I'm Thunderstruck by this Film's Immense Popularity

Rating: 6/10 (28 August 2012)

"The Avengers" is an okay superhero movie; that's it. A great deal of the problem is that there are too many characters at once. The viewer doesn't get any time to understand most of the characters' backstories or motivations. They are suddenly called up for duty to defend the earth against the scrawny and mysterious alien supervillain based off of a Norse god. Most of the superheroes were not interesting, as their personalities were not that well-developed. The exception to this is Iron Man, who is wonderfully played by Robert Downey, Jr. Iron Man is depicted as a wealthy sarcastic playboy who isn't necessarily a hero for altruistic reasons. The smarminess and smugness of Iron Man's character may turn a lot of people off; but hey, at least it's a "character". There are a few scenes where the Hulk is really funny, but that is only as the Hulk persona, rather than as Bruce Banner. The rest of the superheroes are bland and undeveloped as characters. The film is also confused as to its tone. It tries to take its superhero world seriously, like the Tim Burton's "Batman" but also adds in tongue-in-cheek humor and makes attempts to be self-referential and campy, like the Joel Schumaker "Batmans". The balance is uneven at best.
The film's characters, with the exception of the Incredible Hulk, do not have enough fame or notoriety, like that of Superman, Batman or Spiderman, to be familiar to a general audience. This film is catered to an audience intimately familiar with the Marvel Comics universe and all of its characters, which will leave an uninitiated viewer utterly clueless about who's who. Who the heck is Black Widow? Nick Fury? Why do Thor and Loki speak in a bizarre, overly-proper form of English? Is it because they're aliens? Why should we care?
It is merely a personal matter of taste, but CGI has not evolved to the point where the special effects look entirely real; the closest computer animation has gotten to being realistic is James Cameron's "Avatar", where the aliens have genuinely human expressions and movements. The CGI in "The Avengers" is ugly to look at, particularly the ship the Avengers use as a home base, as well as the alien invaders towards the end. It is not worth it to pay extra for 3-D glasses to watch grey, ugly aliens riding grey, ugly spiny snakes while emerging from grey, ugly, bland modernistic monstrosities that pass for alien spaceships. The ultimate irony is the cheap gorilla and diving suit from "Robot Monster" (haven't seen the movies, just stills) looks more creative and inspired than the effects in this movie. The point is that there is little color and beauty in the CGI, and it always looks more fake and lifeless than rubber puppets or furry Ewok costumes ever could. I would go so far to say that the greyness and blandness of the alien and Avengers' flying fortress design totally detracted from the power of the action sequences. Notwithstanding the distracting CGI, the action scenes, as stand- alone pieces, are engaging and entertaining to watch.
In short, "The Avengers" lacks interesting characters and, while not entirely the fault of the filmmakers (technology still has a long way to go in 2012 before anything approaching realism can be fully realized, so my criticism in unfair in that respect), the CGI wasn't pleasant to look at. Watch "The Avengers" for the action scenes and for Hulk and Iron Man, who are funny and interesting. It's a fair effort, but nothing that approaches a timeless action classic. At least the Christopher Reeve "Superman" movies were infused with tongue-in-cheek humor and had an undeniable camp value; "The Avengers" takes itself too seriously to become a nostalgic classic like "Superman".