looks awfully cool.  The helicarrier from the 2012 movie has all sorts of technical issues to it that make the version above look like a piece of cake in comparison.  There is the Wired.com article (here) that does the math on how plausible a helicarrier would be, if you are into that sort of thing.  But to be honest, my biggest gripe with the thing was not that superheros (and not qualified technicians!) were the ones fixing it when one rotor got blown up, but instead that whole camouflage scheme deal.  The idea is fine enough, but not in a ship that comes in contact with ocean water.  Sea water plays hell with technology, due to its salty corrosiveness and lifeform content.  The light-bending/reflecting devices would be a nightmare to maintain.  Yes, I know, I should really get out more often. / Source: AirMinded.org

But on the other hand, despite the things working against The Avengers (nice pun, if you think about it), the movie gets it done. I was sure when I did my summer preview, aka Summer Movies I Hope Don't Suck - 2012, that this much star power would make the project suck into a nasty messy wad like a Tesarac (I'm sorry if I'm not spelling that right, but sue me) being tinkered with by malevolent forces. But no. They pulled it off. And with style to boot.

I won't wax too eloquent on this one any further. Suffice it to say, The Avengers was the most fun I had in a comic book hero movie since the original Iron Man. The characters get pretty good coverage, the action is exciting, the humor is spot on, and the Hulk is what we wanted for two movies now. Yes, The Incredible Hulk was not bad, per-se, but the first movie was/is so grunky, I won't even speak its name on this forum for fear of damaging my publication's already shifty reputation. Mark Rufalo, you brought back my faith in an actor's ability to portray Bruce Banner. Cool stuff.

Now if they can just keep from ruining the sequel, and all the spin-off stuff that will result from this good achievement. Let's hope DC Comics' The Justice League, with Batman and all the rest, is half as successful, and two-thirds as good. And Iron Man 3. Please make up for Iron Man 2. It wasn't horrible, but it could have been better.

Ok, enough fanboy stuff. If you haven't caught The Avengers yet, it is worth a look. Fun popcorn entertainment, and one of Whedon's "good" column. Take that for what it is worth, kids.


The parting comment:

  

A "two-for" on parting comments today.

Source: LolSnaps.com

 The silhouette target: "It's just a flesh wound!  Gimme some duct tape and I'll be good as new."

If you didn't get enough already, I'm tacking on some stuff to this post.  Just some links below.  I usually don't include CollegeHumor.com material in my blog, as they are a bit racier than I usually am partial to, but these ones are kinda funny, and - though a week or so late as of this posting - still fairly relevant.  And the two clips on breaking zip ties used as handcuff restraints are more of a public service announcements.  In case bad guys break in to do you harm, ya know?

CollegeHumor.com stuff doesn't imbed, so here are links:

Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama, old-skool video game style 

Ever wonder what a daycare would be like for monster children? No, I mean real monster children, not your neighbor's bratty kids. Warning, the last scene is a bit gross (think Exorcist vomit scene) 

And here is that PSA stuff on zip ties.

The original story this video is attached to, from LifeHacker.com

More zip tie stuff: