The Avengers (Whedon, 2012) — The Reviews Thread

[Why So Blu?]

Originally Posted by yoshimi

I really loved it. It was even more fun than I was expecting it to be. I wish Whedon would have gotten to direct his Batman after seeing this. Perhaps they wouldn't be such shitty movies.

Because Nolan's Batman films are shitty? GTFO.

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by Supermallet

When I saw Jenny Agutter's name in the credits I knew she had to be one of the council members. It was the only thing that made sense.

I was surprised to see that was her. I just watched her in Walkabout the other day -- what a great film. The most recent thing I'd seen her in was Child's Play 2 and I never would have realized she was one of the council members.

[yoshimi]

Originally Posted by Why So Blu?

Because Nolan's Batman films are shitty? GTFO.

The Dark Knight is. Just my opinion of course.

[Dr. DVD]

Originally Posted by joe_b

I was surprised to see that was her. I just watched her in Walkabout the other day -- what a great film. The most recent thing I'd seen her in was Child's Play 2 and I never would have realized she was one of the council members.

To me she'll always be the nurse who banged David Kessler in American Werewolf in London. Unfortunately, she no longer looks that way.

[Super X]

Originally Posted by Supermallet

When I saw Jenny Agutter's name in the credits I knew she had to be one of the council members. It was the only thing that made sense.

I recognized both her and Powers Boothe immediately. I kept looking at the other two to see if they were played by cool actors from back in the day, as well.

Great film, BTW. A lot of filmmakers might have gone with cookie-cutter characterizations and played the film for the action, but the characters and their interplay were really the strength of the film.

[Solid Snake PAC]

Powers I noticed fucking immediately. That shape of his head and the voice...always makes him stand out.

[Super X]

Originally Posted by Dr. DVD

To me she'll always be the nurse who banged David Kessler in American Werewolf in London. Unfortunately, she no longer looks that way.

I'll always think of her as Jessica 6 from "Logan's Run":

[Ash Ketchum]

Originally Posted by Super X

I recognized both her and Powers Boothe immediately. I kept looking at the other two to see if they were played by cool actors from back in the day, as well.

Great film, BTW. A lot of filmmakers might have gone with cookie-cutter characterizations and played the film for the action, but the characters and their interplay were really the strength of the film.

Powers Boothe AND Harry Dean Stanton???!!!!! This keeps getting better and better. I feel like rushing out right now to see it! How come none of the reviews mention these actors?

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum

How come none of the reviews mention these actors?

They are all very small cameos. The council members only appear briefly on moniters and are veiled in shadows, so most folks (myself inculded) didn't even realize who played them. HDS has a much more memorable cameo that took me by surprise. That dude rules.

[musick]

Originally Posted by DonnachaOne

I had read that cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and Whedon agreed on 1.85:1 because a) the vastly different heights of the characters, and b) the battle around New York's skyscrapers, with fighting at several different elevations, would look better with a "taller" image.

I'm quite surprised at all the times the actors' heads were getting chopped by the top of the frame. Can't blame the projectionist there - first off, it was digital, and second, I was the projectionist!

well you weren't the projectionist at the theater I saw it at as the top of the frame was chopped off and the subtitles were not readable in the two scenes with them

that said what a Mighty movie

[Supermallet]

Originally Posted by Dr. DVD

To me she'll always be the nurse who banged David Kessler in American Werewolf in London. Unfortunately, she no longer looks that way.

To me she'll always be the girl who gets shagged in a horse stable in Equus.

[musick]

Originally Posted by boredsilly

But coming out of it all I want now is a Mark Ruffalo Hulk movie. I LOVED how they treated Hulk/Bruce Banner in this, and feel like there is still stuff to say with that character as an individual movie, so I hope I get that. I actually want that more than another Avengers movie.

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

One of the Marvel execs stated recently that the feedback they get from the Hulk, along with merchandise sales, etc. will determine whether or not they revisit another standalone film. But if they get enough positive support from all of that, then 2015 might be when we see a Ruffalo version. He was on Jimmy Fallon this week promoting the movie and had mentioned Marvel was hesitant to do another Hulk movie.

But it sounds like they've done a great job with the character this time. I'd like to see another film.

Originally Posted by KillerCannibal

If they do another Hulk, it needs to be vastly different from the last two. I don't know the character well enough to say how, but it needs to be... different.

someone said it elsewhere and I'll agree ... The Avengers was/is a perfect avenue for The Hulk .... he works better as part of an ensemble cast than having to carry a movie alone .... I'd much rather the character be saved for cameo appearances in future sequels to the characters we've had movies by (IM, Cap, Thor) or just save him for the next Avengers movie

...... or Defenders

[superfro]

"mewling quim."

Amazing.

[RoboDad]

Just got back, and I loved every single frame of this movie. Saw it in IMAX 3D, and I can't wait to see it again, though probably in 2D next time.

Sorry to the Nolanites, but for me this is already the best of the year.

Oh and BTW, I (and everyone else in the packed audience - NOBODY left early) loved the bonus scene after the credits.

[Mike86]

I really enjoyed this a lot. A fun movie with a good amount of action and even with the amount of characters involved everyone got their fair amount of screen time. Definitely will have to see it again a time or two more.

[Mondo Kane]

Originally Posted by musick

... The Avengers was/is a perfect avenue for The Hulk .... he works better as part of an ensemble cast than having to carry a movie alone ....

Yeah, it certainly was a different experience to see Hulk/Banner in a movie with no Betty Ross around!

Any applause in your guys' showing? The crowd I watched it with were quite...Loki but there were a bunch of claps when a certain sequence occurs to the sounds of AC/DC.
BIG laughs with Hulk's smackdowns (As was evident in the last few pages of this thread, Hulk's line will mostly likely be drowned out by the crowds 80% of the time)

And there was one sound effect that faked me out. Right as the famous 360 shot of the team reaches it's end, I thought I heard members of the crowd beginning to slowly roar at the approval of this sight. But as the scene plays out, it's clear that the sound is just The Chitauri. Great job by the sound guys here---Even if it wasn't intentional.

[anomynous]

I love people on the blu-ray.com forums

Spoiler:

Think it was Red Skull in the credits and are trying to argue their case

[superfro]

Originally Posted by Mondo Kane

Any applause in your guys' showing? The crowd I watched it with were quite...Loki but there were a bunch of claps when a certain sequence occurs to the sounds of AC/DC.

The crowd I saw it with this afternoon was full and were laughing their asses off, clapping at everything, and cheering all over the place. I wanted to beat the shit out of all of them.

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by musick

The Avengers was/is a perfect avenue for The Hulk .... he works better as part of an ensemble cast than having to carry a movie alone

Completely agree. A set-up like this movie gives the audience an opportunity to have fun with the character without getting bogged down in the pathos and pain Banner goes through in his solo efforts. I'm not saying another Hulk flick wouldn't be welcome, but putting him smack in the middle of the Marvel universe with other characters to support him really made that character shine.

A few more observation I have from the movie:

I'm not a big fan of ScarJo's monotone acting and didn't really care for Black Widow in Iron Man 2. I still hate the fact that Emily Blunt was forced to bow out of the role -- but this outing was a significant improvement for the character. The scene between her and Loki was a real highlight because it managed to accomplished a few things. First, it gives us insight (however vague) into her questionable past, her relationship with Hawkeye, as well as revealing Loki's true intentions for Bruce. Hawkeye is a character that non-comic fans have very little interest in, but putting him under the control of the enemy and having Natasha recount her respect and commitment to the guy really helped to create some sympathy and compassion for both those characters. And after seeing their fighting skills in the big climax, I'm now convinced a standalone SHIELD movie could be tailored around the Black Widow/Hawkeye duo and has potential to kick all kinds of ass.

I'm also a bit perplexed about the Selvig character. He seemed to be controlled by Loki in the post-credits scene from Thor. It appeared as though they were setting him up as a sleeper to carry out some terrible plot in this movie. Here, Loki just shows up through the cube and proceeds to possess the same guy we were led to believe he already had influence over. Just found that slightly off. It would also have been a welcome addition if they had a brief scene in Asgard of Heimdall informing Thor of his brother's intentions and Thor pleading his case for a return to Earth to his father. Perhaps unnecessary -- the throwaway line about Odin summoning ancient magic was probably enough. Still, it would have felt less out of left field when that character finally resurfaces after being bound to his own realm at the end of his movie.

[mcfly]

I attempted to go to tonight but the theater I was going to had the cops there and some fight going on in the lobby so they wouldn't let anybody inside. I'm going to try and catch it tomorrow morning with a light crowd.

[gcribbs]

The movie was great. I must say it matched the hype with me.

[Boba Fett]

I was pleased by the film but not blown away. Scarlett Johansson who was great in a small capacity in IRON MAN 2 seemed way over her head here and the more screen time she took up, the slower the movie moved.

Ruffalo was indeed great and as a huge fan/defender of Bana's take, I can say I was more entertained by the Hulk in this then either of the previous films, so much so, I think Norton's take is even more laughable and pitiful.

I was very pleased by some subtle character development in regards to Stark as well as Rogers, who proved why he's the a born leader.

The biggest surprise was Renner as Hawkeye, I thought the usage of his character initially was a great swerve and was glad to see they brought in the trick arrows.

Last but not least, Hemsworth and Hiddleston were as fantastic as I expected them to be, and I eagerly await a full fledged THOR sequel.

I'd rate it a solid "A," on par with IRON MAN and THOR, but just behind CAPTAIN AMERICA in terms of overall quality.

[joe_b]

I was somewhat surprised that Whedon didn't create a few cameos for his "stock company" players. I only recognized Enver Gjokaj from Dollhouse playing a cop in final battle, but I just saw on IMDb that it was Alexis Denisof (Wesley from Buffy and Angel) playing the hooded alien Loki was scheming with throughout the movie.

[fumanstan]

Originally Posted by Mondo Kane

And there was one sound effect that faked me out. Right as the famous 360 shot of the team reaches it's end, I thought I heard members of the crowd beginning to slowly roar at the approval of this sight. But as the scene plays out, it's clear that the sound is just The Chitauri. Great job by the sound guys here---Even if it wasn't intentional.

That faked me out too!

I watched a 2D showing today (dislike 3D quite a bit) and this sky rockets to one of my favorite movies in a long, long time already. It was exactly what I hoped for and more, delivering in pretty much every aspect I was worried about.

Every character gets their due and presented properly, the personalities and conflicts are all brought to light, and best of all we actually got to see their team work in battle, with pretty much every character getting time working along side a different one. I thought the weakest characters were going to be Hawkeye and Black Widow, but even they managed to find their usefulness and make themselves standout.

Every scene with the Hulk was amazing, from the initial transformation and first fight with Thor, the initial Hulk Smash line, Hulk punching Thor in the middle of battle, Hulk beating the shit out of Loki in the middle of his little speech, and Hulk scaring Stark alive. All of it was just perfect.

I don't think I have a single bad thing to say about the movie and can't stop gushing. It's a comic fan's dream come true, and they nailed it.

[Double_Oh_7]

Originally Posted by joe_b

I'm not a big fan of ScarJo's monotone acting and didn't really care for Black Widow in Iron Man 2. I still hate the fact that Emily Blunt was forced to bow out of the role -- but this outing was a significant improvement for the character.

I was equally bummed when Blunt had to pass, but now I can't see her doing any of the physical stuff the character requires.