The Avengers (SPOILERS BEWARE0

[Plane Sailing]

Saw it again last night. I have to say, one of my favorite moments is when the Widow is recovering from evading the Hulk. She's clearly not calm and in control. She just trying to recover and not be totally, absolutely terrified.

I feel like the movie gives a really appropriate sense of how powerful and dangerous the Hulk is, and that's pretty cool.

I agree on both counts; I think the Widows reaction was a strong bit of writing.

 

[Fast Learner]

I also love that Widow scene (several, actually, as iirc she's shaken for a few senes). It not only grounds her in reality, but helps stress that the Hulk is incredibly dangerous to normal humans, that one blow and poof, you're dead, period.

Another favorite bit of mine is when the Hulk is trying to lift Thor's hammer Mjölnir and his feet are crushing into the floor: when immovable object meets irresistible force, it's all about leverage.

 

[MarkB]

I really, really hate it when heroes are hit by the stupid stick in a sequel. I don't know whether it is because studios want to slavishly follow the same 'formula' which worked in the first one, or writers just find it really hard to write something that can build upon the first without undoing the things that have been learned (or something else).

To be fair, it's not just studios. I've seen similar character-growth resets in novels, even by authors I generally respect, and superhero comics are, let's face it, infamous for performing resets on any of a variety of aspects of their material, characterisation included.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed, but I fear it is going to be the filmic equivalent of the 'difficult second album'

It is one good argument in favour of including at least a couple of new main characters in the next movie - changing the group dynamic allows for new frictions to occur without undoing the progress of the first movie.

Still, I don't think it needs to be entirely one thing or the other. I think this team could easily be seen falling back into mostly-good-natured bickering when not in direct danger, only coming together as a unit under battlefield conditions.

 

[billd91]

To be fair, it's not just studios. I've seen similar character-growth resets in novels, even by authors I generally respect, and superhero comics are, let's face it, infamous for performing resets on any of a variety of aspects of their material, characterisation included.

I don't mind this sort of thing so much because, with real growth, it's often a couple steps forward and one back. It's rarely smooth, constant, and continual.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And some- especially those with serious vices or other demons- rarely make true and lasting progress.

(I mean, just how well was the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man really cast, right?)

 

[Felon]

Saw it again last night. I have to say, one of my favorite moments is when the Widow is recovering from evading the Hulk. She's clearly not calm and in control. She just trying to recover and not be totally, absolutely terrified.

I feel like the movie gives a really appropriate sense of how powerful and dangerous the Hulk is, and that's pretty cool.

Yes, despite the undercurrents of humor, there's nobody treating the Hulk as a joke.

Of course, Hulk would never actually Ike Turner a woman lying on the floor like that. He's got a soft spot for the ladies. We'll just keep chalking that up to Loki's influence.

 

[Oryan77]

I finally saw this on Saturday. I have to say the funniest moment was when Stark snitches on the guy for playing Galaga and then when everyone leaves the room, we see the guy look around and then load up Galaga. I was not expecting to actually see a guy playing Galaga. And of all the games, Galaga? Pure comedic genius.

Robert Downey Jr. was great and all, but the Galaga guy stole the show. I hope he gets a Golden Globe award for that performance. Maybe we'll find out the Galaga guy has some super power in Avengers 2? Maybe he'll get angry that they block Galaga from his computer and he will go work with Thanos; who will let him play all of the Galaga that he wants.

 

[Nellisir]

I finally saw this on Saturday. I have to say the funniest moment was when Stark snitches on the guy for playing Galaga and then when everyone leaves the room, we see the guy look around and then load up Galaga. I was not expecting to actually see a guy playing Galaga. And of all the games, Galaga? Pure comedic genius.

Is that what that was? I didn't understand that reference at all.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Whippersnapper!

 

[Nellisir]

Whippersnapper!

And I just had a lovely discussion this afternoon about the amount of grey in my hair.

Also, I grew up without a tv or video games, and the nearest arcade was an hour away. So...hick might be more accurate.