Avengers: Overrated

Rating: 8/10 (18 April 2015)

Okay Avengers is good. The dialogue is witty and the action is action. Not a movie so much around telling a story as it is telling jokes. I like that style. But going by the director, Joss Whedon's, quote, "Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough but for the love of God tell a joke." Well, you got that last part right. But where's the build up? And I'm not talking about the boring beginning.
I guess I just feel like the characters got to wisecrack each other but they didn't really demonstrate that they "got" each other. I feel like I'm missing something. We didn't get that one moment that was serious, something that I feel like Joss said himself was important to the build up.
As I said, I find the beginning to be rather boring. It doesn't grab me with a defining character moment. I don't feel like Avengers is one of the great movies. I don't even feel like it's the best of the series. They did better in The Winter Soldier. They did a better ensemble in Guardians of the Galaxy. It wasn't as passionate as Spider-Man 2. It doesn't compare to the writing of The Dark Knight.
They built up to this film with five other character flicks which, I guess, is the reason why this works. I just feel like something more meaningful could been done. I feel like we could have seen how the characters relate to each other. Guardians of the Galaxy could be accused of having the same problem but I feel like they at least joked about relating. Avengers doesn't do that. Hawkeye is there and he does nothing. Iron Man attempts a sacrifice and we don't feel much. Cap is there and he doesn't offer as much American spirit as he could. Thor has some good remarks. Black Widow is hot and... badass. And if there is something I like about life it's a badass hot female.
What I'm doing at the end of the day is nitpicking. I mean what I say about this film but it is fun. It is a good comedy. Don't let a couple flaws distract from this. I actually feel like in some ways this film was a build up. We have them all together and they know each other so perhaps they can accomplish more in The Age of Ultron.