My thoughts on: The Avengers

Before we get into it I would just like to point out there may be a few spoilers in this post, they shouldn't extend much beyond what you see in the trailers or ruin the plot in anyway mind you. If this isn't a problem to you then by all means carry on reading!



To begin with if you haven't seen this film, go and see it. And if you have seen this film, just go and see it again.

This film has been in the making from as early as 2008 when Tony Stark made a cameo appearance in The Incredible Hulk. Since then it's been hinted at continuously to those Marvel devotees willing to sit through to the end of the credits to be awarded with a little Avengers gem. Ive been waiting years for this to finally come around and I can certainly say it's gonna stand strong amongst this summer's cinema (along with the new batman and spiderman that is...oh what a good time to love comic books!)

The film comes in at around 2.5 hours long but it goes in a flash when you're watching the thing. Because the screen time needs to be split between 4 characters you don't get the sense that either one has time to become stale or repeat themselves within the plot. The reason for the film length is really to flesh out the characters and to give them time to get them all together on the 'recruitment drive' that will form the Avengers.

One of my concerns when going in to see it was how they would balance the characters. I couldn't really see them pulling off a film where they simultaneously manage to juggle 4 characters complex and engaging enough to have warranted their own film without making one feel left out. However they do manage to give each character ample screen time, none of them really feel excluded. I would argue that Stark (Downey Jr.) does steal the show in many scenes, and seems to be the most fleshed out character. However this may just be a combination of making him seem like an arrogant playboy and my enjoyment of his portrayal causing bias in his favour. If I'm honest I'm not entirely sure.

Carrying on with the handling of the characters I do find in one or two cases they kind of develop a character into a corner, so for the sake of the plot ignore it and pretend they didn't do it. For example they have the Hulk go super crazy at everyone in the Avengers initiative, then later on 'Cap seem to be able to communicate with him. In this case you kind of sit there thinking well why didn't you try talking to him when he was trying to rip your face off? This happens with 2 other characters I counted, which is a bit naff, but I suppose they didn't think people would care really....and maybe they shouldn't!

If this doesn't make you want to see the film
you're a lost cause.

In terms of plot there isn't really a lot to go off here, although if you're going expecting a deep and moving experience you're probably picked the wrong film. It's all a bit bog standard to be honest although I will say they make a pretty good attempt at a plot, I remember thinking while watching it that the story was one of the best in recent Marvel years. One thing I liked about the handling of the plot is that they make each of the Avengers a necessity to the plot. As you may know (spoiler...) Thor's brother Loki is the main bad guy. When I knew of this I was somewhat disheartened as Thor didn't have much trouble beating Loki in his own film, why did he need 3 other guys now? However Loki also holds (spoiler....) That super duper cube thingy from Captain America. Suddenly 2 of our Avengers are needed. Then we learn that the cube thingy emits (Spoiler....) Gamma rays, meaning Bruce Banner is needed to track them down! (Iron man as far as I remember isn't integral to advancement of the plot, but he does play some AC/DC at one point so thats good enough for me). This little trick pulls the team together, as though their worst nightmare has been recognised and they really will need the help of each other to beat the respective evil's.

Which brings me nicely on to the bad guys of the story. Unfortunately that's all I can call them 'cos I'll be damned if I can remember if they actually had a name in the film. They became this pretty generic mass of just bad-guy ness. They weren't really given faces and there was no distinguishing one between the other. Thinking about it there was no real need to make them (Maybe a tiny bit spoiler?....) aliens in the end, I'm sure they could have written some sort of super evil uprising of humans, or maybe some time travel from Nazi Germany to please the 'Cap. It just grates that the idea of the Avengers is these extraordinary HUMANS....and Thor, but they're fighting some boring alien race that we've seen done a thousand times.

I think this is a photo of the bad guys
but I honestly can't remember what they look like!

Talking of seen before brings me on to my final gripe with the film. The finale is on a really grand scale of destruction all round New York. It would be really really impressive....if you hadn't already seen Transformers 3. Its practically the same ending with loads of blowing up. Don't get me wrong it's impressive, but its already been done. I kind of hoped a film people have been waiting so long for wouldn't fall into such boring stereotypes and would instead forge it's own path, be the leader of a new cliche rather than the follower.

HULK SMASH!

Moving on to the positives, the CGI is breathtakingly good. I saw the thing in 3D and that bit with Stark coming round the corner with the beast following was probably the best thing I've seen in this genre of film for as long as I can think. Also theres some true kick-assness with the fighting and blowing up of stuff. If thats what you're looking forward to you're not gonna be disappointed. This film also maintains the comedy of the previous films, although again it seems that Stark gets all the good bits in this respect with his witty quips.

Ive said one or two bad things about the film here but I would like to say that those really are the only things wrong with it, and quite frankly i'm nitpicking for the sake of having something to write about other that "I really liked it". The acting is good, the plot is good, the effects are good, the script is good, and there are loads upon loads of explosions. What more were you expecting?

Although I'll just leave you with this...They're intending to make another 2 Avengers films at this point. They've already blown up most of New York, how do they top that for the sequel?

My worst bit :- What exactly was the point of that arrow man?
My best bit:- Hulk...Smash!

My verdict - 9/10 } A real solid effort, just let down by a seeming lack of care about anything but the SFX fuelled ending.