The Avengers Movie Experience
From the first Iron Man film in 2008, I think most of us knew that something big was about to happen. First reaction upon seeing Nick Fury at the end of the movie was, “Holy shit, really?” Everyone immediately thought of an Avengers film, but did we really think it would happen? Well…
After that came The Incredible Hulk where we also saw Tony Stark informing General Ross of the “Avengers Initiative” DAMN!! I felt like turning into my own little Hulk, but with hype instead of rage. Iron Man 2 arrives and ends up not being as good as the first, but still great nonetheless. We get a quick glimpse of Thor’s hammer and then 2 years later we get the Thor film. This was by far my favorite despite (http://hinterlandgazette.com/2010/04/thor-fans-upset-idris-elba-black-man-to.html) issues "some" people had with the film. At the end of that we see the plot thickening for an actual Avengers movie. Next up comes Captain America which I sort of expected to suck, but blew me away at the end of the day. After seeing the first Avengers trailer at the end of that…I was done. I wanted it and I wanted it NOW. Flash-forward to 2012 May 4th 12:30am…it’s Avengers time.
The plot was pretty basic where Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are directed under Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D to stop Loki (Thor’s half-brother) from destroying Earth with a cube of energy called The Tesseract. With a big cast of characters like this, the simple plot was just right. If it was anything else this movie would have been a mess. It’s actually difficult to write this, because I still can’t explain how I felt seeing all these characters grow. Hulk was confused in his own movie, still trying to learn how to control his anger. In the Avengers, it’s like he was content with who he was. That’s a HUGE change for such a highly-disturbed character and Mark Ruffalo perfected it. I almost don’t want to see anyone else play the Hulk even though Ed Norton was fantastic. From his movements, to his voice, to the way he was designed, this movie finally gave us a real Hulk. One who smashes EVERYTHING! Iron Man probably stole the entire show with his humor. Robert Downey Jr. owned this role like it was his last. It’s almost as if he’s born to play Tony Stark. His reaction towards every other superhero is priceless. Almost like the bully and annoying brat of the group with too much money, but all the right tools to save them. Chris Evans (Captain America) really surprised me. This guy picks some of the most typical roles, but he must have known how much his life was on the line with this one. As a man who was frozen in time and thawed out in the future, he definitely seemed out of place and present at the right time. Agent Coulson (who had a massive nerdgasm for Cap, which was hilarious) said it best, “With what we’re about to face, people could use a little old-fashion.” Captain America is the benchmark for everything perfect about a superhero and his presence gave the rest of the cast every reason to look up to him. Thor, who is starting to become one of my favorite heroes, had one of the dopest entrances for a superhero. You have to see it for yourself. People should never refer to him without “Mighty” in front of his name. Each time he spun his hammer, loads of damage ensued. And those lightning strikes…WHAT?! Black Widow was entertaining. Her character was so strong in the face of every other hero, except the Hulk. When she finally meets him in full-form we see a shattered soul of a character who was once deadlier than them all. She and Hawkeye were the “weaklings” of the crew (considering neither of them have powers or any addition strength), but held their own well with the rest of them. Hawkeye’s rage was almost as bad as the Hulk’s that I’m really surprised they didn’t fight. Loki on the other hand, probably gave the greatest performance out of everyone. His mood constantly changed throughout the film as a God amongst mortals to a God amongst non-believers. Some of his facial expressions were amazing. It was so difficult to tell what he was thinking and what he was doing if he wasn’t speaking. As a master of trickery that Loki is, it was fulfilling to see him meddle with each of the Avengers mentally and physically. The scene with him and Black Widow was powerful and very clever. He was able to manipulate each one of them in his own way, separately, while still maintaining character. Tom Hiddleston destroyed that role so no one else could fill it. And to think I wanted Michael Emerson to play him.
Overall I thought it was incredible. From the buildup, to the actual film, to the credits, everything surpassed my expectations. This is one movie that I really don’t have anything to complain about or just don’t WANT to complain. Not a single scene disappointed me. That final scene when they all get together just brought tremendous joy as a Marvel fan. I don’t even want to discuss the personal fights they had with each other, because I feel I’d be saying too much. I will say that the fight between the Hulk and Thor was outstanding and you’ll be clapping out of your seat watching it. Anyone who has read the comics, you know how big that is. Mind you, I saw this film in IMAX, so it was loud as hell and my eyes were everywhere. This was also my first time seeing IMAX so maybe the entire “experience” made the movie better than it is. This might be true considering the second time I saw it (I actually saw it twice in the same day) the sound quality was much lower and I started to miss the 3D. It was still an amazing movie without it, but if you can see it in IMAX, do that first. You’d almost be doing a disservice if you didn’t. The big Marvel fan that I am couldn’t be happier about it and I hope everyone else sees how big this film really is. It’s much more than a superhero film and we can all learn something from these larger than life characters. This movie was an example of a group of powerful people doing powerful things. Anyone can take an idea like that and apply it to everyday life and this was such an entertaining display of that. I can’t thank Joss Whedon enough for putting this all together so correctly. Maybe one day I’ll see my own name in the production credits. One can only be a “true believer.”
You need further proof on how "big" this film is? Read what Loki had to say about it. You could say this is clever advertising, but if you think about it...he has a point.
"In our increasingly secular society, with so many disparate gods and different faiths, superhero films present a unique canvas upon which our shared hopes, dreams and apocalyptic nightmares can be projected and played out." - Tom Hiddleston
PS – The “secret” scene after the initial credits….OOOOOH!!! Yeah, that’s exactly what I said. So glad it wasn't a budget-cut Galactus!
-K
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