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seriousficThe short, non-spoilery version. Avengers is exactly what you were hoping for. Which you know. The only real worry I heard was that it would lack in spectacle. No. I just keeps going bigger and bigger. The big showdown that most superhero movies would end with? That happens thirty minutes in. Then they keep going. It's like all the Green Lantern movie went here and was added to the typical superhero movie budget by clandestine Whedon ninjas. So no lack of spectacle. It's like Transformers 3, only with a plot, characters, suspense, tension, surprise, and Scarlett Johannson is much hotter than Rosie Whatsherface (even if the camera never does literally buttfuck her, Michael Bay).
That said, let's go to the Harry Knowles portion of the review.I was born a poor black child So I skipped breakfast this morning Last night I worked the Avengers midnight premiere. We got an entire Avengers cosplay in there. Yes, even Hawkeye. Even Black Widow, although she was played by a guy. On the one hand, it's good that you're secured enough in your masculinity to dress as someone named The Black Widow. On the other hand, it's good to have enough female friends that one of them is willing to go see a movie with you dressed as a cartoon character.
Best part, though. A fangirl came in, dressed as the Black Widow, and she and Black Widbro passed in the hallway. The words "Well, I'm not changing," may have been uttered. EP-I do hate to use this word-IC.
So I get some sleep, get up, come in to the first 2D showing this morning (old-fashioned, just like Cap would like it!), and the ticket-taker says to me "We tried calling you. An usher didn't show you." Okay... sorry? I would've liked the hours, but you're the ones who didn't schedule me all weekend. I'm sorry I'm more reliable than other people you hire, but I did work until after midnight yesterday and also my uniform is all sweaty from moving stock, so you gotta give me some warning here.
Viewing experience--good-sized audience, hot crowd, I was sitting behind a family with some small, misbehaving children, but I'm gonna give credit where credit's due, after about twenty minutes of on-and-off loudness, the parents rolled up and took those kids out. THANK YOU. I'm not going to get all snooty and say Avengers isn't a kids' movie, because during the preshow we had all kinds of ads for Avengers toys and whatnot, but hey, sometimes kids can sit through a movie and sometimes they can't, and when they can't, the theater offers refunds. So, anonymous Texas couple, thank you very much for disciplining your children and saving my viewing experience. I hope you get to see, and enjoy, The Avengers on another occasion, when your kids are feeling more up to it.
See, parents, that's all I ask? A little consideration. You thought your kids could behave, they couldn't, you resolved the situation. You are good in my book. In fact, I appreciate you taking your kids to quality entertainment like The Avengers, even if they were unable to be a good audience at that time.
1. Whedon has a real way of combining the ensemble in ways you wouldn't expect. It's not just Steve/Tony, Natasha/Clint, Thor/Loki, all in their own little movies. Everyone gets their own dynamic.
2. "There's only one God, and he doesn't look like that guy." I like that Cap is allowed to be a pretty much religious, conservative (not politically, obvs) guy, even though his views are obviously pretty different from Whedon's, and the movie never treats him like a stooge. Even though he's not as "sexy" as Stark, his position is presented with merit. He's not Cyclops, in other words (sorry, Bryan Singer, but it was clear which kid you liked the most). He respects authority without necessarily deferring it, and that authority actually merits some of his respect. Since I'm sure we're all pretty used to writers who treat anyone that disagrees with them as idiots (especially in superhero fiction), it comes across as a breath of fresh air.
3. By extension, even though Nick Fury is perceived in a somewhat negative light by many of the heroes, he has a well-reasoned... reason for his actions. He's not just an evil war-y corporation-y guy. He has convictions and he's willing to stand by them, even if the standing is done on a box marked "Magnificent Bastard."
4. Although I'm sure Whedon's aware of Steve/Tony, he doesn't hang the movie on them. Natasha/Clint actually have much more of a bromance, which the audience can either read as a BroTP or an OTP, but either way, they're very close, both emotionally and physically--they don't hug or anything, but they sidle up to each other in a way they don't have with anyone else. Also, Clint being a (canon?) "big brother" to Natasha mutes the May/December aspect of their casting--which even Natasha being a canonical immortal Russian superspy wouldn't do away with, since Johansson is still in her twenties and Renner's still forty-ish. (Why then do I ship Renner/ScarJo? I blame Tumblr. Those bitches.)
5. In a similar way to Cabin In The Woods, from pretty much the first scene this movie goes BIG. I like how the Whedon school of thought seems to be pretty upfront about the big ideas, then deriving tension from characters and plot, as opposed to the Abrams "mystery box" thinking, which takes a sci-fi cliche and then makes a big mystery of it, without usually following through in terms of character and plot. Like Star Trek. The big mystery of the Romulans time-traveling was just a fridged wife and them wanting to make an evil future, just like in Terminator, but because they made a big mystery out of it, we all thought "hey, they wouldn't make a big deal out of this unless they'd come up with something really cool, right?" I mean, thanks for Gaila, guys, but "Eric Bana wants revenge for his dead wife on people who were dead hundreds of years before she was born!" isn't that cool.
6. And Whedon still under-cuts this bigness in a trademark Whedon manner. It's a nice cherry on top of the Marvel movie machine, sorta like taking a well-deserved break after an unbelievable amount of finangling. Even if Thor 2 is coming next year.
ETA: Can this please run over Battleship? Those trailers are all money shots. The "journey" they show is just Brooklyn Decker T&A and Liam Neeson bullshitting, then 'SPLOSIONS. Avengers actually exercises some restraint and devotes most of its trailers to (gasp) character and dialogue, just showing you the tip of the iceberg. Yes, I even love Avengers for its marketing campaign. It even deserves to stomp Hunger Games. I'm sorry, but get that weak shakycam shit outta here.
That said, let's go to the Harry Knowles portion of the review.
Best part, though. A fangirl came in, dressed as the Black Widow, and she and Black Widbro passed in the hallway. The words "Well, I'm not changing," may have been uttered. EP-I do hate to use this word-IC.
So I get some sleep, get up, come in to the first 2D showing this morning (old-fashioned, just like Cap would like it!), and the ticket-taker says to me "We tried calling you. An usher didn't show you." Okay... sorry? I would've liked the hours, but you're the ones who didn't schedule me all weekend. I'm sorry I'm more reliable than other people you hire, but I did work until after midnight yesterday and also my uniform is all sweaty from moving stock, so you gotta give me some warning here.
Viewing experience--good-sized audience, hot crowd, I was sitting behind a family with some small, misbehaving children, but I'm gonna give credit where credit's due, after about twenty minutes of on-and-off loudness, the parents rolled up and took those kids out. THANK YOU. I'm not going to get all snooty and say Avengers isn't a kids' movie, because during the preshow we had all kinds of ads for Avengers toys and whatnot, but hey, sometimes kids can sit through a movie and sometimes they can't, and when they can't, the theater offers refunds. So, anonymous Texas couple, thank you very much for disciplining your children and saving my viewing experience. I hope you get to see, and enjoy, The Avengers on another occasion, when your kids are feeling more up to it.
See, parents, that's all I ask? A little consideration. You thought your kids could behave, they couldn't, you resolved the situation. You are good in my book. In fact, I appreciate you taking your kids to quality entertainment like The Avengers, even if they were unable to be a good audience at that time.
1. Whedon has a real way of combining the ensemble in ways you wouldn't expect. It's not just Steve/Tony, Natasha/Clint, Thor/Loki, all in their own little movies. Everyone gets their own dynamic.
2. "There's only one God, and he doesn't look like that guy." I like that Cap is allowed to be a pretty much religious, conservative (not politically, obvs) guy, even though his views are obviously pretty different from Whedon's, and the movie never treats him like a stooge. Even though he's not as "sexy" as Stark, his position is presented with merit. He's not Cyclops, in other words (sorry, Bryan Singer, but it was clear which kid you liked the most). He respects authority without necessarily deferring it, and that authority actually merits some of his respect. Since I'm sure we're all pretty used to writers who treat anyone that disagrees with them as idiots (especially in superhero fiction), it comes across as a breath of fresh air.
3. By extension, even though Nick Fury is perceived in a somewhat negative light by many of the heroes, he has a well-reasoned... reason for his actions. He's not just an evil war-y corporation-y guy. He has convictions and he's willing to stand by them, even if the standing is done on a box marked "Magnificent Bastard."
4. Although I'm sure Whedon's aware of Steve/Tony, he doesn't hang the movie on them. Natasha/Clint actually have much more of a bromance, which the audience can either read as a BroTP or an OTP, but either way, they're very close, both emotionally and physically--they don't hug or anything, but they sidle up to each other in a way they don't have with anyone else. Also, Clint being a (canon?) "big brother" to Natasha mutes the May/December aspect of their casting--which even Natasha being a canonical immortal Russian superspy wouldn't do away with, since Johansson is still in her twenties and Renner's still forty-ish. (Why then do I ship Renner/ScarJo? I blame Tumblr. Those bitches.)
5. In a similar way to Cabin In The Woods, from pretty much the first scene this movie goes BIG. I like how the Whedon school of thought seems to be pretty upfront about the big ideas, then deriving tension from characters and plot, as opposed to the Abrams "mystery box" thinking, which takes a sci-fi cliche and then makes a big mystery of it, without usually following through in terms of character and plot. Like Star Trek. The big mystery of the Romulans time-traveling was just a fridged wife and them wanting to make an evil future, just like in Terminator, but because they made a big mystery out of it, we all thought "hey, they wouldn't make a big deal out of this unless they'd come up with something really cool, right?" I mean, thanks for Gaila, guys, but "Eric Bana wants revenge for his dead wife on people who were dead hundreds of years before she was born!" isn't that cool.
6. And Whedon still under-cuts this bigness in a trademark Whedon manner. It's a nice cherry on top of the Marvel movie machine, sorta like taking a well-deserved break after an unbelievable amount of finangling. Even if Thor 2 is coming next year.
ETA: Can this please run over Battleship? Those trailers are all money shots. The "journey" they show is just Brooklyn Decker T&A and Liam Neeson bullshitting, then 'SPLOSIONS. Avengers actually exercises some restraint and devotes most of its trailers to (gasp) character and dialogue, just showing you the tip of the iceberg. Yes, I even love Avengers for its marketing campaign. It even deserves to stomp Hunger Games. I'm sorry, but get that weak shakycam shit outta here.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-04 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-04 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 01:34 am (UTC)Also;
Date: 2012-05-05 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 01:34 am (UTC)It says something about this movie that I'm not sure which epic fight you're talking about.
>He's not Cyclops, in other words (sorry, Bryan Singer, but it was clear which kid you liked the most).
Here's the funny thing; in Whedon's run on X-Men, he actually made Scott awesome.
>even if the standing is done on a box marked "Magnificent Bastard."
It would be a soapbox, except dirt is afraid to get anywhere near Nick Fury.
>h I'm sure Whedon's aware of Steve/Tony, he doesn't hang the movie on them. Natasha/Clint actually have much more of a bromance, which the audience can either read as a BroTP or an OTP,
According to ScarJo, they don't have time for that sort of thing when the world needs saving.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 01:37 am (UTC)But what do they get up to when the world doesn't need saving? Is it sweaty? Does it require a safe word?
no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 01:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 03:46 am (UTC)I found a lot of Whedon's Cyclops stuff fell into the realm of "trying too hard".
no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 03:50 am (UTC)After so many movies worth of buildup, Whedon knits things together fairly efficiently, and so many pieces have been put in place that things start running very quickly.
The cast all works fairly well. Some characters feel a bit more unmored from their settings than others (Captain America most pronouncedly, though in a way that's fitting; but the movie mostly leaves his character arc for his next solo movie). Iron Man and the two characters basically introduced here (Black Widow and Hawkeye) feel most at home, and Banner slips in very seamlessly. I'm still not entirely sure I like Johansson as the Widow. She's not bad in the fight scenes (the opening chair scene features a few poor stagings, but that's not her fault), and is a good actress, but she never really feels foreign, which this movie confirms that Natasha is supposed to be; she doesn't have the sense of mystery that I think the Widow should have.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-07 12:19 am (UTC)YES, thank you! I can't tell you how relieved I am that I stopped watching Fringe a long time ago. I have learned my J.J. lesson more than once.