I was wrong.
Last night I saw the Avengers and I was in good company; every man, woman and child there was a fan, if not at the beginning then certainly by the climactic end of the film. This movie makes fans of the viewer; it draws you in and asks you, as a collective group of people, to share in the ride. And it was a collective sharing. I have never been to a film that brought out so much enthusiasm from the audience, engaging with them on a level that brought out true emotion; extended emphatic laughter and honest cheers and, for some, the welling of tears for characters given form, a body taking them from two dimensional to fully realized people, an achievement in any film let alone the superhero genre which often serves us a caricature of a person. Instead we were caught up in a world of a disparate group of people brought together for the ultimate of tasks; saving the Earth, or – stated far more eloquently by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) than I – avenging it should it fall. Together we watched those people forged into a group of superheroes, a team.
The Avengers.
A stellar array of talent has been brought into this movie, both in cast and in crew, and it shows through the entirety of the film. The heroes themselves are excellently played, possibly in part because they’ve had the opportunity to rub the sharp edges off the characters in their own films before. Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) brought a growth to their roles from when we last saw them, an extra layer that shows from the hearts of the characters. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) build on their smaller roles in proceeding films (Iron Man 2 and Thor respectively) and stand up well beside their powered comrades, replacing the power of the other Avengers with skill and wit. Rounding out the team itself is the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and despite being the new guy to the universe of the Avengers, Ruffalo brings a subtlety to the character and plays the role of the tortured Doctor Bruce Banner with an understated skill, a role that builds throughout the film to a genuinely glorious culmination in the grand finale which had the audience cheering and laughing.
On the other side of the coin we have Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who plays an appropriately egomaniacal supervillain whilst yet retaining a pathos that makes him a complex figure, more than shallow depiction of evil.
The supporting cast of the film was no less skilled, led by the ferocious and surprisingly emotive Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), the Director of SHIELD assisted by Agents Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Hill (Cobie Smulders), and secondary characters from other films making a reappearance in Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Behind the scenes was masterful team; Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse amongst his creations) is obviously an avid fan of the world he has been given control over, being both director and the screenplay writer, with Zak Penn’s (writer of a number of other superhero movies, including The Incredible Hulk) story brings an appropriate comic book flair to the proceedings. The special effects were unobtrusively proficient, with a use of 3D which wasn’t overwrought or clumsy, used to emphasise where appropriate without being glaring, and the animation used for the Hulk captured a character brought to it through Ruffalo’s digitally re-created acting and artful digital skill.
The movie burns with an intense energy from start to finish, and is unceasing with action evocative of iconic comic book imagery, the fight pieces staged with an attention to detail that flows through each scene, creating fantastic moments of pure, distilled superhero.
Will the Avengers stand on its own, without the predecessor films that have built up the universe around it? That is a harder question. There is much in the film that references the films that have gone before it and the mythos that has been created of the world in which the movie in set, and elements would be missed if you haven’t seen those other films. It would certainly be an absolutely enjoyable movie by itself, seeing it without any exposure to the franchise as a whole, but it would be an experience lessened by that lack.
I guess you have some more movies to watch then, don’t you?
Don’t forget to stay through the credits.
5/5 stars.
Avengers is released in Australian cinemas on April 25th
Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk are available now on Blu-Ray, DVD and via iTunes
