The Avengers

May 4^th, 2012

This day will go down in history as the beginning of a movie dynasty.  Rivaling dynasty’s such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.  This was the day the world bared witness to The Avengers(IMDB).  This was not the first film in the franchise, but this was the first time that we got to see all our favorite Marvel superheroes, that weren’t owned by Fox or Sony, come together and fight a common enemy.  The fans had waited four whole years for this film to come to fruition, and when they saw it they were not disappointed. 

Let’s do a headcount, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannsson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom Hiddleston.  For one movie to have this much star power is remarkable.  Even having just two or three of these actors would make a movie a box office success, but somehow the folk at Marvel and Disney found a way to keep them all.  It is arguably one of the best casts in cinematic history. 

Now to get into the film itself.  The Avengers carries a run time of 2 hours and 23 minutes.  This is a little long, but trust me when you’re watching the film for the first time you don’t even notice it.  The movie revolves around one thing, The Tesseract, also known as the Cosmic Cube.  Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, seeks to steal the Tesseract and give it to his mysterious master.  When he finally does get the Tesseract in his possession, The Avengers must come together to stop him.  At first the team doesn’t function well, mostly due to clashing egos, but by the end of the film they are a well-oiled machine that could take on any foe, which is good since they’ll have to take on Loki and his alien army. 

Now the best part of this movie, hands down, is the last 45-60 min.  This is when the Battle of New York takes place, when The Avengers take on Loki and his army.  For that hour the film is in full throttle.  We get to see everyone team up and take down Loki, it’s truly a spectacle if you’ve never seen it.  The special effects are stunning, including The Hulk who is completely CGI (computer generated imagery).  When first watching it I was surprised how good The Hulk looked, but I should have expected that level of quality from Disney. 

When it comes to flaws in this movie, I found it difficult to find many.  A major flaw, at least when
re-watching the film, is the first 30 minutes.  This part of the film isn't bad, but compared to the rest of the film it’s a snooze fest.  Most times when I watch this film I skip to when Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor fight in the woods, from that point on the film is really entertaining.  Another problem I always had with the film personally was how little screen time a few of The Avengers got.  Of course Iron Man’s going to get the most screen time, but characters like Hawkeye barely got anytime to show off their skills.  Luckily with Avengers: Age of Ultron(IMDB) coming up it looks like Hawkeye will finally get some spotlight. 

Overall this film is one of my favorite films of all-time.  It’s going to be one of the first movies I show to my kids, like my parents did to me with Star Wars.  I give the Avengers an 9.5/10.  Minus a few personal preferences this film is perfect.

D.L.