The New Gold Standard of Superhero Films

Rating: 9/10 (2 May 2012)

I was fortunate enough to watch a special presentation of the The Avengers earlier this week. Due to the sheer awesomeness of the movie I felt it was appropriate to spread the good word. I'll try not to ruin too much for you though interested parties know the basic plot by now.
A group of super-people; Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor/...Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and The Incredible Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) are brought together by a top secret task force known as S.H.I.E.L.D. to form a super team known as The Avengers. S.H.I.E.L.D., headed by superspy Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and a huge, expensive looking, airborne armada, face a serious threat in the form of super-villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Can The Avengers' divergent personalities come together to face such a large external threat? If they do, will the audience care? The answer is of course yes, and yes. The Avengers is less of a movie than it is a dazzling visual experience. My bet is those who lived in the time of 5 cent Captain America comics would have their minds blown by the sheer size and grandior of this flick. Its big, its bold and it delivers. But enough with general platitudes. What specifically makes The Avengers such great summer fare? Well for one it takes four characters who have dawned their own movie franchises and brings them together for the first time. Since we all know their origins, their powers and their basic personalities, this spin-off is in a unique position to expand the world in which these superheroes exist. This world of course has a lot of explosions and movie monsters, but it also has a fair amount of heart and humor too.
All due credit must be given to its smart script provided by Joss Whedon and Zak Penn who seemed to have had just as much fun writing the movie as I did watching it. Every scene has a purpose and nearly every joke hits its mark. That not to say the movie is all fun and games. The movie wisely shines a light on the back story of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), two characters who have been largely in the shadows in the past. This allows, especially Black Widow's character arc to become the convincing emotional core of the film. There is one confrontation between Black Widow and Loki that provided no whizz-bang vulgarities but nonetheless was an uncommonly dark and emotionally charged moment. One I wouldn't expect from such an unabashedly popcorny flick.
The character of Loki has improved greatly from the last time we saw him in Thor (2011). I found him a bit too unassuming and snively to really be threatening in 2011. This year however Tom Hiddleston has wisely cranked the diva dial up to 11 and lets loose. Its hard not to soak up all his bravura. Or Samuel L. Jackson's for that matter. He's supposed to be Nick Fury and god love him for trying but he'll always be Samuel L. and that's not all together a bad thing.
There are however some slight faults to this otherwise solid film. I know its unfair since The Avengers is a sequel of sorts but there seemed to be too little development or back story about our main heroes. I don't want to say that those who haven't seen the other Marvel movies will be completely lost but I doubt they'll have the same emotional investment in the characters coming in from the cold. A few lines of exposition without them sharing witty banter would have been enough; I'm not greedy. Also, and this is just my personal bias, Mark Ruffalo did his best but I was not convinced he was Bruce Banner. His lax, California, too-cool-for-school delivery just didn't mesh well with the sci-fi jargon he and Tony Stark were spewing.
Regardless of a few shortcomings, The Avengers is a profoundly entertaining movie with great action, great acting and a fun script. It sets the new gold standard comic-book superhero films have to reach in the years to come. Watch it, then watch it again.
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