The Avengers Movie Review

Introduction

Fans have been greatly anticipating this once it was first announced that there would be an Avengers film. The three films that preceded The Avengers were Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America and they gave us a taste as to what to expect. Those films only made the excitement grow and things went to a whole different level when it was announced that geek favorite Joss Whedon was going to be at the helm. Does the film live up to the hype? In one simple word, yes.

Vital Statistics

Opening Date: May 4, 2012
Run Time: 126 Minutes
Director: Joss Whedon
Writers:
Screenplay:
Joss Whedon
Story:
Joss Whedon and Zak Penn
Rating: PG-13 for violence, minor language, and some intense scenes.
Based on: The comic book characters created by:
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Published by Marvel Comics.

The Story

The Cosmic Cube, known as the Tesseract, can be a powerful tool of unlimited power or a weapon used for mass destruction. The agency known as S.H.E.I.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) has taken possession of this device and has been testing on it, trying to unlock its true potential. It would seem that there are others that know about the device, and will stop at nothing to get it for their own nefarious means.

Loki, brother of the hero Thor, has made a deal with an unknown race for the tools to take down his brother and set up a new regime upon earth with himself as master. The one thing he needs to make it a reality is the Tesseract and once he gets it in his hands there will be nothing to stand in his way except for the secret project that director of S.H.E.I.L.D., Nick Fury, has been working on all along. That project is The Avengers.

The team that Fury brings together includes Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. These heroes have to find a way to work together, save the world, and have no time to train. The Avengers has one shot to rise to the occasion or Loki’s plans will turn the earth into his private playground

Review

I have to admit that I was very anxious about this film. The Avengers have been one of my all-time favorite comic books series and a lot of my collection comes from The Avengers and their spinoffs. I even have a lot of West Coast Avengers and Avengers Solo to show you how dedicated I was. One of the things I have tried to do with films is to let go of my love for continuity, but I know I have a hard time letting go with the comic books that were so close to me over the years. The Avengers is no exception.

As it relates to the comic book, I feel that a lot of the feel, style, and overall plot were pulled from The Ultimates. This is something that bugged me as The Ultimates and the Ultimate universe was created as a jumping off point from the Marvel Universe to bring in new readers into a universe uncluttered with continuity. The problem for me was that it wasn’t long until the Ultimate universe created its own bogged down continuity.

The storyline really seems to draw from the first two volumes of The Ultimates which contains…an alien invasion and a diabolical scheme by Loki set to tear apart the team. I don’t know that I can definitively say the story was lifted from those two volumes, but I can’t help but notice the similarities. Despite that, the basic storyline, especially when we find out whom is truly behind everything, really tapped into recollections of The Avengers and made me very happy.

The look and feel here with the costumes takes from both The Ultimates and the current Marvel Universe. Hawkeye, Captain America, and especially Nick Fury are more in line with the Ultimate designs. For those that don’t know, Samuel L. Jackson was used as the basis for The Ultimate version of Nick Fury. Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, and The Hulk all take more from the current Marvel Universe.

I think the thing that saved it for me was that the main core of the characters seems much more in line with the Marvel Universe group of characters. The basic storyline and attitude that these characters have don’t have the hard edge that their Ultiamte counterparts have and that was a rock solid move in my opinion. Even with the PG-13 rating, you know that a lot of the audience will be children so I thought this really made the most sense.

As for the other aspects of the film, I thought they were great. The cast was amazing and it was really great to see each of the main characters films and then have these actors combine together and star in this movie together. They really played well off each other and I felt that enough development was able to happen even with the large cast.

The special effects were also really great and the action scenes, of which there were many, were top notch. Even though we aren’t quite there yet with CGI replacing actors altogether, the effects totally worked and The Hulk looked very much in his element. With so much going on I really want to see it again to see what I’ve missed.

Conclusion

This movie really has a lot to offer comic fans of The Avengers. It was very well done on every level and even though some of it was taken from The Ultimate version of The Avengers, enough of the core of the characters was there that satisfied my taste for continuity, yet brought the team into this century. You really got to see it.

For a more movie orientated review, check out our movie guides review of The Avengers.