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| The Avengers did more than live up to the hype, it exceeded it. |
In this decade, Comic book movies have been churned out left and right, but none were able to do what the Avengers did. The Avengers is a comic book movie, but to do it right, Marvel Studios introduced audiences to them over the course of the last four years in an effort to eventually make THIS film. It was going to be a monumental task, but TV's Buffy: the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon made it happen.
In previous Comic Book films, the plots have required multiple villains, but rarely ever multiple heroes. So Marvel made five films (Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor) with two of the films using the final two Avengers (Black Widow and Hawkeye) to introduce all their characters. Over the five films, only Jon Favareau of the Iron Man series directed more than one of the films. It's obvious that Marvel wanted each film to have their own style and atmosphere, but that's what made Whedon's job so much harder. Joe Johnstone's 1940 style for Captain America: The First Avenger is far different from the Favareau's rock-n-roll Iron Man, Kenneth Branagh's personal journey Thor and Louis Leterrier's chase film The Incredible Hulk. So Whedon had to make them come together and still make their style's apparent. Not only did he do that, but Whedon created the style for his super-hero team. What's interesting is whether Marvel will continue to use each series in it's own voice or constantly refer back to the their blockbuster film.
Also Whedon made a little pissy villain into a good maniacal one. Loki was a disappointing piss-ant of a villain in Thor, but in The Avengers, he was egotistical and even intimidating. So I guess it to banishment from Asgard to make him bad-ass? Throw in the legions of soldiers send from space and his ability to control the minds of SHIELD's top men helped his villainy, but just the scene opposite Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) was worth it to have the Avengers battle Loki.
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| Downey's Tony Stark is incredible, but the other actors weren't overshadowed by him. |
Head count scene: http://youtu.be/d6ASh6vVj0k
But eventually the Avengers would have to come together. To do that, they'd never to have the wedge stuck between them, which Loki helps create. As much as this is a TEAM super-hero film, but individually this was a do-gooder film as all the heroes come together to do what's right. Whedon does all of this while seamlessly moves from one character to another in the major action sequences and every character has their own style of attacking. It's not just fluff put together for nothing and it's not like the "VS" movies earlier this decade that didn't cater to the characters well enough. Some people came out to call this "Iron Man 2 3/4", but that's wrong. It's understandable to feel that way since Downey is so dominant in his portrayal of Marvel's most dominant personality, but Chris Evans was spot-on in making a Vanilla Captain America more colorful. Chris Hemsworth showed Thor's growth from the first film, but still acted like a god. Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner is not as dominant as a man who wants to be nowhere while Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson emerged from the shadows to create characters for Hawkeye and Black Widow. All of this while showing the leadership of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury and the organization of SHIELD, which was used as a joke in Iron Man. Whedon blended together all these characters, plots and told his own story about how these individuals come together.
While a sequel isn't officially set yet, it will be great to see the villain shown at the end of the film. (No spoilers) So go see The Avengers and enjoy it again...and afterwards eat shawarma.
