A Disparate Collection of Super Heroes that Don't Quite Come Together

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2019)

6 May 2012. Few ensemble movies, especially superhero movies offer the balanced, cohesive narrative that make for a well edited, rich character developed, and strongly compelling storyline. Unfortunately for The Avengers, though record-breaking at the box office not withstanding, The Avengers, can at best, be considered entertaining, but is more aptly described as a rather forced piece of movie scriptwriting and directing that attempts to corral a rather disparate bunch of superheros with mixed results. Unlike the more acceptable and appealing television series ensemble of super people in Heroes (2006-2010) or even the more enjoyable animated feature film of super family members in The Incredibles (2004), and the funny team of disparate members including the straight man (female) Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters (1984), The Avengers awkwardly introduces its Superheroes almost in sequel form, some with even chaotic brief flashbacks, that results in an uneasy alliance that feels quite uncomfortable as if the Jess Whedon himself was having trouble with his dialogue between the superheroes. As an example, Gwyneth Paltrow, unlike Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters (1984) is never given the opportunity to really have a solid place in the movie. And even the highly praised performance of Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk, even this bi-polar identity is left in doubt as The Hulk is presented as two different personas, earlier in the movie as this Beast and then later somewhat more questionable as this conscientious animal (which as an animal is quite unlikely a transformation). There is an apparent imbalance in the presentation among Ironman and Captain America and Thor. X-Men (2000), Fantastic Four (2005), and Star Trek (2009) all have a much more polished set-ups between their disparate ensemble characters. Instead Joss Whedon has introduced dollops of solid stand-up comic one-liners and humor that seems pretentious clever cover-ups even as they hit home. Unlike his own previous ensemble work in the well received Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004) series, here Joss Whedon is seemingly unable to recapture the same smooth but edgy magic as those earlier television series. The storyline also seems to veer in several isolated superhero scenes that make the overall rhythm and flow of the story rocky in its depiction on the screen, there seems too many characters and too many simultaneous events going on at the same time, almost more the actor script contractual obligations of screen time rather than for the integrity of the story itself. Inception (2010) probably includes some of the best integrated separate story lines that are presented simultaneously in its unique movie within and movie within a movie technique or Pulp Fiction (1994), Traffic (2001) and The Air I Breathe (2007) interweave several plot strands in a nicely, enriched presented fashion. It is apparent that some efforts at making this movie stand out with a few enhancements in special effects (like the destruction scene shot from the perspective of one of the vehicles being hurdled in the maelstrom) and several minutes of dialogue of lofty sounding metaphysical and emotional depth, yet the overall impact is more superficial without the emotive and intellectual probing found in even more singularly focused superhero movies as Green Lantern (2011), Elektra (2005), Spiderman 2 (2004) or Spiderman 3 (2007). Of particularly, note it almost seems like the news media has been influenced by over-reporting the critical acclaim of this movie as Metacritic rates it only a 69 which while good isn't really outstanding by any means, contributing to a rather false marketing effort in itself suggesting that some movie critics are in league with the movie industry itself.