Let's Be Cool: Movie of the Week: The Avengers (Marvel's Avengers Assemble)

More like movie of the year!! Because I am lazy and should technically be studying, I have just posted the review that I wrote for Galway.Studeny.me that you can read HERE even though it is not different at all, except that this one has more pictures. So yeah here it is...

Avengers Assemble: Does It Really Live Up To All The Hype?

In short, yes it does. The Avengers – or Avengers Assemble as it is known here to avoid confusion with the 1960s TV series – was forecasted to be the biggest film of the year and after witnessing it tonight in all its glory, I wouldn’t hesitate to bet on it. With plans for The Avengers stretching as far back as 2005, speculation was rife as to how the movie would turn out.

Directed by Joss Whedon – perhaps most widely known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer – and with a screenplay by Whedon and Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four), the film has already been regarded as a success by Marvel fans as well as regular cinemagoers alike. The movie is one giant sequel to the previous Marvel movies featuring the key characters. Most notably Thor as the events take place a year after and are a direct result of the effects of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) visit to earth. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s adopted brother, steals the Tesseract – an alien source of renewable energy – and intends to use its power to bring his extraterrestrial army of Chitauri to earth to enslave mankind. This is bad. Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson), the man behind S.H.I.E.L.D, brings together the mixed bag of heroes in order to stop Loki’s plans. This is good. The team consists of Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor and finally two master assassins; Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye/Clint Barton.

The fear, with a production like this, is that one character might end up taking on a dominating role over the rest of the team. (I am looking at you Mr. Stark). However Whedon managed to give each one of the Avengers team members their own time in the spotlight without detracting from the overall story. By the end of it, you will even feel appropriately acquainted with Hawkeye who unlike the other Avengers heroes did not feature in film before (excluding his brief cameo in last year’s Thor).

And now 3D or not 3D? For that is the very important question. If you decide to go for the 3D option then you will probably wonder for the first half hour why you bothered. It does however improve. Dramatically. The movie is very decisively divided into three acts. The first act – less action, shorter scenes, more dialogue – does not bode nicely with the 3D and it is understandably where the source of negative 3D reviews originates. However as for the following acts you will be glad that you forked out the extra bob for the glasses. As the movie was not initially filmed in 3D, but instead subsequently converted, it is expected that it is not exactly going to make you jump out of your seat. If you’re not a 3D snob, go for it; if you are, then don’t; and if, like me, you intend to see this more in the cinema more than once, then you might as well mix it up.

Perhaps the most endearing feature of this 145-minute extravaganza is that it does not take itself too seriously or at least it succeeds in giving that impression. The Avengers is easy on the bloodshed and generous with the comedy continuing the tone of the individual character movies that preceded it. It does not contain a hidden message or cryptic meaning but instead it is exactly what it promises to be: a really good superhero movie.

P.S. There is a short scene after the credits. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Stand your ground (or remain in your seat) while everyone else shuffles out around you. Stay until the bitter end!

Now some stills from the movie.