The Avengers: first viewing review
May. 4th, 2012 03:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyThat was definitely a Joss Whedon movie, top to bottom.
First off, I had tons of fun! I went into the movie extremely unspoiled - all I knew was what was in the trailers. I'm glad, because it meant I had a ton of great surprises in store.
The actors were all superb. Not a surprise, but always good.
Joss does several things very well and he did them in this movie:
1. Great dialogue, both revealing and often incredibly funny (while remaining completely true to the characters). There was so much joyous laughter in my theater. It was fantastic.
2. Believable character growth and interaction.
3. Creating reciprocal emotions between the audience and the characters. We were exhilarated, touched, amused, and deeply satisfied by the end.
Because I was unspoiled, I was surprised by a lot. I'll go through the little that I knew and expand on how the movie made it even better and then go into what I had no clue about and how the movie surprised and thrilled me.
1. For the first time, I found the Pepper and Tony relationship believable as an actual romantic pairing. I suspect that as soon as someone not-Joss is writing and directing them again, I will stop finding them believable but for the length of this movie, I actually didn't get the sense that it was an inevitable train wreck of destruction and heartbreak. They seemed like an actual couple rather than a bizarre, co-dependent unhealthy employee/employer doomed thing. I was really not expecting that going into the movie, so congrats to Joss.
2. I knew that Tony and Steve would meet and first be put-off but then eventually work together, but I liked a lot how the movie did it. I liked that it was the talking that first made them not get along, but once there was an outside crisis and they needed to work together, you can see them connect more and more. And at the end of the movie, Steve just looks at Tony in this really soft, sweet way. You can see that he finally gets what's going on there, underneath all the bravado.
From what I saw, though, Steve gets a lot further down the friendship road than Tony which... is interesting. It makes sense, though. Steve needs the Avengers team in a way that the rest of them don't. Tony has Pepper and Rhodey and JARVIS. Thor has an entire world (also, Jane). Bruce was at a place in his life where he was able to balance his anger enough to control himself. Clint and Natasha are SHIELD. All of them already had purpose.
Steve is the only one that's... alone. Adrift. There's a difference of need there. At the beginning of the movie (before Loki), everyone else is basically doing okay. Steve, though, isn't. He's lost. At the end of the movie, he's found himself a place - he knows how to take command and he's seen that this group of people is strong at heart and can be relied on. He starts the movie with nothing and ends it with the start of something. He's still alone but he has the possibility of not-alone in his future now. He's not in a basement re-living all his old memories - he's out exploring the world and making some new ones.
3. I knew that both Loki and Thor would be in the movie, but I was so delighted by the importance of their relationship and how it felt both true to Thor but also added in new elements. And I'm glad that the movie didn't forget Jane but made sure that we knew that Thor knew that she was safe. And now that Asgard has the Tesseract, Thor will be able to come back and see her this time, I think (possibly what will happen in Thor 2, I hope!).
4. Obviously, it being a 'summer blockbuster', I knew there would be action, but I like that it never felt like set pieces. The whole movie moved along really well, I thought, and the pacing was terrific. I had enough space to breath for a moment or two before things picked up again.
5. I knew that the Hulk would be in the movie and I'd liked the little that I'd seen of him in the trailers, but there was so much fantastic stuff in the movie that the trailer never even hinted at. Loved everything about his character here. Mark Ruffalo was perfection.
6. Nick Fury kinda owned this movie coming and going.
The things I had no clue were coming:
1. Clint Barton being taken over by Loki and then staying on the 'bad guy' side for a long time. Woah! That was such a huge surprise to me. All of the Clint-Natasha stuff was excellent. They had a great connection when we finally got to see them talk and, before that, Scarlett did a fantastic job of projecting her concern for Clint.
2. Coulson dying! Looking back, I can see all the pieces being put in place - the conversation between him and Pepper is the first step in humanizing his character and making him easy to relate to, and then the Captain America fanboying really sealed it in. He was great this movie.
3. The Avengers spent a whole lot of the movie fighting each other! I mean, I knew there would be a bit of fighting because of the trailer, but I was not expecting that much dirty and hard-core physical fighting between all the various ~heroes.
Overall, great movie!
First off, I had tons of fun! I went into the movie extremely unspoiled - all I knew was what was in the trailers. I'm glad, because it meant I had a ton of great surprises in store.
The actors were all superb. Not a surprise, but always good.
Joss does several things very well and he did them in this movie:
1. Great dialogue, both revealing and often incredibly funny (while remaining completely true to the characters). There was so much joyous laughter in my theater. It was fantastic.
2. Believable character growth and interaction.
3. Creating reciprocal emotions between the audience and the characters. We were exhilarated, touched, amused, and deeply satisfied by the end.
Because I was unspoiled, I was surprised by a lot. I'll go through the little that I knew and expand on how the movie made it even better and then go into what I had no clue about and how the movie surprised and thrilled me.
1. For the first time, I found the Pepper and Tony relationship believable as an actual romantic pairing. I suspect that as soon as someone not-Joss is writing and directing them again, I will stop finding them believable but for the length of this movie, I actually didn't get the sense that it was an inevitable train wreck of destruction and heartbreak. They seemed like an actual couple rather than a bizarre, co-dependent unhealthy employee/employer doomed thing. I was really not expecting that going into the movie, so congrats to Joss.
2. I knew that Tony and Steve would meet and first be put-off but then eventually work together, but I liked a lot how the movie did it. I liked that it was the talking that first made them not get along, but once there was an outside crisis and they needed to work together, you can see them connect more and more. And at the end of the movie, Steve just looks at Tony in this really soft, sweet way. You can see that he finally gets what's going on there, underneath all the bravado.
From what I saw, though, Steve gets a lot further down the friendship road than Tony which... is interesting. It makes sense, though. Steve needs the Avengers team in a way that the rest of them don't. Tony has Pepper and Rhodey and JARVIS. Thor has an entire world (also, Jane). Bruce was at a place in his life where he was able to balance his anger enough to control himself. Clint and Natasha are SHIELD. All of them already had purpose.
Steve is the only one that's... alone. Adrift. There's a difference of need there. At the beginning of the movie (before Loki), everyone else is basically doing okay. Steve, though, isn't. He's lost. At the end of the movie, he's found himself a place - he knows how to take command and he's seen that this group of people is strong at heart and can be relied on. He starts the movie with nothing and ends it with the start of something. He's still alone but he has the possibility of not-alone in his future now. He's not in a basement re-living all his old memories - he's out exploring the world and making some new ones.
3. I knew that both Loki and Thor would be in the movie, but I was so delighted by the importance of their relationship and how it felt both true to Thor but also added in new elements. And I'm glad that the movie didn't forget Jane but made sure that we knew that Thor knew that she was safe. And now that Asgard has the Tesseract, Thor will be able to come back and see her this time, I think (possibly what will happen in Thor 2, I hope!).
4. Obviously, it being a 'summer blockbuster', I knew there would be action, but I like that it never felt like set pieces. The whole movie moved along really well, I thought, and the pacing was terrific. I had enough space to breath for a moment or two before things picked up again.
5. I knew that the Hulk would be in the movie and I'd liked the little that I'd seen of him in the trailers, but there was so much fantastic stuff in the movie that the trailer never even hinted at. Loved everything about his character here. Mark Ruffalo was perfection.
6. Nick Fury kinda owned this movie coming and going.
The things I had no clue were coming:
1. Clint Barton being taken over by Loki and then staying on the 'bad guy' side for a long time. Woah! That was such a huge surprise to me. All of the Clint-Natasha stuff was excellent. They had a great connection when we finally got to see them talk and, before that, Scarlett did a fantastic job of projecting her concern for Clint.
2. Coulson dying! Looking back, I can see all the pieces being put in place - the conversation between him and Pepper is the first step in humanizing his character and making him easy to relate to, and then the Captain America fanboying really sealed it in. He was great this movie.
3. The Avengers spent a whole lot of the movie fighting each other! I mean, I knew there would be a bit of fighting because of the trailer, but I was not expecting that much dirty and hard-core physical fighting between all the various ~heroes.
Overall, great movie!