Patman

Having seen most of Joss Whedon's TV and film output (all of Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, as well as Serenity), I'm pretty familiar with Whedon's quippy dialogue cadence, and his dramatic storytelling tropes, so as populist entertainment, "The Avengers" succeeds as a 140-minute thrilling roller-coaster ride for the comic book nerds, while also being accessible to the general public. In fact, it's almost a love letter to comic book nerds in how the plot unfolds, and produces match-ups between the heroes in a way to vetting one another before they are tasked with the avenging in an effort to protect Earth from being subjugated by a Loki-led army for a would-be alien conqueror (Annihilus/the Other?), as Loki hunts down the Tesseract (the Cosmic Cube that is being studied as a plentiful, clean energy source referenced from the previous "Thor" film).

I found some of the fight action to be influenced heavily by WWE, but still immensely fun and entertaining. The tough part of the script was juggling so many characters, and still finding ways for each character to shine, and Whedon's script does a good job in that respect, while still maintaining good pacing overall. Even when there were spots where the story could have bogged down, we get some nice bits of dialogue that diffuses the tension with laughs. The characters are shown to know of the weaknesses and foibles of one another, but still find enough common ground to coalesce into working in a ad hoc team environment as the threats to mankind's future survival continue to manifest themselves.

The film succeeds in giving the audience what it wants, but it's not a sophisticated piece of storytelling in terms of plot structure, and a lot of the second unit action rates a tad below what a James Cameron would produce, but the action is so fast and furious, you don't have a lot of time to dwell on the minor shortcomings of spatial dynamics in how the action sequences develop. The action scenes have somewhat of a Michael Bay quality to them, but with better purpose in serving the story, and providing some dramatic tension in the final act of the film with the heroes scrambling to stem the tide of a flying army coming through the inter-spatial portal, thanks to Loki's actions.

The film's script is loaded with nuggets of character interactions which produce laughs and the fight action produced cheers and shock (in the vein of "Whoa! Did you just see that? Dayum..." The film gains momentum through its running time, though the opening act was good at setting the table, but I wasn't quite feeling it until the early middle of the film, and the film concludes well in providing plenty of menace and mayhem, and also finding small ways to address thread of character development.

You will be entertained by this film, no "ands, ifs or buts" about it. On that level, it hits the mark. I did see it in 3D, but I don't think it really adds much to its overall presentation, so seeing in in 2D should suffice if you aren't crazy about 3D anyhow.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+ (will take in another viewing, but on IMAX, as my comic book friends want to see it on IMAX the next time just for all the fight scenes).

P.S., yes, stay for 2 additional scenes in the end credits, one comes right after the spotlighted actor credits, and the other one (so hilariously on-point) comes at the very end of the credits.

BambooLounge

Agreed about its subtle effectiveness. Didn't they film it like 2 weeks ago or something? I only knew about it b/c I saw an article online yesterday how North America was getting a new 2nd credits scene that was not included when the film premiered in Europe.

Why So Blu?

I'd like to butter her muffin.

Ash Ketchum

A.O. Scott in The New York Times gave it a mixed-to-negative review:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/05/04....html?ref=arts

Here's a quote:

Karina Longworth in The Village Voice gave it a mixed-to-negative review:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-05-...star-avengers/

Here's a quote:

anomynous

"Tells us they're emotionally damaged but doesn't explore it"



Because the solo films and their sequels didn't/won't do that.

Mr. Cinema

Early reports are the midnight earnings were between $18-$20 million. It's reached $300 million internationally.

BambooLounge

That line stuck out to me as well. But, it is a valid criticism if you set out to critique the film on its own merits. While it is the nature of comic book movies (and most Hollywood fare these days) to expect audiences to come into them with built-in knowledge either from previous films or the adapted source of the film, I will not begrudge a critic for stating something that is actually true. I will fault them for not contextualizing that truth so that the criticism is not more fully explained and tempered.

If you want any character background though, you will need to watch the previous films and possibly later films (in case they ever expand on the Black Widow and Hawkeye allusions).

This is an interesting area though as these comic book genre films become more plentiful and akin to comic books themselves. Generally, it has always been fair and easy to take films on their own terms (even the majority of sequels), but comic books create entire universes, something that has generally not been done in film before. Should be interesting to see how wide this goes...The Avengers is a culmination of 5 films...as things get bigger I wonder how many films one will need to see before a single film akin to The Avengers is a wholly satisfying experience.

GCS

Yes but sometimes people just want to be entertained and that's exactly what movies like this, transformers, expendables etc are meant to do.

This is my issue with a lot of critics.

tylergfoster

Yes, but any excuse that covers any and all criticisms is not a good excuse. Some drivers just want to go from point A to point B, who cares if they hit a bunch of things along the way?

It also suggests that I, as a critic, somehow don't just want to be entertained.

Double_Oh_7

Too late. She's engaged to SNL's Taran Killam.

Draven

My argument would be that there is actually a lot of implied information about Black Widow in particular in the movie but it's somewhat subtle. There aren't a bunch of flashbacks spelling everything out. But you can sense there is some history there.

I've read reviews that say Black Widow had nothing to do. Having now seen The Avengers twice, I simply don't understand how anyone could say that. I think sometimes critics say things definitively that aren't as clear-cut, or show they missed the subtext or were unwilling to do anything but think "It's a comic book movie...of course it's shallow."

Plus this type of story is tricky - they basically had to figure out a way to quickly tell 6 origin stories efficiently. So yes, we didn't dive into the psyche of Tony Stark but we got a real sense of why he does what he does. If you want major character development, that's what Iron Man is for. It is more like an actual comic book, where issue #1 of the solo book probably has more about the character than issue #1 of the book where that character is just a member of the team.

It might be just a line or two, but there is a LOT more to this movie than "guys in tights fight aliens". Maybe some of these critics don't enjoy this type of movie and that's fine. But dinging them for not adequately exploring the "emotional damage" of arguably 9 main characters when all of those characters do have SOME moment of introspection and character development, however brief, is unfair IMHO.

Schloob1

So you're actually saying he still has a shot

BambooLounge

Regarding Black Widow, other than conquering bad guys between her thighs (not nearly what it sounds like), she has never had much to do other than keep her uniform top unzipped just low enough for a PG-13.

Not really her fault, if you put a glorified female MMA fighter against Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, or the Hulk...then they won't have much to do except run. Any time she interacts with any of the major characters (battles of wits included), she comes up short. As for the allusions to her past, I wouldn't say they implied much other than your standard gun for hire "I saw some things. I did some things." stuff. The only twist being that it is a woman.

I agree with you about the films being more like actual comic books now though. I am looking forward to see how far they take it in crafting full universes before rebooting back to the origin story.

Dr. DVD

I tend to notice a lot of the "upper crust" critics from New York tend to give negative reviews to a lot of studio fare. I used to subscribe to the New Yorker and recollect that critic giving negative reviews to both the first Iron Man and The Dark Knight. I cannot help but wonder if that is their true opinion, or if they are trying to write to whom they feel are their readers.

Cardiac161

If you count out the other fact that they just had a kid together...

BambooLounge

I'm pretty disappointed Samuel L. Jackson went this route. I know he is a fanboy himself in many ways, but I would've thought something this juvenile was below him...and for a movie that doesn't even need the press.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1475237.html

Kal-El

I absolutely loved it. And I'm no Marvel fan by any means. I only know the characters' names and their respective abilities and didn't even know about Hawkeye 'til the Thor movie. I'm one of those people who've never seen Serenity or Firely and don't get all the fanboy hard on for Whedon. But I digress. I absolutely loved this movie.

The pacing, dialogue, action, sfx...amazing. My theater missed a lot of the other punchlines because we were still howling over the previous line of dialogue. One of which was .Everyone was just cheering after what the Hulk did.

2 of my absolute favorite moments though would be:



I've been playing back those two scenes in my head this whole morning.

Between the high from seeing the movie last night to the excitement of going to Hawaii on Sunday, I'm surprised I'm still able to do some work today. Haha

How was everyone else's midnight screening? We had a Thor, Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America, 2 Tony Starks, Pepper Potts and Nick Fury. When they let us in the theater, they all went to the front and people took pictures with them. It was a great crowd. I loved the energy and everyone was behaved throughout the movie. Expendables 2 trailer got a rousing welcome especially with the Churck Norris and Ahnuld scenes.

RichC2

Their reviews are usually sincere enough, they just have different tastes. I know numerous people that were simply bored by The Dark Knight, and quite a few that shrugged off Iron Man.

superdeluxe

Huge Numbers, Comic Book movies don't generally have that huge of a Midnight crowd.

Reports that it might hit 165 million + this weekend and taking OW record.

islandclaws

Solid 4 1/2 stars. Loved it.

I got sucked into the hype and decided to hit up a midnight screening with my chick. We got there at around 10:30pm, and the 2D line had around 150-200 people in it.

The 3D showing to the left? Around 15, so I paid $8 to upgrade simply because I'd be guaranteed a great seat.

Seeing a film like this with the right crowd makes it infinitely more enjoyable, and last night proved it. People were eating it up like The Stuff.

Joss totally nailed it all across the board. Everyone gets their moments to shine. The dialogue all felt organic to the characters.

The action owned. I wanted more Hulk! It was great to see each individual's strengths used to the advantage of the team.

Speaking of Hulk, what did he say after he pummeled Loki? My theater was laughing so hard after that beatdown we all missed it.

I don't know what people are complaining about by saying the opening was weak, or that the middle sagged. I was enthralled the entire time; nothing was bumming me out.

And as for the 3D? Well, I normally avoid a 3D film like it's going to give me AIDS (moreso when it's a post- job), but it looked really, really good here. No kidding. I thought it was some of the best I've seen since Avatar. I'm sure the film is perfectly fine in 2D, but I can't deny that it added some nice depth to the field.

Can't wait to see it again. All summer movies should be this much fun.

Draven

islandclaws

Thanks. I wish he'd talked a little more, but his actions were already killing it as it is.

Mr. Cinema

Looks like $18.7 million for midnight. That's a record for a super hero movie and #8 all-time. I think $150 million is a safe guess, but more is possible. One of my theaters here has 19 showings.

Dr. DVD

I want to take in a 2D showing for my second experience, but the stupid theaters here have it in a VERY limited availability (i.e. one screen vs. three or four for 3D). I swear, I think this is a conspiracy .

Osiris3657

Just got back from this, really enjoyed it. Was funnier than I anticipated (funny in an intentional way). Great action, it was thrilling to see all the big names fighting together.

I knew there was a scene after the credits so I went to the bathroom thinking I'd make it back in time for the scene (didn't), so can someone spoiler it for me?