Entry posted by Voltex
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The Avengers – This is the film that Marvel Studios has been building towards since 2008, when they released Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Further leading into this film were the films Iron Man 2 (released in 2010), Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger (both released in 2011). In this film Nick Fury, the director of a company known as S.H.I.E.L.D. must assemble the title heroes from those films (as well as a few others, which we’ll get to later) to defend Earth against the super villain Loki, who returns from last year’s Thor.
The Characters – 9.5/10
The characters were one of my biggest worries heading into this film- because I already knew the sheer amount of them. You have seven super heroes, the main villain, three agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (that is a pain to type), and then several other background characters to keep track of.
You can easily keep track of them all.
There’s Nick Fury, the hardcore and brutally honest director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who gathers Tony Stark/Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Ruffalo as Banner is easily the standout of the crowd – he plays Banner brilliantly, as a Doctor whose anger is always there boiling right beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed. Downey is also pleasing to watch, as Stark easily interacts with Banner, Rogers, and Thor. Hawkeye as the confident, to-the-point assassin was also fun, although Thor, Black Widow and Captain America were rather average.
Then there’s Loki, the main villain of the film returning from last year’s Thor. He’s descended since then into a pure need for revenge and the need to satisfy what he feels is a most terrible injustice against him, and Tom Hiddleston pulls this off beautifully. Loki’s banter with Fury, Thor, Black Widow, and the rest of the Avengers one by one is hilarious to see, especially when it’s Iron Man’s turn: when Stark, without his armour, is asked if he’s going to appeal to Loki’s humanity, Stark says that no, he won’t, and proceeds to threaten Loki instead, provoking one of the most hilarious scenes in the film.
The chemistry between the characters is amazing too; almost every conversation between the Avengers or Loki slips in one or two clever remarks that are genuinely funny; and that was very refreshing. In terms of the characters, Avengers has gotten everything right.
The Plot and the Juicy Stuff: - 9.5/10
The plot is rather predictable, to be honest; the big bad villain (Loki) wants to rule/enslave/destroy the Earth, and the heroes (the Avengers) need to stop him and save the day at the eleventh hour. However, it’s the way that the film portrays it that makes me give it such a high score; imagine Transformers: Dark of the Moon with all of its high points, and then give it characters you can actually care about and give it humour that isn’t like, totally lame. Once you’ve done that, multiply it by three, and you might have Avengers.
From the get-go, the Avengers are fighting amongst themselves (albeit, not willingly). Loki takes over the mind of one in the opening scene, which was definitely a surprise, and that hero then fights Fury and others to help Loki escape; Black Widow is sent to retrieve Banner and only narrowly avoids unleashing The Hulk; Iron Man point-blank refuses to join and then joins in anyway, saving Captain America/stealing his thunder; and then when Thor enters, he immediately begins brawling Iron Man and then brawls with Captain America too, as Loki watches and laughs.
I don’t want to spoil the movie, so I’ll end this section off there, but I will say that the banter between each character makes every scene worth it, and at the very end you’re going to be in for a huge surprise that no Marvel fan will want to miss.
Special Effects and Action: - 9.5/10
The special effects of this movie are as good as (if not better than) those in Transformers, with trees and buildings being snapped and shattered when Thor and Hulk fall from the heavens and then the portal to another dimension that Loki uses to return to Earth.
The action itself is reminiscent (and better than) the Transformers films too; watching Captain America (and then Iron Man) take on Loki single handed early in the film was wicked to watch, and later on when Iron Man took on Thor, setting a forest ablaze, my jaw hit the floor. Let me tell you, there is nothing better than watching the Avengers duke it out with each other, beating themselves senseless while the guy they’re supposed to be fighting watches them and doesn’t even try to escape.
Overall – 9.5/10 (95%)
Even if you haven’t seen the other Marvel films (or haven’t seen all of them), I would recommend this movie; it does everything right in terms of a super hero film, and every character is given the screen time that they need and deserve. If you’re a Marvel fan, I shouldn’t have to tell you to see this film. It’s the best Marvel film there is, and I would argue that it’s even better than The Dark Knight.
If you see only one film in theatres this year, this has to be that film.
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