Avengers Movie Review from a Hard Core Fan
Spolier Alert
I hate spoilers. Even the tiniest ones. So I went to this movie completely blind. As I do for all comic book movies that I’m extremely excited to see, I didn’t watch the commercials for the movie. I closed my eyes whenever there was a trailer. I did not do any research about the cast or the story or the behind-the-scenes. I wanted to be completely surprised by every exciting moment, and in that respect, I was victorious.
New York attacked
That said, I wouldn’t want to spoil anything in the movie for you by reading this review. Whedon pretty much summed up the spirit of the film in an interview.
Ultimately these people don’t belong together and the whole movie is about finding yourself from community. And finding that you not only belong together but you need each other, very much. Obviously this will be expressed through punching but it will be the heart of the film. (io9.com)
So rather than analyzing the overall story, I would like to share my thoughts on how character development was handled.
Captain America– His movie came out last year. I enjoyed it, but I was not blown away by it. The reason being that he was not portrayed as the Captain America I had grown up with since I was seven years old. By the 1990’s, Captain America had grown to a godly status. He was the ultimate leader. Completely confident. Noble. A symbol of hope and freedom for us fans, but also for the heroes who followed him like Spider-man or the Hulk. Because Chris Evans’ first movie was the origin story, I wasn’t surprised that he was still green instead of blue. I was worried that would be the case again in The Avengers, but fortunately, he stepped up from being just a soldier following orders to a commander of super heroes. I can only hope he grows even stronger and tougher for the sequel.
Cap, Hawkeye, and Black Widow in NYC
Iron Man– No worries here. It’d Downey. Downey is Stark. Stark is Iron Man. Iron Man is Downey. He continues to be lovable with wonderful witty banter at his disposal.
Black Widow– She was cardboard and filler in Iron Man 2. Just new eye candy. But she was much better in this movie where her character had room to breathe. She never had that killer line, though, as far as I can remember. The Wasp would have had a better chance, but then Cap wouldn’t have human ground support.
Hawkeye– Also okay, not great. It wasn’t the surly yet fun-loving archer I enjoyed in the comics. I guess they had to leave the joking to Iron Man.
Thor– Well done. Chris Hemsworth reprised the character and he’s just as noble and headstrong as he was in his first film and as the Thor in comics. He does do amazing powerful things in the movie, so I’m happy they didn’t dull his powers to fit in with the rest of the team.
Ruffalo and Hulk
