TGW Review: The Avengers
NON-SPOILERY
You know those movies that show all of the best scenes and funniest lines in the trailer? The Avengers is nothing like that.
The Avengers is a funny, action-packed, cohesive love letter to the super hero genre. It also manages to convey a serious sense of danger and urgency, without becoming overwhelmingly dark.
The Basics
Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Thor must overcome their vast differences and team up to stop Loki and his invading army from conquering the world.
With five years of teasing from Marvel Studios; a huge cast of A-list talent; a collection of characters who shouldn’t be in the same room; and a story too big to tell in a movie, the opportunities for this film to suck were numerous. Fortunately, Joss Whedon & co were up to the challenge.
The Good
Badass Moments All Around!
Every single character has many moments to shine. With a cast this big, it would be easy to push many characters into the scenery. That didn’t happen. I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite moment because there were so many great moments.
Bringing the Funny
In typical Whedon fashion, this movie is just as humorous as it is intense. In that way it reminds me of my True Lies (one of my all-time favorite action flicks).
Fun with Clichés
One of Whedon’s talents that runs throughout everything he’s ever done is his manipulation of clichés. He is a master of taking what the viewer expects, and then suddenly turning it on its side. Where lesser writers will fallback on “classic” story elements, Whedon works like a magician and always keeps you guessing. That’s one of the things that made Cabin in the Woods (2012) so exceptional.
Nothing is Wasted & Everything is Earned
This story is tight! There’s no fat on it. Every line either establishes a character, or pushes the story forward. Even the post-credit scene is a call-back joke to an earlier line that seemed like an irrelevant throwaway line.
3D
I strongly dislike 3D, but I didn’t mind the 3D in The Avengers. For the most part it added depth like a diorama, instead of flying at the audience like a pop-up book. With the exception of one brief moment, I was cool with the 3D.
Sam Jackson
Mr. Jackson is not known for subtlety. In The Avengers his performance in remarkably understated, and I thought it was exceptional. I’m not sure who made that decision, but whomever made that call deserves a cookie. If I’m remembering correctly, his most badass moment is devoid of dialog (or pretty close to it).
Suspension of Disbelief
The best praise I can give any super hero story (comic, or movie), is that my suspension of disbelief went unbroken throughout. Will that be the case after multiple viewing? I’m not sure. But while I was watching The Avengers, I was completely invested in the story, and it never made me question the narrative.
The Not-So-Good
As much as I loved The Avengers, I do have some minor gripes.
One Big Cliché
I don’t want to give anything away, but there is one big alien movie cliché that Whedon used to wrap up the film, and I found it slightly disappointing… But I also understood why it needed to be that way. I still wish it wasn’t.
3D Serpent Thingie
There was one moment in the third act where the 3D disrupted my viewing experience. That giant metal flying serpent thingie from the trailer flies into the screen (kind of over the camera), and my eyes/ brain were not ok with that at all.
Further Exploring the Idea of Freedom
Early in the film, Loki talks a bit about humans and freedom. It’s a concept that Whedon plays with a lot. In The Avengers, he starts to dig into this idea, but never really does anything with it, other than expand on Loki’s motivation. I think it was a missed opportunity to add extra meaning to the overall story.
The Ugly
Nothing serious to report here…
I Want More!
The DVD is going to have something like 30 minutes of extra footage, and I can’t wait for it.
The Bottom-Line
If you haven’t seen it yet, just go. This is what mainstream comic heroics look like at their very best.
There are two credits scenes.
The mid-credits scene sets up the next film (if you’re interested in who that character is, click here). You have to stay to see this as it explains something that happens in the beginning of the movie.
The post-credits scene isn’t necessary to see, but it is both very funny, and delightfully Whedonesque.
Lastly, if you liked the humor and storytelling in The Avengers, you really ought to watch some of Whedon’s early work. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible & Dollhouse are exceptional shows that are smart, moving, funny, and very entertaining.
DC/ Warner Brothers is Having a Bad Week
Some folks from DC & Warner Brothers rejected Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman movie script a few years ago.
I’m betting those people are having a rough week right about now.
The Avengers was eff-ing awesome. A detailed review is coming later.
Avengers Day! May the Thor-th Be With You
It’s Avengers release day! I’m just sitting in the theater waiting for shindig to start so I can enjoy all of its Whedony goodness.
I’m so excited for this… It better not disappoint. No. It won’t disappoint. In Joss we trust.
The lights are going down.
I’ll be back with colorful commentary later-ish.
Free Comic Book Day 2012: Saturday, May 5
Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday, May 5 – The day after The Avengers hits theaters (probably not a coincidence).
Go on down to your local comic shop. They’ll have tons of free stuff, and great sales.
Personally, I’m going to pick up my copies of the Star Wars/ Serenity and Buffy/ The Guild (Don’t judge if you’ve never seen Buffy. That show is magnificent).
Who is Thanos – The Man with the Purple Grin
Call it a hunch, but I suspect many non-comic geeks are going to be asking this question over the next few weeks:
Who is Thanos, AKA, the man with the purple grin?
Thanos was created by comic writer/ artists Jim Starlin in Iron Man 55.
Those who studied psychology might recognize his name’s connection to the thanatos complex, or death drive. While students of mythology will know that Thanatos (Thanatus in Latin) is the embodiment of death. At this point you might be noticing a pattern.
Thanos is a character obsessed with death. Literally. He spent his villainous career courting Death (a purple cloaked skeletal god of death in the Marvel Universe). His obsession has led him to kill a lot of people in hopes of winning her affection.
Kate Moss could totally play her!
In terms of strength, durability, and energy projection he’s on the of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. However his intellect is his most potent weapon. Thanos stories always involve grandiose schemes that play-out over many issues (a trait common of many Starlin characters and comics). What sets Thanos apart from most other villains is that his plans generally work perfectly. When he is defeated it’s usually because he doesn’t feel he is worthy of Death’s love, and allows his opponents to win in some way (my over-simplification makes it sound less interesting that it is).
The Bottom-line
Thanos is a total badass of a character, and has been one of my favorite characters for many years.
His stories are deeply psychological, and very twisted. He’s the kind of character that Joss Whedon could have a lot of fun with if he were to perhaps stick around for an Avengers sequel.
If Thanos interests you, you should checkout Infinity Gauntlet. This is the definitive Thanos story, and one of the most fun superhero tales ever told.
Why I Don’t Review With Scores or Numbers
All of my product, movie, concert, game and music reviews are written long-form, and never have any numerical rating associated with them.
They almost did. I had this clever idea to have a 5 star scale and have the rating system be glasses. Each pair of glasses would equal a star, and a monocle would equal half a star. However I sacked the idea.
It would have looked better than this.
Why did I change my mind?
Joe was one of my undergraduate professors, and learning from him was one of those rare life-changing teacher experiences. But I digress.
Why 1 – 5 Scales Suck
His classes were unconventional in a lot of ways, but the most significant example was his strong opposition to generic scale rating systems. This didn’t make him popular in the social sciences because 1 – 5 rating systems are pretty much the standard means for measuring any human experience in psychology, sociology, political science, and communication.
He illustrated this very simply in what turned out to be the most memorable five minutes I had in two decades of school.
Joe began a class by instructing us to take out a piece of paper, and create four 1 – 5 scales on it. Then he asked the following four questions and had us answer on those scales:
- How big is the Moon?
- How big is the Sun?
- How big is a penny?
- How big is a dime?
The answers were pretty much along these lines:
- How big is the Moon? – 5
- How big is the Sun? – 5
- How big is a penny? – 1
- How big is a dime? – 1
- How big is the Moon? – 4
- How big is the Sun? – 5
- How big is a penny? – 2
- How big is a dime? – 1
The problem was immediately apparent to everyone with a pulse. According to this research, students perceptions are that the Moon and Sun are the same size, while pennies and dimes are the same size. The kicker being that the Moon and the Sun are five times larger than pennies and dimes.
His point was that these methods of measurement are meaningless because the ratings have no context, and there’s no opportunity for logical mathematical comparison. So he (and a few others) created a system of measure that was based on comparison. It’s complex, and I’m not going to get into it here.
Why 1 – 100 Scales Suck
So you might be asking yourself, why not use a 1 – 100 scale?
It still has no comparison value, but mostly I don’t know the difference between an 83 and an 84 in terms of quality. Whenever I see ratings like 93, I find myself completely baffled by how someone came up with that number. Sometimes I reach the bottom of a review and see some strange number and I actually laugh as I imagine my eighth grade algebra teacher yelling, “Show your damn work!”
The bottom-line
I don’t know how to boil my complex thoughts about something into an arbitrary number. Plus, if I write a number it devalues all of the rest of the thought and nuance that went into the review.
Read a review, don’t read a review. Numerical rating systems distort reality. I won’t be using them.
Death of Superman – Killing Death in Comics
Geeks and non-geeks should enjoy this video retelling of the horrible Death & Return of Superman story-lines from the early 1990′s. Starring Elijah Wood and Mandy Moore and many other, this video perfectly captures how hilariously horrible that story was, and the damage it did to mainstream comic storytelling in general.
For more on death in comics: Dead Comic Book Characters Always Get Better
For more on Superman being a terribly boring character: Superman is Problematic
