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astri13You know I love comic book movies and have a lot of initial goodwill for them, read: I'm ready to accept and overlook some cheese as long as they don't go overboard. Which sadly, often enough happens.
I also used to be a fan of Whedon's writing until pretty much Dollhouse came along (well, that and some incredibly childish comments he made in the later Buffy years. Dude, just no.)
So when the two come together in Avengers, how did it fare? One word: AWESOME!!! That is the stuff I had come to expect from Whedon back in the good old days.
The biggest possibility for pitfalls in a team-movie like this? Giving all the characters their due, hands down. There is such a temptation to only focus on the more flamboyant ones or popular ones or whatever. I mean, granted, there will always be, even in superhero team movies, two or three main focus characters, always. But that doesn't mean the others have to stand around like props in the background. Every character CAN be interesting, they only need to be written for.
This movie? I thought every single character got their due. And I'm not talking the more "supporting" ones got one single cool scene and then had to fade into the background again. Nope. They were THERE for the whole movie. No matter what a scene stealer RDJ is as the flashy Iron Man or how big a Hulk-smask the Hulk was, it didn't mean Black Widow or Hawkeye (two characters I wasn't familiar with before this movie) ceased to exist after their introduction.
Apropos of Hulk, I can't believe they made me like him. Again, I'm a fan of comic book movies and I did watch the show with Bill Bixby every now and then as a child but the Hulk movies so far? Meeeeeh. But he totally worked for me here, Bruce Banner geeking out with Tony Stark over physics. Hahahaha.
Captain America was maybe the least flashy of all the characters here but that is IMO because it's who he is. Everybody else is an edgy personality, they are former assassins or tortured scientists or weapons dealers or arrogant demi-gods with chips on their shoulders. Meanwhile Cap is supposed to be, well, just a straightforward good guy. And as such, he could still somewhat hold his own among all those larger-than-life personalities.
Besides, he did have some edge with living in a strange world/time now. The little "hooray, I got a pop culture reference" moment was adorable. As was Tony rolling his eyes in response. Maybe Cap should hang out more often with Thor because there is no risk feeling culturally outdated then. Hee.
Speaking of Thor, I am looking forward to see him more in the team in the sequel (yeah as if they aren't planning one right now, have you SEEN the box office? *g*). But I felt his introduction to them was well done. Their three-way fight, then in the end fighting together. Now he just has to make friends with them.
Loved Thor/Loki stuff because they were pretty much the main "relationship" in Thor, the movie. From that scene between Loki and Odin in Thor when Loki found out his true parentage, he has been so completely fucked, it seems impossible to unfuck him again. Talk about a bad reaction to finding out you're adopted. And no matter how many times he claims that his "family" isn't his family and it's too late and he has no home, basically no matter how many times he claims he is totally over them, he proves that he isn't. Because everything he freaking does is still about his Asgardian family and him feeling rejected by them.
Coulson was right, he doesn't have a purpose, conviction or whatnot. He simply has issues. And he will act out in any matter availabe to him.
Speaking of Coulson, I didn't have a big connection to the character - because again, I am a fan of comic book movies but have not sampled that many comics so a lot of history goes right over my head - but his death was moving IMO. His claim that it was needed to bring the Avengers together. Aww. Also, right. It had to be someone who had friendly interaction with all of them individually so they all felt like "fuck you, Loki, you killed this totally nice dude".
The fight scenes were great IMO. Sure, a bit more on the goofy side but see above, that is what I will excuse in a movie like this.
And sure, there were some minor squibbles. Every movie ever has some squibbles. Nothing can be perfect for 120+ minutes straight but it didn't take away from the overall experience. And that is all I ask.
In conclusion: kick-ass.
I also used to be a fan of Whedon's writing until pretty much Dollhouse came along (well, that and some incredibly childish comments he made in the later Buffy years. Dude, just no.)
So when the two come together in Avengers, how did it fare? One word: AWESOME!!! That is the stuff I had come to expect from Whedon back in the good old days.
The biggest possibility for pitfalls in a team-movie like this? Giving all the characters their due, hands down. There is such a temptation to only focus on the more flamboyant ones or popular ones or whatever. I mean, granted, there will always be, even in superhero team movies, two or three main focus characters, always. But that doesn't mean the others have to stand around like props in the background. Every character CAN be interesting, they only need to be written for.
This movie? I thought every single character got their due. And I'm not talking the more "supporting" ones got one single cool scene and then had to fade into the background again. Nope. They were THERE for the whole movie. No matter what a scene stealer RDJ is as the flashy Iron Man or how big a Hulk-smask the Hulk was, it didn't mean Black Widow or Hawkeye (two characters I wasn't familiar with before this movie) ceased to exist after their introduction.
Apropos of Hulk, I can't believe they made me like him. Again, I'm a fan of comic book movies and I did watch the show with Bill Bixby every now and then as a child but the Hulk movies so far? Meeeeeh. But he totally worked for me here, Bruce Banner geeking out with Tony Stark over physics. Hahahaha.
Captain America was maybe the least flashy of all the characters here but that is IMO because it's who he is. Everybody else is an edgy personality, they are former assassins or tortured scientists or weapons dealers or arrogant demi-gods with chips on their shoulders. Meanwhile Cap is supposed to be, well, just a straightforward good guy. And as such, he could still somewhat hold his own among all those larger-than-life personalities.
Besides, he did have some edge with living in a strange world/time now. The little "hooray, I got a pop culture reference" moment was adorable. As was Tony rolling his eyes in response. Maybe Cap should hang out more often with Thor because there is no risk feeling culturally outdated then. Hee.
Speaking of Thor, I am looking forward to see him more in the team in the sequel (yeah as if they aren't planning one right now, have you SEEN the box office? *g*). But I felt his introduction to them was well done. Their three-way fight, then in the end fighting together. Now he just has to make friends with them.
Loved Thor/Loki stuff because they were pretty much the main "relationship" in Thor, the movie. From that scene between Loki and Odin in Thor when Loki found out his true parentage, he has been so completely fucked, it seems impossible to unfuck him again. Talk about a bad reaction to finding out you're adopted. And no matter how many times he claims that his "family" isn't his family and it's too late and he has no home, basically no matter how many times he claims he is totally over them, he proves that he isn't. Because everything he freaking does is still about his Asgardian family and him feeling rejected by them.
Coulson was right, he doesn't have a purpose, conviction or whatnot. He simply has issues. And he will act out in any matter availabe to him.
Speaking of Coulson, I didn't have a big connection to the character - because again, I am a fan of comic book movies but have not sampled that many comics so a lot of history goes right over my head - but his death was moving IMO. His claim that it was needed to bring the Avengers together. Aww. Also, right. It had to be someone who had friendly interaction with all of them individually so they all felt like "fuck you, Loki, you killed this totally nice dude".
The fight scenes were great IMO. Sure, a bit more on the goofy side but see above, that is what I will excuse in a movie like this.
And sure, there were some minor squibbles. Every movie ever has some squibbles. Nothing can be perfect for 120+ minutes straight but it didn't take away from the overall experience. And that is all I ask.
In conclusion: kick-ass.
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-06 11:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-06 12:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-06 06:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-06 06:48 pm (UTC)I think you're going to enjoy the Avengers-Hulk. :) In fact, for a bunch of heroes whose looks, compared to other superheroes, can be a lot on the cheesy side: Iron Man is basically a guy in a flying robot suit, Thor is a god with flowing blond locks and a hammer, Cap in his stars and stripes outfit and then Hulk as a big green monster? Visually, it could have been a disaster but they really made it work IMO.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-07 02:41 pm (UTC)Mhmmmm....
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-07 04:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-10 01:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-07 02:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-07 04:07 pm (UTC)