The Avengers
Summary: Building off of the characters introduced in the Iron Man movies, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America, Loki is determined to invade and destroy the Earth for perceived slights and government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. determines that their best bet to save the Earth is to gather all of the super-powered people they know and have them fight him off.
The Good: This was a fun movie. It was paced fairly well, if you've seen the other movies (if you haven't honestly I'm not sure why you're watching) it builds off the already introduced characters, and has plenty of good looking action. I thought it was obvious that Joss Whedon directed this film since the characters were firing off even more quips than usual (all of which did feel in character however) and I didn't even mind the Killing Off Fan Favorite Character (TM) scene because the character seemed aware of what their death meant in the larger scheme, although I still wish they hadn't been killed off. The movie also manages to give all of the characters adequate screen time (which considering the movie poster lists eight major characters is really impressive) so, while I can't exactly say that all of the characters had some development (they didn't really seem to change by the end of it) everyone had a chance to show off which was great.
The Bad: The internet at large will probably dislike me for this but I just don't like Loki as a villain. Personal preferences for Norse mythology aside, everything he did felt just like a rehash of Thor and I was bored by it. Oh no, we have a villain who has just enough of a sensitive side to get the audience to sympathize with him! Wohoooooo. He was a good way to get all the Avengers together but I still would have preferred another villain (which thankfully is what the during-the-credits scene implied, although I'm sure he'll be back in Thor 2). Oh and I would like there to be more ladies in the film next time. Black Widow was awesome (I winced at first during her first scene and was happy when it was all completely subverted) and all but, especially since everyone swears that Marvel has a ton of great female superheroes out there, I would still like for there to be more ladies with prominent roles in the future.
The Audio: Even though I just saw the movie a couple of days ago, and remember liking some of the themes when I saw it, I can't remember a single piece of it. Listening to clips on itunes it sounds like, well, standard movie music. It's big, orchestral, heck for a minute I thought they ripped a track straight from Lord of the Rings, so it's not bad, I simply didn't find it memorable. Although, should movie soundtracks be that memorable? When it's all said in done The Avengers is just an action, superhero flick, not a film where the music is integral to the finished product, so as long as it works I guess that doesn't matter much in the end.
The Visuals: Not only does the movie manage to give all the characters adequate screen time but it also flows from fight to fight rather seamlessly as well (there's one particularly impressive shot where it tracks across all of the major fights at once, I'd love to know how they pulled that one off). The special effects look fine (I'm not sold on The Hulk but that can't be an easy thing to make look right) and once again I'm in love with all the technology (both CGI generated and actual props) shown, that was the eye-candy of the movie for me.
So yes, apparently you can make a cross-over movie these days, have it be a financial success, and convince a large part of the population to see all of the other movies as well (I have never seen the line for the school's showing that long and it seemed like a lot of people were there to see it again as well). Color me impressed and yes, I did really enjoy the film, want to get together with friends and have a marathon of the other films (again) and can't wait for whichever film is set to come out next.
