The Avengers: My Review - Non-spoiler and spoilered stuff.

POSTED BY: lwaves
UPDATED: Thursday, January 10, 2013 23:41
VIEWED: 20417
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LWAVES

Friday, April 27, 2012 1:00 PM

Okay, so I saw this yesterday afternoon and I was going to post about it after I got back but decided to let it settle in my mind first. I gather that those across the pond have got to wait a few more days to see this so I will split this up into the sections of a general non-spoilery part and a spoilery part which will pick on specfic details that you should only read if you've seen the movie. So here I go:

3D or not 3D - that may not be your question
I wasn't particularly bothered about seeing a 3D version but as my cinema only had one showing in 2D and we couldn't get to that it didn't leave a lot of choice. So 3D it was. It is only my second 3D movie (Avatar being the other) and I was impressed by the 3D. It wasn't as constantly in your face as Avatar was and worked well in some subtler moments and also in the more obvious moments like Hawkeye's arrows and Iron Man flying at the screen. IMO they did a good job but the problem I have with 3D is that it isn't 3D. It still looks like moving cardboard cutouts placed on a backdrop. But if you like 3D then it's worth seeing it in 3D.

The Non-Spoilery Review
The film was truly excellent for a comic book/action movie and the world will finally get to see what we already know. Joss Is Boss. It had all the action, humour, tension, character interplay, and thrills you could ever want. Each character has their moments including the 'normal' members of the team. Joss works his wordy magic on an excellent 7-way argument with everybody talking at each other and over each other. There is some great use of reflections in shots and his trademark of turning one type of moment into another one at the flick of button but making it seem so natural. Joss takes his time to bring the characters in get them all together and he doesn't retread too much ground that was already covered in the previous movies. It would certainly help to know the other films, or the source material, as there are several references to past meetings (i.e. Agent Coulson meeting several of them before) but it didn't appear to be essential.
The acting was great for this type of movie and everyone was on good form and worked well with each other. It featured some character development that does carry on from the previous movies, like Iron Man working as part of a team, Capt America finding his place in a new world etc. Again everyone has their moment and all get some funny lines, although Robert Downey Jr probably gets the most but that's because it suits his character more. Personally, I thought for humour that the Hulk stole the show from all of them for most laugh out loud moments but I'll save that for the spoiler section. Which brings me to Mark Ruffalo, who was the untested one in the bunch. All the other main actors have appeared in at least one other movie as their character. I thought Ruffalo was the best of the three cinema Hulks/Banners. He brought that sense of not wanting to deal with 'the other guy', that he was even uncomfortable talking about it and just wanted to be left alone. It really came across in his feelings that everyone was in danger if he was around.
From the trailer the one part I thought might be a let-down or OTT was the clip of the flying beastie chasing Iron Man. It left me with worries that Joss was treading into Michael Bay's dank and stinky waters but I needn't have worried. They fit well with the rest of the bad guys.

There's plenty more I could say but I don't want to go into too much detail. So I'll end this bit with:
If you like any of the other movies (even if it's only one) you will enjoy this movie, it is fun, has great characters, excellent dialogue, stunning FX (I don't recall one bad shot), plenty of action mixed in with the talky bits and not one single moment of it is wasted. Plus it's Joss with a big budget. What's not to like.

The Spoilery Bit

Select to view spoiler:

So you've seen it? Read on.

I thought the one on one fights in the early pa

STORYMARK

Friday, April 27, 2012 6:28 PM

"It still looks like moving cardboard cutouts placed on a backdrop."

This being a post-conversion to 3D (not shot in actual 3D like Avatar, Hugo and some others) it pretty much IS just cut-outs.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

WISHIMAY

Friday, April 27, 2012 7:44 PM

If you haven't seen one or more of the movies from the beginnings of the characters, is it still easy to follow?? Do you need to take along your own personal geek god to translate??

STORYMARK

Friday, April 27, 2012 7:50 PM

Here's a primer for the un-initiated:

http://io9.com/5905354/a-guide-to-the-avengers-for-the-extremely-confu
sed?tag=avengers

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

LWAVES

Friday, April 27, 2012 10:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
"It still looks like moving cardboard cutouts placed on a backdrop."

This being a post-conversion to 3D (not shot in actual 3D like Avatar, Hugo and some others) it pretty much IS just cut-outs.

Thanks I hadn't realised it was a post job. I didn't check beforehand because, as I said, I had no plan to watch the 3D version. So in a way the 3D impressed me even more, but I'd still recommend sticking to the 2D version.
I saw your scene that you mentioned many moons ago but it was dark and, obviously, I had no idea what you looked like so I can't say if you made it. I'd be curious to know if you spot yourself when you see it.

@Wish - As I briefly said I don't think you'd need to see the movies, as some background is provided, but it would be a definite advantage to know something about the characters from somewhere, especially their origins. I've seen all the movies and knew various degrees of backstory before seeing them so I am not really qualified to answer that question. It really needs someone who knows virtually nothing about them, although how many people are going to see this and not know anything? Surely most people at least know the Hulk's basic backstory?

WISHIMAY

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 2:20 AM

I'm pretty sure we'll see it anyway, but it's good to know I won't have to ask hubbs what the deal is because he doesn't know how to whisper We've seen most, I should be OK anyway... Gonna drive to the next town to see it in 2-D...
Good for everyone else to know too, thanx!

ZEEK

Friday, May 4, 2012 3:34 PM

Saw it last night. It was good. I think he did a good job of giving all the characters some time to shine. That being said it was still flawed but I can't really go into it without spoilers.

So.....

Select to view spoiler:

I really liked Hulk in this movie. Which I wouldn't expect because he's my least favorite of the big 4. He was just really good comic relief and as part of an ensemble it didn't mean that the answer to every situation was to just smash stuff really hard. That's why I think he doesn't carry his own movies too well.

The aliens were the big flaw IMO. They were not established well at all. They're just the faceless bad guys who are there to be cannon fodder and are bad for the sake of being bad. I think they could have used a lot more exposition and purpose.

Loki was cool but even his motivations seemed paper thin. "I'm still pissy about being slighted as a kid". Deep villains can sometimes be the best part of super hero movies. I guess they just didn't have time to cover everything.

The fight scenes were top notch IMO. One of my most common complains with super hero movies is that they rarely have much action. This movie had plenty of action. They didn't skimp on iron man or anything really.

I like that Colston got Washed. I didn't see it coming like most deaths in the Jossverse. My prediction failed here though. I thought the after movie scene was going to be Fury and Hill standing over a body bag with a skrull in Colston's suit and Fury saying something like "we've got bigger problems to worry about" or something like that.

I was kinda hoping Hawkeye would eat it. He's just not a very interesting character to me and I don't buy that his arrows were taking down such highly advanced aliens.

All in all it was a good movie and I'm sure I'll be buying it when it comes to blu-ray. I'd probably even see it again in theaters if my friends wanted to go again.

AURAPTOR

Saturday, May 5, 2012 12:40 AM

LWAVES - You nailed it. Or, at least, you saw the same movie I did.

As for the spoilery stuff, things you pointed out, I too took notice of them, but wasn't terribly bent out of shape of this or that. Save for one minor issue I had with The Hulk. Easily over looked in some of the later scenes. Awesome.

This is a big movie. Multiple main characters, all with their own hero stories, all coming together. Thank Joss that each character worked out, so that you could really view things from each perspective, and it still works. They all stay, ( best as I can tell ) true to their own selves, which is what makes the conflicts and camaraderie both work out, in the end.

Best flick I've seen in a long time.

* Oh, and 1 more thing. I did see it in 3D. Kinda cool, here and there but I'm just not sold on the whole 3D hype. Aside from the 'cut outs on poster board' remarks, it just comes out too dark. I like to see colors and brighter screens, and w/ those glasses, things seemed a bit dark. Might just be my eyes.

" We're all just folk. " - Mal

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

"The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

MYOWNKNIGHT

Saturday, May 5, 2012 8:40 AM

I just saw it. It was amazing. and as for the paticularly spoilerly ----- of ------ my personal favorite --------- May I just say, that was completely Whedon, and I should have seen it coming.

(yes, I cried.)

FREMDFIRMA

Sunday, May 6, 2012 12:23 AM

Whelp - I saw it, the ex dragged me off to see it with them and just got back, NOT fond of movie theatres, especially that one, seats too close together, very crowded, my seat next to a stoner who kept mumbling to himself and was obviously wasted out of his mind, not to mention being kicked in-under my kneecap repeatedly by people trying to get by in the too narrow, crowded seating and now my good knee is all swollen up and work tonight is gonna massively suck.
THAT theatre gets my "thrown tomato" rating, only one star better than thrown molotov.
Oh yes, and although it was IMAX, the seating was at a BAD angle and range so at any time 1/3 of the screen was just blurry gibberish, again, due to overcrowded seating, i.e. GREED.
If yer gettin the idea I am pissed at the theatre, yer right.

I concur with Lwaves - what there was of the 3D wasn't actually 3D but more of cardboard cutouts at various ranges, and of course, it might have worked better looking right at it instead of from a terribly skewed angle, but I doubt it.

I did actually like the flick - while I watched the first Iron Man, most of this stuff has been obvious go-se and I wouldn't have seen this save for Joss magic, which it has in plenty - focus on character and story was nicely done, special effects were present and credible within the range of a comic-book movie, although I still have issues with Samuel L Jackson trying to carry Nick Fury, he seems almost TOO low key in his portrayal for it to work, but sometimes less is more, sure - doesn't work for me though.

Downey of course completely robs it as Stark, he does deliver a truly powerhouse performance as an entirely credible Stark right down to the personality flaws, and the guy playing Rogers/Cap just rolls back and forth with him so naturally - also the guy doing Banner really nails it, which kind of surprised me, and this one managed to stuff in a lot of humor and didn't take itself too over the top serious, and some of the humor is all the funnier cause it's NOT appropriate for the moment, but folks under stress dealing with it the only way they know how.

Spoiler stuff

Select to view spoiler:

Ok, yanno - I damn near peed myself when Loki tried his usual chicanery on the Hulk, and got so completely curbstomped all he could do for some time was lay there wondering what hit him, that was friggin HI-LARIOUS...

And Spot on character development for the Hulk too, Stark is telling Banner earlier that he really believes there's more to the Hulk than just rage, and later on this comes back around when Hulk rescues Stark, whom Banner happens to actually like.

Also, the dynamic between Thor and Loki would be easier to understand by folks who put meaning into blood ties, which I do not, but I comprehend it well enough - they do manage to evolve a sort of love-hate-responsibility thing which works even though it logically shouldn't.

My two favorite out of nowhere bits tho ?

The Shield guy playing Galaga!
And the old guy who stands up to Loki - sure he was outmatched and outclassed massively, but HE STILL STOOD UP - score a serious moment of awesome for the guy, a mere normal nobody, I thought that just kicked ass, all by itself.

-Frem

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