Movie Review: THE AVENGERS

THE AVENGERS
USA 2012
Directed and Written by Joss Whedon
Adapted from The Avengers comic book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston


SYNOPSIS:  The protagonists of the IRON MAN, HULK, THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA franchises must band together to face a foe too powerful for any one of them to conquer alone.  


THOUGHTS:  


PROS
-Mark Ruffalo is great as Bruce Banner  


-I enjoyed Black Widow and Hawkeye's co-arc  


-It has my favorite post-credits sequence of all the Marvel Studios films.  (The one after ALL the credits are done.)


-The effects are generally well done  


-The Hulk is scary  


-Harry Dean Stanton


CONS
-The dialogue seems to consist entirely of one-liners.  Also, characters are often saying things that seem completely out of character (e.g. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little old fashioned?" - Captain America)


-The villains.  Tom Hiddleston does a good job as Loki, but the film is constantly undermining him as an actual threat with goofy humor, and by making him a simple pawn in another villain's game.  The Chitauri are barely developed at all; they might as well be robots.


-Joss Whedon doesn't have an eye for direction, and he essentially wasted DP Seamus McGarvey.


-Captain America's costume.  It oddly seems more retro than the one from the 40's, and just isn't shot well.


-It plays out like a "VS" film, with the conflicts between the heroes feeling extremely contrived.  

I don't think it's a bad film by any means, and I also don't think that the other Marvel films are necessarily masterpieces, but this one was kind of a let-down for me.  Who knows; maybe it'll grow on me.  But for the time being. . .


RATING:  5 (LIKE)