Few films have been as ambitious or intriguing as the concept for The Avengers. The idea for the film was kicked around Hollywood for years, but it wasn't until Marvel Studios started taking control of their own brand and characters that it seemed legitimately possible to pull off. The seeds were planted in the post-credits scene of 'Iron Man', where Tony Stark meets Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. Then over the course of four more films (Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America), water, sun and a little fertilizer was added. Basically, Marvel Studios has created this one, unified world and managed to populate it with all of these characters. The fact that these individuals keep appearing in each other's films keeps awareness high and ties it all together extremely well. And now, the payoff - when we finally get to see all of these characters together in the same film, at the same time, is immensely satisfying. Plus, the fact that Joss Whedon wrote and directed it doesn't hurt either.
In all, Avengers is one of the most satisfying movie experiences I've ever had the pleasure of attending. It positively glows in just about every aspect. The dialogue is smart when it has to be, cornball when it calls for it, and there're more than a few positively brilliant one-liners (usually - but not entirely - from the mouth of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark). Even speaking as someone who's not particularly fond of 3D, I didn't find it to be forced or distracting. There were no blatant 'money shots' - if you could ever accuse the 3D gimmick of being 'understated', this film would be the one to do it. It's there, and you notice it, but it's not distracting. It does what it's supposed to - it adds to the film without making a 2D version of the film unwatchable (which, when you're kicking in an extra three bucks for the 'option' of seeing a film in 3D, is really all you can ask for).
The plot involves Loki (Thor's half-brother/nemesis, introduced in Thor's movie just last year - which is great because there's no need to spend half an hour setting up the villain) trying to steal the Tesseract - a cube of extraterrestrial origin that was introduced (you guessed it) in Captain America's film. For what it's worth, the film is full of little things like this that do a great job of creating a sense of unity between these disparate characters. Anyway, Loki steals the Tesseract from SHIELD and Nick Fury calls on the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Bruce Banner/Hulk) to save the day. I won't delve much further into the plot because I don't want to spoil anything, but let it be said that while the plot moves forward in a relatively linear fashion, it doesn't always do what you expect it will. Joss Whedon does a great job of handling all of these characters and keeping the action moving forward, but the direction never feels muddied or bogged down. He's essentially got six lead characters, but the pacing is so even that you never really feel like one's getting shafted at the expense of the others. He keeps the film moving quickly and efficiently.
As something of a comic book nerd in addition to film geek, there were at least three occasions where I geeked out so hard that I almost left my seat and shot into orbit. Joss, being something of a comic book geek himself - he's done several turns as lead writer in Marvel books in the past - clearly knows and has a certain amount of affection for these characters and the world they inhabit. Again, I won't go into detail because I want everyone to experience these moments for the first time, but I will say that I had a big, dumb, goofy grin on my face the entire time.
For me (and most others, I would imagine), the gold standard when it comes to comic book films is The Dark Knight. That being said, however, I find The Dark Knight to be simply a great 'film' - that just happens to be based on a comic book. Avengers is now, unquestionably the best *comic book* film I've seen. Does that make sense? It revels in its source material and, above all, is simply a joy to watch. I could sit here and heap more superlatives upon it, but really, it's 2.5 hours of glowing nerdgasm in 3D (or not) and I am absolutely going to see it again.
Your move, Dark Knight.
What I'm Playing: NHL 12 (playing as the goalie is hard), Mass Effect 3 for XBox 360
What I'm Reading: Preacher, vol. 6
- EP
No comments:
Post a Comment