This summer sees the release of a number of highly
anticipated blockbusters, three of which are based on comic book characters,
one a debateable prequel (I am sure some people will disagree with me on this
point, to varying degrees) to a science fiction classic, another is based on a
1960s TV show that aired on the ABC network in America. There are others, I am
sure, but these will be the five that I will, in all likely go and see during
this summer. Some would look at this and see it as more evidence that
Hollywood, especially when it comes to it’s tent pole films is running out of
imagination, but only time will tell with that, and which will ultimately come
with the release and reception to these films.
The first of these films was The Avengers, but with different titles in certain countries,
having seen the previous films that have set up this film, ranging from the
tedious in Captain America to the
surprisingly good (I went in expecting very little, despite the cast and
director) in Thor, I was interested
in seeing how they would attack the possibilities for this story.
Co-written and Directed by Joss Whedon, whose Buffy the Vampire Slayer series I was a
huge fan of when I was younger, he didn’t seem like the kind of choice that
Marvel would have gone for, having made his name almost entirely in television,
there were no doubt more conservative choices they could have gone with,
especially related to directorial duties.
The cast of the film is largely made up of the actors from
the previous films but with a few new additions and one recasting, Mark Ruffalo
as Bruce Banner/Hulk, the majority bring the exact same character to this film,
as they had in the others. For some this isn’t a problem, Chris Hemsworth and
Tom Hiddleston continue on with their superbly complex brotherly relationship,
and Ruffalo constructs probably the most human and likeable version of Banner.
The others characters just seem to be going through the paces when it comes to
their scenes and others simply carry on with the same version, not bringing
anything new to their performance.
There will be spoilers from this point, so please don’t
carry on if you haven’t seen it, or don’t want to know any details.
The plot, is simple to say they least, Loki (Hiddleston)
returns to Earth, to find an object called the Tesseract, a source of seemingly
limitless power, in his bid to take over the Earth, with the help of an alien
race, the Chitauri, with the Avengers being the only thing possible of standing
in the way. During the first two acts we have to go through two or three giant
action set pieces as the team work out their differences, until they finally
realise that perhaps they should stop Loki before he brings an army of aliens
to Earth.
Now this may seem as though, from how I have talked about it
so far, that the film isn’t very strong when it comes to story, and it probably
isn’t. But where it makes up for it, and this is plainly down to Whedon’s knack
for dialogue is in the more subdued moments between the characters, more often
than not a simple one to one conversation. Most of these moments feature
Hiddleston’s Loki, the first of these moments is soon after Thor arrives
(probably the best entrance of the film), another later on with Scarlett
Johansson, even some of the less snappy conversations he has are elevated above
what they could have been thanks to his portrayal of the character. As
mentioned before Hemsworth brings Thor to life in a realistic way (for a
demi-god), in a role that in either film could have, in the lesser hands, been
nothing more than cocky meathead.
I saw this film in 2D, as I had heard that parts of the
film, especially those set in space are very hard to make out, due to 3D making
the screen darker (I don’t know the technical details of 3D, I apologize), so
can only speak about this version of the film. The photography of the film is
good, none of it is bad, but also none of it pops out as being instantly
memorable, there is one long shot in the finale that swoops through New York
following the different characters, which is fun but doesn’t linger for two
long. The visual highlight is probably the first time Thor arrives to capture
an already captured Loki around the end of the first act, and the battle
between him, Captain America and Iron Man that follows.
One of the biggest let downs of the film is that none of the
characters seem to have an emotional journey or arc throughout the film, maybe
this is because of the very nature of “team-up” film, you have to spread out
the screen time around the cast, making sure that everyone had their moment.
But as a result here, no one really goes through any change, or has sort of
epiphany or realization that will alter them (this could also be due to the no
doubt already written, or in the process of being written sequels to the
individual films), and this is a shame when compared to the other comic book
team films, most noticeably the X-Men films, although I must admit they chose
to focus on certain characters more than others, primarily Wolverine. However,
would have pushing one character to the fore, and others into glorified
supporting roles worked for the this film, possibly, but also it could have led
to it being received as more of Thor 1.5,
which in some ways this could have been seen to be, due to Loki serving as the
lead villain.
This is unmistakeable a popcorn film, it doesn’t ask you to
deal with too many ideas or to think about how it is a reflection of our world
or is even as well made as some of the top echelon of the genre, such as both Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Spiderman 1 and
2, Superman: The Movie or one of it’s
predecessors Thor. This could
obviously be the film, and Whedon knowing what this film as sticking to it, but
with a film that everyone knew was going to make money, and it already has,
it’s a shame that it didn’t take more risks, in terms of story, the characters
(some of them) or the ideas and messages that would have elevated this beyond
what it is.
Ultimately, I enjoyed it for what it was. If you go and see
it, don’t go in expecting great things, and you may enjoy yourself, and even be
surprised at what you see. But what do I know; I’m a DC guy.
