horacethegrey
First Post
Just watched it. Great film. And am here to give my ready assesment. So without further ado:
SPOILERS BEWARE!!!!
Anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled just skip my post.
LIKES:
Joss Whedon - Without a doubt, the reason this movie works is because of the man behind the camera. The mastermind behind Buffy and Firefly keeps the film tight and suspensful while keeping it focused on the characters. Of course, with Whedon comes his trademark humor, and the film abounds with numerous scenes of these heroes trading snark at each other. There's also hilarious moments of over the top superhero comedy that have to be seen to be believed (and laughed at).
The Cast - You'd think with so many characters on the plate, the film would have trouble keeping focus on each of them. Amazingly though, the movie succeeds in this regard, and each of the Avengers are given a proper chance to shine. There's Iron Man, played in all his snarky glory by Robert Downey Jr, and providing some of the most heroic moments in the film. Chris Hemsworth returns in all his noble glory as Thor, and aside from his godly feats he gets some nice scenes of brotherly angst with Loki. Chris Evans also makes his mark as the earnest and commanding Captain America. He becomes the leader the others rally behind with things going to hell. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner also get some great moments as Black Widow and Hawkeye. While ScarJo looks hot and kicks ass, Renner will astound you with his amazing feats of archery (trust me, Legolas got nothing on this guy). But the biggest crowd pleaser has to be Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk. Ruffalo plays Bruce with an eerie calm that belies the barely contained rage he happily lets out when things go south. The scenes of the Hulk smashing things are some of the best in the film.
Loki - But for every hero we need a villain. And despite being outnumbered, Loki proves more than an able adversary for the entire team. When we last left him in Thor, Loki was a confused and spiteful soul who wanted to do right by his family, but here he's a cunning and malicious psycho who clearly enjoys doing bad. And all the credit to Tom Hiddleston for playing the God of Mischief with gutso. One of the nest villain performances in a superhero film IMO.
Action setpieces - With every summer blockbuster of course comes the inevitable big a** setpieces. But what looks tired and labored in other films is actually exciting and inventive here. The attack on the SHEILD helicarrier is one, while the attack on New York by Loki's alien allies echoes that of the war in Chicago in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Only here, it's executed much better. Again, it's a credit to Whedon that he was able to build to such great sequences that kept the audience interested.
After credtis teaser - Well, more like after the initial credits teaser. Just one word: THANOS.
DISLIKES:
Thin storyline - Despite all the praise I can heap on the performances, action and Joss Whedon's direction, the story is nothing to write home about. The whole thing is just Loki wanting to conquer Earth with his alien buddies. And his whole reasoing is because we humans are made to be subjugated? Lame.
Maria Hill - What was the point of her appearance? I don't think Cobie Smulders played the part bad, far from it. But her role seemed inconsequential.
Agent Coulson's death - Argh. Damn you Whedon and your penchant for killing off likable supporting characters!
All in all, great movie. But in comparsion to another team movie like X-men First Class, it falls somewhat short.
SPOILERS BEWARE!!!!
Anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled just skip my post.
LIKES:
Joss Whedon - Without a doubt, the reason this movie works is because of the man behind the camera. The mastermind behind Buffy and Firefly keeps the film tight and suspensful while keeping it focused on the characters. Of course, with Whedon comes his trademark humor, and the film abounds with numerous scenes of these heroes trading snark at each other. There's also hilarious moments of over the top superhero comedy that have to be seen to be believed (and laughed at).
The Cast - You'd think with so many characters on the plate, the film would have trouble keeping focus on each of them. Amazingly though, the movie succeeds in this regard, and each of the Avengers are given a proper chance to shine. There's Iron Man, played in all his snarky glory by Robert Downey Jr, and providing some of the most heroic moments in the film. Chris Hemsworth returns in all his noble glory as Thor, and aside from his godly feats he gets some nice scenes of brotherly angst with Loki. Chris Evans also makes his mark as the earnest and commanding Captain America. He becomes the leader the others rally behind with things going to hell. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner also get some great moments as Black Widow and Hawkeye. While ScarJo looks hot and kicks ass, Renner will astound you with his amazing feats of archery (trust me, Legolas got nothing on this guy). But the biggest crowd pleaser has to be Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk. Ruffalo plays Bruce with an eerie calm that belies the barely contained rage he happily lets out when things go south. The scenes of the Hulk smashing things are some of the best in the film.
Loki - But for every hero we need a villain. And despite being outnumbered, Loki proves more than an able adversary for the entire team. When we last left him in Thor, Loki was a confused and spiteful soul who wanted to do right by his family, but here he's a cunning and malicious psycho who clearly enjoys doing bad. And all the credit to Tom Hiddleston for playing the God of Mischief with gutso. One of the nest villain performances in a superhero film IMO.
Action setpieces - With every summer blockbuster of course comes the inevitable big a** setpieces. But what looks tired and labored in other films is actually exciting and inventive here. The attack on the SHEILD helicarrier is one, while the attack on New York by Loki's alien allies echoes that of the war in Chicago in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Only here, it's executed much better. Again, it's a credit to Whedon that he was able to build to such great sequences that kept the audience interested.
After credtis teaser - Well, more like after the initial credits teaser. Just one word: THANOS.
DISLIKES:
Thin storyline - Despite all the praise I can heap on the performances, action and Joss Whedon's direction, the story is nothing to write home about. The whole thing is just Loki wanting to conquer Earth with his alien buddies. And his whole reasoing is because we humans are made to be subjugated? Lame.
Maria Hill - What was the point of her appearance? I don't think Cobie Smulders played the part bad, far from it. But her role seemed inconsequential.
Agent Coulson's death - Argh. Damn you Whedon and your penchant for killing off likable supporting characters!
All in all, great movie. But in comparsion to another team movie like X-men First Class, it falls somewhat short.
