The Avengers (2012) (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

I saw The Avengers earlier in the evening and it was spectacular, my ears are still ringing. The film is over 2 hours long and its nearly 90 minutes before we see our heroes finally get it together and go after the villains. The climax is incredible, the effects are flawless. Though there was a feeling of deja vu when arch villain Loki opens a interdimensional portal or gateway over the city to let an invading alien army in, wasn't there something similar at the climax of Transformers 3 last year?

It did seem strange seeing a big sci-fi movie without Taylor Kitsch as the star.. [wink] (I saw John Carter and Battleship a few weeks ago). All the actors in The Avengers have their moment to shine, the scene stealer here is the Incredible Hulk he made the audience erupt with applause a couple of times, and laugh too. There's a great line in the film which was in the trailer Loki brags "I have an army" and Tony Stark responds with "We have a Hulk". Mark Ruffalo was good as Bruce Banner.

Fans of Scarlett Johansson, and they are legion, will be glad to know she has plenty of show time, the fight sequences are all dazzling. There is quite a bit of chit-chat in the mid section after all this is Joss Whedon he directed and wrote the screenplay too, but the film is never boring. Tom Hiddleston is enjoyably villainous but the invading alien army are fairly anonymous, who are they and who cares?

I saw the film in 2-D, the friend I was with hates 3-D, I may go and see it again next week in 3-D. Oh yes there is a scene in the middle of the end credits, which seems to introduce an old villain from the comics possibly for an Avengers sequel.

Best superhero movie of all time? Not sure about that but it's up there with the best. Highly recommended. 5 stars out of 5.

 

[Martino]

Just got back from a free pre-screening in 3-D. There are several effective 3-D effects - but it is not required to watch it in 3-D to enjoy the show. I was surprised on how funny it was, and it is a true action movie crowd pleaser. There were many fights between the main characters that were fun, and the Hulk steals the show the two times he shows up...Had a great time and am now waiting for the blu-ray to come out...

 

[Brian Dobbs]

An interesting interview with the cinematographer about shooting The Avengers digitally with the Arri Alexa cameras

thanks

 

[Vaughan Odendaal]

I'm actually surprised I was able to watch this film last week. I assumed that I would have to wait until the 4th of May, but apparently it was released in S.A cinemas before the US. Can't be right though. Can it? We are usually behind you guys...

 

[TravisR]

I'm actually surprised I was able to watch this film last week. I assumed that I would have to wait until the 4th of May, but apparently it was released in S.A cinemas before the US. Can't be right though. Can it? We are usually behind you guys...

You win... this time.

 

[mattCR]

Better then I expected by a big margin. The action was non-stop but fit, the way the story went together was enjoyable; the dialogue was at times VERY good. It was written in a way that it reminded me a lot of the absurdities I loved in the comic books, etc.

The humor definitely works, though I want to mention one thing.. when Stark comes in, and he makes a crack about the staff playing Galaga.. I laughed, so did most of the audience.

However


As he was leaving the room, when it panned over to the guy who WAS in fact playing Galaga, while it got good laughs, it just struck me a bit too .. hmm.. Spaceballs?


A-

 

[Simon Massey]

Great film and really enjoyed it. Was surprised how good The Hulk was
And how the hell did they get the word "quim" past the censors for a 12A film ? Not many laughed at that so Im guessing its a British word that doesn't translate to the US

 

[Patrick Sun]

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.

 

[RobertR]

An interesting interview with the cinematographer about shooting The Avengers digitally with the Arri Alexa cameras

I LOVE the look of Game of Thrones (shot on the Alexa), so that makes it sound promising about the look of the movie (can't say "film" any more).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Great action film, I expect to see it at least once more this weekend. I'll skip IMAX and 3-D the next time.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Great film and really enjoyed it. Was surprised how good The Hulk was
And how the hell did they get the word "quim" past the censors for a 12A film ? Not many laughed at that so Im guessing its a British word that doesn't translate to the US

Haven't seen it, but the word is known in the US (assuming it is a vaginal reference, as it would be here). I can't imagine how that would be necessary for a film like this, but I haven't seen it.

 

[JonZ]

Edit: I see Patrick mentioned the 2 scenes above.

 

[Scott McGillivray]

Like others have said, overall it is a great movie. Pretty much exactly what I expected. No real surprises here, but all the fun and action I hoped for. Not sure why they didnt do a better job explaining who the enemy was. When the big battles came, I just didnt really understand who was attacking or if I should care.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Also, I was waiting for some explanation about the Hulk suddenly "coming to his senses" and fighting for the Avengers. He goes from almost killing Black Widow to being their buddy. Odd.
Other nit-pick. From the "Captain America" movie to this one...I dont know why it is never explained HOW the cube of power got to Earth or where it came from etc.

 

[Brian Sheffield]

A spoiler response to Scott:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Loki was on the helicarrier using his powers and the scepter to sow discord. Black Widow discovers this in her "interrogation."
Did you notice the obvious upside down camera pan around the scepter while everyone was arguing?
The entire reason Loki surrendered was to use the hulk to destroy the Team and shield before they could work together and threaten his plans.
Later, without Loki's interference, Banner was able to, if not control, at least "aim" the hulk.
I agree about the cube, there is no real explanation for the mcguffin. I guess the Asgardians left it behind after they battled the frost giants in Norway.

 

[TonyD]

I've heard a lot of words in my time but quim was never one of them.
Anyway we have our fix for this thursday for a 3-D viewing up in Oaks Pa.
Depends on how I feel on if I see it on an IMAX screen later on.

 

[EricW]

movie was very enjoyable. i actually did chuckle in a few scenes, which is surprising since super hero movie humour can pretty difficult to pull off (is anyone looking forward to Spdier-Man's one-liners?)
i don't know if i'd say that the actions scenes in this movie were especially good; but they served the movie well.
i'm looking forward to seeing this on blu. don't know if my enjoyment of this movie will grow or diminish with repeat viewings.
i liked the whole thing with Hawkeye's quiver selecting the attachment to the arrow's while they're still 'sheathed'.

still don't like Captain America's outfit.

btw can someone spoil the last additional scene? i didn't catch it. thanks

 

[JonZ]

Eric

It shows the team in a small cafe eating shawarma while the owners are cleaning up a mess. Ruffalo almost breaks out laughing, but its Helmsworth whos really funny in the clip the way he digs into the wrap.
Heres a pic...
http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/images/column/mayo/shawarma.jpg

 

[Ryan-G]

I saw this tonight in the 3D presentation, before I give my thoughts, it's important to note that I consider 3D to be a gimmick.
The overall narrative is above average for an action movie, and avoids many cliche action movie techniques...

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Such as avoiding the "Oh no, the heroes are defeated...no wait...they got a second wind!" technique seen in many action movies, such as Indepdence Day, Armageddon, Transformers and such.

A nice touch to the story is that early storylines are acknowledged, but not necessary to enjoy the movie. I credit Whedon's experience with TV shows where the viewer may not be 100% invested, those who saw earlier movies will receive well done references, while those who didn't will likely never realize a reference was made with one exception.
The movie definitely has a touch of Whedonesque, reminiscent of his work with Firefly, in terms of dialogue, timing, and such. What makes it even better is that not only did Whedon invest his style into the movie, he did it in such a way that it fits with the characters and very often makes them stronger characters for it. The highlight of this achievement is beyond a doubt The Hulk, with whom both personalities depart from previous entries, and thrives on Whedon's style to result in a character who often caps off a scene brilliantly. I don't want to say he steals the scenes, because the other actors all deliver incredible performance as well.
The chemistry between the various actors is unexpectedly amazing, their delivery, their timing, often seems to telegraph they were feeding upon each other's performances. It's easy to walk away with the impression that the actors held each other in high regard, rather than trying to command the show.
Now as I said earlier, I'm not a fan of 3D, IMO it's gimmicky. This movie is nothing like what I expected, it's more akin to Avatar. The 3D is generally used to enhance the imagery, rather than to "Make you duck". This is most striking during a specific scene where the 3D is used to more realistically represent glass and it's reflectivity, or during scenes where it's used to enhance characters working with holographic displays.
That said, there are a few "Michael Bay" moments where they throw something directly at the screen, but given the detail the 3D is usually used to add, it's forgivable.
Whedon and the actors really outshined themselves with this movie, drawing upon their skills to produce something that far exceeds anything they've produced previously. I would whole-heartedly recommend this movie to anyone who has enjoyed superhero movies, or Whedon fare. If there's any negatives to this movie, it's just that it needed an extra 20-30 minutes to establish a little more character background for one of it's emotional moments.

 

[EricW]

thanks JonZ;



http://www.aeromental.net/2012/05/04/video-of-avengers-post-credit-scene-they-are-eating-shawarma/

 

[Simon Massey]

Haven't seen it, but the word is known in the US (assuming it is a vaginal reference, as it would be here). I can't imagine how that would be necessary for a film like this, but I haven't seen it.

Oh its very funny , doubly so because it was so unexpected. I think this has Whedon written all over it - I remember him getting away with some words on TV when Buffy and Angel were on because they were not necessarily commonly known.
The biggest surprise for me was I expected the Hulk and Captain America to be characters I least enjoyed in this film based on previous experience, but they turned out to be the best. Im more looking forward to future films in these two series now. In fact, the great thing about this film is that because it did justice to pretty much all the major characters. Marvel could go ahead with any of the films based on the single characters now. How about a Hawkeye/Black Widow film . (Do they have their own series - I never read the comics ?)