AVENGERS RECAP: THE AVENGERS

Marvel studio's epic 4-year plan to create a superhero team-up movie has finally come to fruition with this weeks release of The Avengers. It has been a grand experiment in corporate synergy that seems to have paid off financially. The film made $200 million domestically this weekend and if it's global numbers are any indication, the film will pass the $1 billion mark sometime in the next two weeks. But financial and artistic success are two different things. Those who have been following along with this series will know that Marvel often avoids distinctive directors and are willing to sacrifice good story elements if it means making a more lucrative product that wets appetites for the next installment. Even Iron Man, the best of these films, is flawed, and none of them have particularly good action sequences. The mantra from Marvel seems to have been "good enough!" Does Avengers break this mold?

Early in the film Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the evil brother of Thor (Cris Hemsworth), steals the Tesseract, A.K.A. the Cosmic Cube, a powerful weapon/energy source that fans will remember from Thor and Captain America. Loki want's to use the power of the cube to enslave mankind. Such planetary threats fall to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) head of S.H.I.E.L.D..  If Fury can find Loki and the Cube in time, he might be able to save the planet. He decides that this looks like a job for... everyone.

The team he assembles is made up of Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Joining them are power challenged heroes Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the always welcome Agent Colson (Clark Gregg).  Right away the team is at odds with each other and they bicker with each other in the language of beloved writer/director Joss Whedon.

Hiring Joss Whedon to write and direct The Avengers might be the smartest decision Marvel has ever made in making these films. It's not just because Whedon has written actual comic books, but because Whedon understands how to navigate an ensemble peace (see Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dollhouse, seemingly everything he's ever done). A film with four protagonists could have easily become muddled, or it could have become Iron Man and Some Other Guys but Whedon knows how to strike a balance. Everyone has a chance to shine and everyone has something to do. It's a testament to the film that many of these heroes, despite their diminished screentime, have more going on here then in the previous films that where dedicated to them. Captain America is a man out of his time, struggling to adjust to life in the 21st century, and Thor has to deal with his brother's betrayal in a much deeper way than before and is dangerously close to being an interesting character. Even a minor character like Black Widow, who was mere window dressing in Iron Man 2, is transformed into a compelling character by Whedon's script.

The best surprise of the film is the portrayal of Bruce Banner/Hulk. The character was played by Eric Banna in Ang Lee's misunderstood Hulk, and Edward Norton in the Avengers setup film The Incredible Hulk. Norton did not reprise his role for whatever reason and was replaced by Ruffalo (proving that Hulks other power is face changing). Unlike the other actors, Ruffalo doesn't play Banner as a gloomy, tortured man but instead creates a more interesting portrait of a man at peace with the monster inside him. Like a recovered addict, he knows his triggers and is tolerant of other people's skepticism about his control. Hulk as a special effect is also impressive. Until now they've never gotten the look right. Ang Lee's version was technically good but was colored a bright, neon green that distracted from the suspension of disbelief, and the later reboot, got the color right, but everything else looked so terribly wrong. After nearly 10 years of trying, The Hulk finally looks like The Hulk should look. 

Whedon's action beats are similarly impressive. It's clear that Whedon understands how to stage and shoot an action scene. There is a masterful and complex sequence on a flying aircraft carrier that really demonstrates the teamwork heroics that the Avengers are going to have to execute if they are gong to save the world. The climactic invasion of New York might remind some viewers of the Chicago siege in the most recent Transformers film, those viewers should also note that Whedon's version is infinitely better done and more interesting. Whedon's deft handling of character, action and humor also give the film something none of Marvel's films have had, a creative stamp. Avengers may not be the most Whedonesque project, but the man's thumbprint is thoroughly visible. It would have been enough if Avengers was just an well made, candy-coated summer blockbuster, but the fact that it also has personality and whit is a huge bonus.

Grade: A-

Note: There are not one, but TWO scenes after the credits. The latter scene is one of the best jokes in the film so be sure to wait.

Previous installments in this series:
Iron Man
The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Thor
Captian America

Blog Note: Thanks to everyone who made my Avengers Recap series so successful, you have obliterated all of my readership records. As a result I will be stepping up my game here at G-blatt's Dreams. There will be more reviews throughout the month and on May 25, I will start reviewing all of the James Bond films (1 per week). There will also be a recap of Nolan's Batman films in July AND sometime this summer I will be writing a special, top-secret series in conjunction with our sister site The Film Temple.

AVENGERS RECAP: THOR

We're almost there now. The next film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe is Kenneth Branagh's Thor. Now Thor is a problem. He plays an important part in the Marvel cannon but despite this, and his mythological associations, he's one of Marvels more obscure heroes. But then again that's what these movies are for, to introduce us to these characters so we're not watching Avengers and thinking "Who's that weirdo with the hammer?"

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the prince of Asgard, a magical kingdom in space. It looks like an underpopulated, golden version of Oz. Thor is an arrogant hothead, resented by his bother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and soon finds himself stripped of his powers and banished to New Mexico by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Why New Mexico? I guess it's cheaper to shoot there.

Down in New Mexico we meet Jane (Natalie Portman) and her research partners played by Stellen Skarsgård and Kat Dennings. They're all out in the desert scienceing things as hard as they can when Thor drops from the sky. Meanwhile, not far away Thors mighty hammer also lands and gets stuck in a rock King Arthur style. Odin has sent the hammer down in case Thor ever becomes worthy of his powers again (spoiler alert: he will). Soon S.H.I.E.L.D., everyone's favorite shadowy government agency, shows up to secure the hammer and steal poor Jane's research.

The movie cuts back and forth between Earth and Asgard where Loki is trying to take over the throne. The back and forth cutting is good because, despite some dazzling special effects, Asgard is one of the duller fantasy universes I've seen in some time. Most sci-fi and fantasy movies try and give their villains impressive names to fit their fearsome visages. Names like Voldemort, Balrog and Stormageddon: Dark Lord Of All. Thor is content with simple descriptive names like Destroyer and Frost Giants. Sorry, but "Frost Giant" doesn't exactly fill me with dread. The whole world of Asgard feels like that — generic and undefined. We never really learn the rules, things just kinda happen.

The best parts of the film are the Earth segments. A series of decent jokes are made of Thor's fish-out-of-water situation such as Thor going into a pet shop and demanding a horse or smashing mugs of beer and demanding more "sustenance." Hemsworth is quite charming in the lead. But as good as he is, one can't shake the feeling that he's just not that interesting as a character. Tom Hiddleston is pretty good as the conniving Loki and Hopkins leaves no piece of scenery unchewed. Portman is fine but she's too qualified for the role. Idres Elba is fun as a gatekeeper who wins the Action Figure I Want The Most award.

Branagh is the closest thing these movies have gotten to a true A-list director. It's easy to see why he was chosen, having previously mounted big-budget productions of Hamlet and Henry V give him experience with the sudo-Shakespearean language they speak in Asgard. His mostly forgotten Frankenstein means that he has experience with pulpy material. But his treatment of this material is mediocre all the way. His love of canted angles borders on self-parody (though, more self-parody would have been welcome). Action scenes are good enough I suppose but lack urgency. The best one involves Thor attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in a vain attempt to recover his hammer (he was not yet worthy).  The worst involves a giant knight called Destroyer who likes to... well, I don't want to spoil it. It's all kinda dull and predictable. Is Thor the god of thunder? Perhaps. Is his movie interesting to watch? Not really.

Through the magic of corporate synergy Thor has more references to Avengers lore than any of the other films. Tony Stark is name dropped, Hulk is alluded to and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) after sitting on the sidelines of the first two Iron Man movies, finally gets a beefed up role as the head of the S.H.I.E.L.D. task force investigating Thor's hammer. Thor's brother Loki is also set up as the big bad in Avengers and super archer/Avengers teammate Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)gets an introduction here. We also get Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in the post-credit stinger. Also in the stinger is the Cosmic Cube which will be important in the next Marvel film Captain America and possibly in the Avengers as well.

All and all Thor isn't really a film as much as it's a link in a chain. Like the other films in the series it exists to set up Avengers just as much as it exists to tell it's own story. It does this better than Iron Man 2, but the mythology it's short changing just isn't as interesting as Iron Man's.

Grade: C+

Previous installments in this series:
Iron Man
The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2

Future installments:

Captain America

The Avengers