We've discussed when people plan to see The Avengers (here), but we haven't discussed the movie itself! So let's rectify that!
I went last night to a midnight 3-D showing, so I'll go first. Thus, I can't use my usual disclaimer that I'll post without reading what everyone else has posted, but what the hey.
To begin:
Such great lines:
Thems for starters ...
Tags:
...I'll say one thing , I am prone at times , both due to problems with my sleeping pattern and my blood sugar , to fight against dozing off in movies , alas :-( .
With this one , and considering the pacing/cutting , both of the film itself and of the sound mix...
I don't really have anything to add to everyone's praise, so I'll just add a couple of small things:
The only other point I have to offer is this:
After the movie, Jen asked why, in the real world, Black Widow isn't treated with the same level of respect/marketing push/etc. that the male heroes were. I told her that's a recognized problem in the comics industry, but that I thought this movie was Joss Whedon's way of trying to establish her as an A player. I'll be interested to see how that plays out.
Saw it at the weekend with the boys - and I agree with the theory that it was Loki's staff that made Baner lose control. The kicker is in his quote just before he Hulks out for the big fight.
"You want to know my secret? I'm always angry."
He's learned to control his anger, so the staff removed the control and whammo.
Having said that, the smile when Hulk gets his orders from Steve - priceless.
The Black Widow did use her widow's bite gloves. She's seen putting them on and powering up and then using them on some of the alien goons during the big fight.
John Dunbar said:
I thought it was simply awesome, and I had tempered my expectations knowing, as Clark said, it was more Ultimates than Avengers. I agree with a lot of Clark's points, so I'll try not to regurgitate too many of them. But yeah, the Hulk / Loki scene ... I cheered pretty loud for that.
As for Agent Coulson, if Rich is right, that would be a pretty good swerve. I thought Coulson was a great metaphor for us, the comic book fans who waited so long for this movie and other superhero movies we've seen in the last 10-12 years.
I agree with people who said Mark Ruffalo really stole the show.
One part of the story that I thought was not explained well was why the Hulk was trying to kill the Widow when we first saw him and then later worked with the rest of the Avengers. I have to disagree with Mike Parnell here. Everyone at SHIELD was wondering why Loki surrendered so easily and why he seemed content to be where he was. The Widow tricked it out of him - he wanted to be near Banner; I think the scene where the heroes are bickering comes just before that. Loki's staff was in the room and I took it that the staff was causing them all to be at each other's throats and caused Banner to transform and be uncontrollable. When they all got away from the staff, the desire to fight each other (in Hulk's case destroy everyone / everything) went away. It's left for the audience to guess otherwise how the Hulk went from completely uncontrollable to being a WMD that Cap could point at the aliens.
Did anyone catch any Easter Eggs? I was really hoping for some reference to Hank and Jan, Wakanda, anything like that ... all I caught was Stark saying he was an L.M.D.
I think a lot less of this Black Widow would have gone a long way. I liked her opening scene, and how she tricked Loki later on, but I thought she talked far too much for someone who was suppposed to be a mysterious Russian assassin, and the handguns just came across as dumb to me. She needed some high tech toys, a Widow's Bite, something, otherwise, she could have easily been swapped out and Maria Hill could be an Avenger.
Having not seen the Captain America movie, I keep waiting for Chris Evans to be smily, goofy, and yell "Flame On!"
I wish I could be excited by the next Big Bad. I find that the same story is just retold and retold for him. It doesn't help I find him derivative of Darkseid. Still, I'm sure I'll be there again on opening night in a few years ... hopefully we'll hear the battle cry next time. Actually, "Avengers Assemble" would make a good movie title.
Philip Portelli said:
And the end credits? Interesting but a CGI villain? We'll see. Some people will love it to Death!
ClarkKent_DC said:
It takes a true diehard comics fan to know who that was in the end-credits bit. Lucky for me I am one; I doubt any moviegoer who isn't would have the slightest idea what that scene is supposed to mean.
My supervisor saw the movie and didn't have the slightest idea who that was. I suppose it's an exciting tease for us diehard comics fans, but for the moviegoer who hasn't been reading Marvel comics for the past 35 years ...?
I just wonder how this bunch of Avengers would handle this villain. Maybe by then, they can bring the Fantastic Four along to help out.
Usually when a new super-hero movie comes out my brother asks me what I didn't like about it or what was "wrong". But I had very little to say.........except
ClarkKent_DC said:
It takes a true diehard comics fan to know who that was in the end-credits bit. Lucky for me I am one; I doubt any moviegoer who isn't would have the slightest idea what that scene is supposed to mean.
My supervisor saw the movie and didn't have the slightest idea who that was. I suppose it's an exciting tease for us diehard comics fans, but for the moviegoer who hasn't been reading Marvel comics for the past 35 years ...?
I don't know that that's any different than the Nick Fury tease at the end of Iron Man or the Cosmic Cube tease at the end of Thor. Those are both things that also have no general relevance to non-comic-reading audiences. (More may have gotten the hammer tease at the end of Iron Man 2, but even that's a little esoteric.)
I figure, in all those instances, it excites the fanboys for what it is, and it excites the non-fanboys for the tease of a larger story universe.
An interesting thought from the Comic Geek Speak guys...Coulson's "mind" has been saved in a SHIELD computer so that he can become the first of many new androids. He joins the Avengers and since he saw them as a force for good more than anyone else, he takes on the name...The Vision.
Philip Portelli said:
Usually when a new super-hero movie comes out my brother asks me what I didn't like about it or what was "wrong". But I had very little to say.........except
- it did bother me a little that there were no cameos/Easter Eggs by other Marvel characters like Giant-Man, the Wasp or the Black Panther, y'know to build up for the next movie.
I wonder if there are still rights issues with several Marvel heroes with not-yet-expired deals at other movie studios.
- "The world's about to change..." Indeed, with gamma-charged monsters and Asgardian gods and now aliens, the movie Marvel Universe is as "unreal" as the comic book one.
True dat.
- I would have just said outright that Hawkeye and the Black Widow possess some sort of super-powers, in order to make the fight scenes more believeable. Nothing fancy...some low-level strength and agility. Hey could accuracy and sex appeal be super-powers?
You mean they aren't? The audience I was with found Scarlett Johansson's derrière quite mesmerizing ...
Philip said “I was surprised that Hawkeye was "villianized" for half the movie but I liked Jeremy Renner's performance.”
Don’t forget, this was actually consistent with the way Hawkeye was first introduced in the comics, though in that case he was duped by the Black Widow into working for the Commies, so he was more or less a villain for his first appearances. It was a nice tip of the hat to his original backstory, and clearly deliberate.
Andy