Avengers Assemble - Review
By Cliff Ponting, 9th May 2012 | Follow this author
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Review of the new feature film Avengers Assemble recently released in UK cinemas.
Avengers Assemble - Review
After 5 films, truckloads of campaigns and advertisements and a lot of promises made to geeks and movie buffs around the world, it was high time for Marvel studios to deliver on one extremely large promise: an Avengers movie. Ever since the after credits ending to “Iron Man”, fans have been teased and tempted by the prospect of seeing 4 of its biggest movie Marvel super heroes: Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America, brought together as one bad ass super hero team and thanks to the brilliant workings of writer/director Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly), fans wishes have finally come true. The story surrounds Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being forced to gather the world’s greatest heroes in order to combat the demi god trickster Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Loki has stolen a powerful artifact called the Tesseract and gathered an army of alien soldiers called the Chitauri with a view to subjugating the entire world. Now the Avengers must assemble and the likes of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and agents Black Widow and Hawkeye (Scarlet Johansson and Jeremy Renner) must work together to save the world from oblivion.
What this film represents is a truly rare sight indeed. A comic book crossover epic event that collected leading actors and forced them to work together in an explosive, science fiction, geek fantasy film that was written and directed by a man revered and loved by those same geeks. All nerdy giddiness set aside from someone who avidly read the comic books as a child, this film is truly spectacular in every possible way. Special effects, acting, dialogue, writing, pacing, casting, everything was handled perfectly, effectively and miraculously from start to finish. Such a volatile mixture of top name actors all struggling for screen time seems like it would make for an impossible task to try and give everyone enough screen time…but not with this film. Every hero and actor gets his or her share of screen time ass kicking, everyone gets their fill of being centre stage and the movie constantly balances this shifting seamlessly without any of it feeling too one sided or jumbled. All of these star powerhouse actors and heroes work and collaborate in a way that feels believable and enjoyable; it produces such an eager interest in the desire to see the heroes’ interaction more so than seeing how they’ll fight against this alien invasion.
Everything from the humour to the drama was handled brilliantly by the script’s dialogue, Whedon proves once again he is a masterpiece storyteller and can handle just about anything he’s given. Not a surprise to see that every hero and heroine is represented excellently from their actors: Evans, Downey, Hemsworth, Johansson, even new Hulk/Banner actor Mark Ruffalo pulls off an incredible performance and in fact, presents a take on the character that works even more effectively than Edward Norton or Eric Bana have done previously. Even the stand alone villain, Loki, was played with even greater enjoyment and delight from Hiddleston. My only gripe with him and the movie in general would be the lack of other any villain figures besides Loki. By far the best aspect of this film is the fact that for once, for the first time in a LONG while, an over hyped summer blockbuster movie actually lived up to every ounce of hype that had been building it up. Hype can escalate to a point so high that no amount of hard work or writing can meet in order to satisfy its fans, many films have been defeated by the very hype that got people so excited over the film in the first place. Avengers Assemble does not have that problem, this film was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more, the last 20 minutes of the film alone are so gripping and intense that you can’t help but be transfixed by the action taking place.
Outside of continually gushing over this film (which makes this seem more like undying praise than a review), there’s not much else to say other than I couldn’t word this review any other way or an even more positive manner. There are not many movies that make every minute of its 2 and a half hour running time count and NOT feel like it went on too long. There are not many movies that can mix a crossover of 5 different films stories, characters, actors and events into one grander mish mash of all those elements with such precision and perfection. There are not many movies utilizing big name actors in such a huge melting pot project such as a movie crossover event, and there are not many movies that have satisfied and thrilled me so effortlessly in a long, long time.
This movie feels like it can do no wrong and based on it’s first weekend’s revenue figures , I’d say that’s pretty close to the truth. Simply put: Avengers is a must see for all and when it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray, a must own for all.
Comments
10th May 2012 (#)
Great Review.
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