Movie Review: Marvel's 'The Avengers'

Every summer contains a few action movies and every summer has one box office smash – Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ is that movie for 2012. Not only does it contain action as well as destroyed the box office on its opening weekend (grossing a good 200 million) it contains some of Marvel’s best super heroes!

Now, I wanted to write this review as soon as I got home from seeing the movie, but I couldn’t think of anything to write nor could I sit in front of a computer and do anything but stare. My mind was BLOWN. I was speechless. I just wanted to go to bed and dream about the movie (which I did). 🙂

For those out there that are not comic book reading, super hero obsessed as I am here is a little background on The Avengers.

The Avengers is a comic book series that gathers some of the best Marvel superheroes together to battle against the evils of this world and others outside of it. Although the original Avengers comic books consisted of a few more superheroes than the movie portrayed, the movie puts together: The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Ironman, Hawkeye, and Black Widow with the help of Nick Fury. The Avengers go against Thor’s brother, Loki, and his alien army in this film. That’s right. Alien army. Intense.

If you have been watching any movies the past few years, you probably have seen movies by these names already in theaters. Before The Avengers movie could be created, they decided to make a face for each superhero with their own background movies. I would suggest seeing these movies before seeing Avengers to get a better grasp of each superhero and a grasp of the Avengers plot line. Don’t forget to sit through the credits to see the special Easter egg at the end of each movie. There are TWO in the Avengers movie. So keep an eye at and stay until the very end!

In regards to my review of The Avengers, I promised myself I wouldn’t give anything away and I won’t. I would have hated someone ruining this movie for me, so I suggest you finish reading this and run to a theater near you and enjoy it yourself!

I was so excited to see The Avengers because it was directed by one of my favorite directors – Joss Whedon. If you have grown up watching ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, you understand how amazing Joss Whedon is at, not only writing, but directing. He did BOTH with The Avengers. The script was perfect – serious, full of action, hilarious, with NO love story. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, NO LOVE STORY! Joss Whedon knows how to write a script and keep audience’s on its toes and that’s exactly what The Avengers does from start to finish. Count on action, lots of it, and count on loving the characters not for their looks, but for who they are as people.

Not only did he write a beautifully, well flowing script – his directing and cinematography choices were amazing. There were so many moments throughout the film where I just said to myself, “That was beautiful” or “Great choice.” They did an amazing job with the CGI overall. Everything was believable which is something, to me, never happens with movies containing CGI.  It was all just extraordinary.

Now, the one thing that I was looking forward to seeing in the movie was Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Hollywood has tried twice already to create a Hulk movie and have failed miserably twice. It’s always difficult to create a movie based on someone like the Hulk (who is really just a big secondary character/catalyst). I was really interested to see how he would play Bruce Banner and how the Hulk would look/act in the new movie.

I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Literally. I just flew out of my seat and out of the theater. Mark Ruffalo was an extraordinary Bruce Banner. I absolutely loved every minute of his screen time and wanted to see more of him as the film progressed. I was equally as impressed with their CGI of the Hulk. He was just believable and real, unlike the previous movies, and just BAD ASS. The catalyst of the movie, if you will. But Joss Whedon didn’t make him perfect and even though he’s pretty much indestructible, they made him seem a tad bit vulnerable in the big fight which is something I praise Whedon for doing. Make your characters strong, but give them faults. He was also funny. There were so many moments with Bruce/The Hulk that had me laughing out loud. Something new with the Hulk since Hollywood has always portrayed him as sad, depressed and alone. Joss Whedon did a perfect job with the Hulk. Perfect job.

Since I had seen the previous background movies for the other superheroes, I wasn’t as surprised at how amazing they were in the film. Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.) was a diva as always, Captain America (Chris Evans) was the classic American hero, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was, well, beautiful and the demigod he should be, and the assassins Black Widow (Scarlet Johannson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) were, surprisingly, great. As the movie progressed, I wondered how they (Black Widow and Hawkeye) were going to do anything in the final battle scene (they are just humans), but Joss Whedon did a great job using them as important pieces in the puzzle.

The puzzle being the movie, of course, which is spent putting together this team of extraordinary superheroes and then putting them through this epic, and I mean, EPIC final battle scene. I won’t give anything away, but certain events occurred that caused me to hold my breathe, scream with surprise, and even cry. You will too, I promise.

I honestly cannot write anymore about this movie without giving anything more away. My advice is to turn off your computer and go spend the next two hours in the theater watching this film. You won’t regret it one bit. Even if you aren’t a superhero buff, you will enjoy the eye candy (they picked some hotties with bodies for this film) and you will enjoy the action.

If you can only see one action packed blockbuster this spring/summer, make it Marvel’s The Avengers.

Your $11 won’t be wasted.

 

Author: Kristen Love Eckstadt is a St. Louis native currently living and working in Chicago. She works full time as an editor, but her love for music and television brought her to Honest Reviews Corner. She hopes to share her love, and opinions, on all things entertainment.