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| Monday, May 28, 2012 07:23 AM |
| (Last updated on Monday, May 28, 2012 10:18 AM) | | On the Viewer - The Avengers |
 by Fëanor |
In a way, it was all leading up to this. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk: all the individual origin stories of individual members of a team - the super team: The Avengers. But ensemble movies are hard. Could they pull it off? Could they bring it all together and tell a story about that team without short-shrifting any of the members of that team?
It was certainly a good start that the individual movies were so great. And they were great because they avoided the major pitfalls of superhero movies. Instead of disposing of the origin story in the first fifteen minutes and then spending the rest of the movie packing as many explosions, villains, and sidekicks into the story as possible, they spent the entire movie telling the origin story, and focusing on character, and on the character's arc, and on the becoming and the changing of that character. Tony Stark doesn't say "I am Iron Man" until the very last shot of Iron Man, because it's only then that he's changed enough to be Iron Man; the entire movie has been his origin story, his growth into the person he is in that last scene. Thor is also all about Thor growing up, coming into his own, becoming worthy of the power and the responsibility that's his. Captain America is about a good man seeking a cause and a purpose, becoming lost along the way, and then finally finding his mission, only to have his whole world snatched away from him in his moment of triumph. The Incredible Hulk is about a man coming to grips with the fact that there is a monster inside him.
With all these heroes and their characters firmly established, Avengers attempts to tell a story about all of them figuring out how to work together as a group against a common foe. And it succeeds beautifully, because those characters have been so well established and are so well inhabited by the actors, and because writer/director Joss Whedon handles them so well and with such a good sense of humor. It also helps that Whedon realizes a character is pretty boring if it's not still growing and changing, and thus he gives all these characters individual conflicts and obstacles to overcome.
For the purposes of the film, the Avengers are Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, who's new to the part, but easily masters a difficult and oft-attempted role), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Captain America (Chris Evans). I'm not sure if that was ever the exact lineup of the Avengers in the comic books, but the lineup of the Avengers has changed so often over the years, and included so many characters, that I wouldn't be surprised. It's no coincidence that the only two non-super-powered people on the team (Hawkeye and Black Widow) are also the only two people on the team who didn't get to star in their own movies before this one, but were only introduced as secondary/tertiary characters in somebody else's movie (Hawkeye first appeared in Thor, and Black Widow in Iron Man 2). Because of this, Whedon spends a bit more time introducing these two characters, and gives both of them central parts in the film's conflict. Hawkeye is revealed to be a nearly superhuman bad-ass when it comes to archery, thanks in part to his really snazzy multi-function quiver. Black Widow's specialty is lulling her enemies into a false sense of security - making them believe they've got her safely in their power - and then quietly getting all the information she needs out of them before kicking their asses. She's pretty fantastic. And of course, like everybody else on the team, Black Widow and Hawkeye have their own flaws and demons.
The movie opens with the introduction of the main villain, who happens to be the same villain from Thor: Thor's brother, Loki (a fascinatingly twisted and flawed character played with grinning relish by Tom Hiddleston). (Although we learn right away that there's actually an even more powerful villain pulling the strings behind and above Loki, we won't learn that character's identity until the end credits have already begun rolling.) In the opening scene, Loki takes possession not only of the Red Skull's secret weapon from Captain America (an incredibly powerful magic cube called the tesseract), but also Hawkeye, and Thor's scientist friend Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård). In the process he pisses off Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), which is never a good idea. It's Fury who decides to finally activate the Avengers Initiative and assemble the super team to beat all super teams in an attempt to stop Loki. He's aided by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Coulson (given wonderfully nerdy life by Clark Gregg) and Hill (Cobie Smulders, who does a competent job with a character that is sadly mostly free from personality and individuality).
Which means it's time for some extremely fun introductory/assembly scenes, with lots of funny and clever dialogue, and then lots and lots of action. Whedon even fits in a traditional element of all superhero team-up stories and has the heroes fight each other first before coming to their senses and joining up to fight together.
As I said, each of the team members has their own flaws and conflicts, and together they're just a big bundle of drama that's just waiting to explode, with Dr. Banner/the Hulk as the powder keg at the center, and Loki as the match. Can Tony Stark rein in his ego and inability to follow the rules and learn to work in a group? If it comes down to it, can he put his selfishness aside and sacrifice himself for the common good? Can Steve Rogers pull his mind out of the past, come to grips with the insane world he's been thrown into, and lead this team? Can Thor forget that Loki is his brother and do the right thing by the people of Earth? Can Banner really hold it together long enough to help out before he smashes his own friends to bits? Is Hawkeye so lost that he'll really betray his own planet? Even if he doesn't, can he live with the guilt of what he's done? And speaking of living with guilt, can Black Widow handle the skeletons in her own closet, while also taking down her own lover, should the need arise? And can they all keep fighting for S.H.I.E.L.D. even after learning all the dirty little secrets Fury is keeping from them?
If you're familiar with Joss Whedon's work, you'll have no trouble recognizing his style here. The clever, sarcastic dialog peppered with pop culture references is front and center, as are some favorite narrative constructs. If you like Whedon's stuff, you'll like this. If you don't usually like Whedon's stuff... well, you might like this anyway. It's pretty fantastic. And of course, by the end of the movie, we're all set up for an Avengers 2. Or an Iron Man 3. Or a Captain America 2. Or what have you. The point is, more is clearly on the way, and I am more than okay with that.
As I've already mentioned, and as you should already know if you've seen any other Marvel movie recently, there's more movie to come even after the credits have started rolling. But The Avengers ups the ante in this as well as in pretty much every other category and gives us two post-credits scenes. The second one may now be one of my favorite scenes in cinematic history. It's simple and silent and warm and hilarious. A cherry on top of a seriously delicious and well constructed sundae of a film. I'll have another, please.
UPDATE: Some favorite moments (includes spoilers):
- Harry Dean Stanton, whom you may remember from Alien, has a cameo as a random guy who asks Dr. Banner if he is an alien.
- Dr. Banner reveals his secret ("I'm always angry") before turning into the Hulk, punching a giant alien monster once, and causing it to immediately crumple and die.
- Banner: "I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out."
- Coulson patiently waiting on hold while Black Widow dispatches her captors. "This moron is telling me everything!"
- Loki starts doing a standard bad guy speech and the Hulk just pounds him on the ground a couple times and walks away, leaving him in a crater. "Puny God."
- We zoom out from Stark Tower at the end and only the "A" in "Stark" is left. Avengers Tower!
- Tony: "Why is he 'Phil?'"
- Loki tells everyone to kneel and one old German man stands up. Cap protects him, and points out that a guy asked everybody to kneel in Germany once, and Cap ended up disagreeing with him.
- Banner: "Sorry, that was mean. I wanted to see what you would do." Black Widow stares at him wide-eyed.
- Tony: "Better clench up, Legolas."
- Tony making a joke about Life Model Decoys. (Nice reference!)
- Cap silently handing Nick Fury a ten dollar bill.
- Also, I don't think Coulson's really dead. Fury probably let everybody think he was dead so they'd have the inspiration to join together and fight for his memory. I hope so, anyway; I love Coulson.
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