Movie Review : The Avengers

[amazon_link id=”B001KVZ6HK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Action
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours 23 min.
Director : Joss Whedon
Cast : Robert Downey Jr., Samuel Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston
Kid rating : PG-13

We went to see the movie en masse, which means the kids, husband and self, because the kids love anything superheroes, and Iron Man 2 was almost tolerable. This film is almost like Iron Man2 and Thor combined (hint, hint – nothing new here) except that now there are a roomful of superheroes to do a task which Thor apparently was doing, and succeeding in, all by himself. In fact, post movie that’s exactly what my son asked – Why do they need so many super-heroes when we “know” that Thor can fight Loki single-handedly ? I considered sitting my wide-eyed young man down and giving him the lowdown on Hollywood studios, but then decided against it – what’s the point on opening the door to cynicism so early in life ? Do note though that this review is written expressly to prevent you from asking the same question – you’re hopefully cynical enough already to take the medicine straight-up.

CNN calls this film the Friday night smack-down, and I would agree with them if they meant that the smacking down was into an extra-soft instant-sleep-promising mattress. Because I dozed off in snatches. You will not blame me once you hear the story : Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a power source which troublesome Loki steals and hands over to the denizens of the Norse netherworld. Fearing the worst, Fury calls in reinforcements, i.e.; Agents Romanoff and Agent Clint Barton, Iron Man, Captain America and Hulk. And Thor just turns up on his own. Loki plans to use the power source to open up a portal connecting his world to Earth, and transport demons here to vanquish humans into submission. Déjà vu, anyone ?

So, what were the good bits ? Iron Man is snarky and arrogant as always, and that is entertaining. Captain America is the boy scout, leading the bickering band into some semblance of a plan attack, although could they redesign his face mask ? Scarlett Johanssen as the Black Widow, is the compact ball of fury, and her character is much better developed than in Iron Man 2. Jeremy Renner as Agent Barton is . . . well, he just is. So, of the lot, I’ve got to say that the hulk was my favorite – Mark Ruffalo is fabulous as the mild mannered Bruce Banner with an anger-management issue. In fact he was so good that he should be signed onto play the Hulk for his lifetime – I will see each and every one of those films. He appears mild and very patient in the first half of the film, because we do not see the transformation to the large, green, angry giant, but when he does lose his temper, the film’s entertainment value sky-rockets.

There is also humor. Some of it comes from the smart-mouthed responses, some from the jostling of egos, and some of it plain comes from well-timed sequences. There is a scene where Hulk is being given a talking to by Loki, and he will have none of it – apparently transforming from altruistic and intellectual looking Dr. Bruce Banner to a large green hulk affects the brain. Thus he sets about giving Loki a good drubbing. There is some Iron Man-Thor goofiness since the two are strong characters, with large egos, and not easily pushed around.

The Avengers is more of the same Superhero koolaid we’ve been drinking since when “Thor” came out. Apparently people want more of it; Avengers grossed nearly 2.3 million in it’s first opening weekend, and the show we went to was sold out – we went to the one scheduled after it. That one turned out to be in 3D, which is regular screens with 3D, as opposed to 3D IMAX. So, you prop the 3D glasses on top of your regular eye glasses (or maybe that’s just me) and off you go. Too much stuff on your eyes frankly, and not worth the effects or the extra dime. After a while 3D appears to be 2D, and you don’t actually notice the extra depth shots. I went in expecting Disney-park like 3D effects, you know the ones where the bullet comes right at you, and they aren’t any of those in here; kind of hard to sustain those effects in a 2.5 hour film, I’d imagine. So, I’d say skip the plain 3D version – either go for the 3D IMAX, or the IMAX by itself.

Or skip it altogether. At about a 2.5 hour length this is overly long, and the same old stuff, now multiplied by the number of super-heroes.