the Avengers Review

Director: Joss Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo

Original Release date: May 4th 2012

So much anticipation followed this movie, the year of 2012 was ripe with set footage and news of Marvels Studios big picture event. Everyone wanted to know details about the plot, rumours were flying everywhere, and nerds were quickly entering nirvana. This was something completely unprecedented, no one ever thought a movie like this would come together, a merger of the biggest comic book stars into one massive picture. It was an obvious move really, but quite a spectacular one at that. For the first time in cinema history the worlds biggest action stars were all going to be fighting side-by-side to protect the planet, and Marvel even signed on nerd god Joss Whedon; creator of some of my favourite TV shows (Buffy and Angel). The only worry everyone had was that this movie would fall victim to the hype, thankfully it didn't because Marvel’s the Avengers is one of the highest grossing movies of all time.

The Avengers takes place approximately one year after Thor. Nick Fury and Shield have obtained the mysterious cube known as the Tesseract, the very thing that Hydra coveted during WW II. Unfortunately for Shield and the rest of Earth the cube acts as a gateway between worlds and with the help of a mysterious and very powerful benefactor; Loki has come to Earth seeking vengeance on his brother, and our unconditional surrender to his rule. Nick Fury must do something that he thought would never happen in our lifetime, call upon the Avengers Initiative.

This movie is fantastic, it has everything you could want from a big summer blockbuster, there is plenty of action, great characters and some of the funniest comedic moments in any film and that is all a testament to the writing of Joss Whedon. Joss is a geek at heart and knows the material quite well, he’s written comics under the X-men line and has even got some of his shows comic series of their own. If you take an individual who cares for the source material and have them not only direct, but write your film; you’re going to have one masterful film.  The great thing about some of the humour in this movie is that it’s not right in your face like the Iron man films, instead many of the punchlines of the jokes in the movie come minutes after the set-up making viewers actually pay attention to the witty dialogue in the movie even today I'm still discovering little moments to chuckle at.

I really have no idea how Joss did it, it is so easy to mess a movie of this magnitude up. Each member of the enormous cast are larger than life characters with egos that could shatter galaxies. It’s hard to give every member of the Avengers something to do but Joss gives each character a moment to shine. Now I'm not going to talk about characters like Tony Stark or Captain America because I've already elaborated on them in my other reviews, instead I want to focus on some of the newer additions to the cast and some that I haven’t really touched on yet.

Clark Gregg has had a presence in almost all of the Phase 01 films. Agent Coulson first appeared in the very first Iron man film. He was always that agent guy in the background but it wasn't until Thor that we all realised that maybe there was something more to the guy than we all thought. The Avengers is really Agent Coulson's time to shine, no longer is he a small role forced to be on the sidelines as the superheroes have their testosterone death matches in populated areas. Coulson plays a major role in getting the Avengers to sort out their differences and pool their resources together to defeat Loki and his mysterious Chitarui army. After the Avengers, fans really began to take a liking to the film created character. Coulson is so popular that he’s even appeared in Marvel Comics making him a comic canon character, and of course there is Agents of Shield, but we’ll get to that in due time.

Cobie Smulders is widely known as Robin Scherbatski from How I met your Mother, however in the MCU she’s Maria Hill. Hill is one of Shields best agents and is even higher up than Coulson himself. As Nick Fury’s right hand girl she’s the one calling many shots throughout the movie, Hill has doubts about the Avengers Initiative, and she has every right to, it’s one of the riskiest moves Shield or any government agency has ever pulled off. If the team does not work well together it could have horrible consequences for the world. I really like how they introduced her character in the Avengers, Hill is a very significant Shield agent in the comics and instead of giving her a big huge introduction they establish her as if she’s always been there; just behind the scenes. I am sure we are going to see a lot more of her in Phase 03 seeing as Civil War is the first big film in that section of the MCU and Hill plays a very important role within Shield in that series. Cobie Smulders does an excellent job, and although I'm not the biggest Hill fan in the comics I find the character to be far more likeable in the films.

Our newest addition to the Avengers is Clint Barton aka Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner. I feel really bad for Renner because he had only a small cameo in Thor but is given hardly anything to do until the last 20 minutes of the film. Most of the movie Hawkeye is Loki’s lapdog, being controlled by Loki’s strange sceptre. Once Barton turns back to the good side he’s a very funny and amusing character, there is a lot of dry wit in his scenes and his sarcastic nature gives a good parallel to Tony Stark. However out of all of the Avengers so far Hawkeye is the one who has hardly any screen time, he hasn't made an appearance in any of the Phase 02 films accept for next months Age of Ultron. Whedon says that he’s given him more to do and I hope that’s true because that movie has an even bigger cast than this one.

Tom Hiddleston is always fantastic as Loki, the Avengers gives viewers a chance to see how the events of Thor have broke his mind. The guy is insane and has quickly gone from genocide to wanting to control Midgard/Earth, and of course we all know this is so that he can prove himself to daddy and show that he can be an exceptional ruler. Although even with all of his charm and bluster we all know that there is a far bigger and more powerful threat behind the would-be king. A character that hasn't really made a move on the Avengers as of yet, but I'm sure we will see plenty of him in Avengers Infinity War parts I and II *cough* Thanos *cough*.

The biggest surprise though for this movie was Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/the Hulk. I still prefer Edward Norton as the character and I’m not entirely sure of why he wasn’t asked to come back for the Avengers, but it is still the same character and Ruffalo adds a lot to what was established in the Incredible Hulk. We find Banner living in India trying his best to distance himself from the world, however this time he is in complete control of “the other guy”. This has all come at a price though, Banner is always within his own personal bubble trying his best to not make contact with anyone or anything. If you just watch him closely you can see that Bruce is always holding his own hands like he’s cradling himself. He might have control of the Hulk but he is still very afraid of the possibility that he might lose control and hurt someone in the process.

The action in the film is all saved for the big finale, yes there are some fight scenes and the Hellicarrier battle is really neat, but most of the movie is focused on the Avengers fighting amongst themselves. Like I said they all have their own egos and philosophies, they all think that their way is the right way and everyone should bow down and follow. This adds to some great conflict in the movie and if you listen closely to the many arguments between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, and hold them to memory you can see their effects in Iron man 3. Once Loki begins his invasion of Earth all gloves come off in one of the most amazing final acts in the MCU. I love the big continuous shot where you see each Avenger taking on the threat of Loki’s army in their own unique way. The movie plays on each character's strength and showcases them in a fabulous array of arrows, kicks and repulsor blasts.

Anything that’s been said about the Avengers has already been said, it’s the movie that truly made Marvel Studios and the MCU a big worldwide phenomenon. Everyone sees their movies now and almost everyone has watched the Avengers.

Of course you should watch this movie, its amazing. Even if you haven’t watched any of the Phase 01 movies I think there is still so much that a first time viewer can get out of watching the movie. Watching the other Phase 01 films just adds to the experience of the movie.

I give Marvel’s the Avengers a

8.5/10

This is such an amazing movie and a very important one at that. After the success of the Avengers we've seen so many studios trying to scramble under Marvel’s shadow by trying to create their own cinematic universe. From DC to Harry Potter we are seeing sequels to franchises coming out of the woodwork to try and find the success that Marvel has had, and to this day no one has even come close.