I actually have 4, but I'll do it one at a time, or it'd be abominably long.
The Avengers (2012) by Joss Whedon
Scores: Audience, Critics
Imdb: 8.8/10, 69/100
RottenTomatoes: 96%, 93%
I didn't watch this via rental from VideoEZ of course. Watched it the first Friday after it started screening in the local cinemas, with long-time-no-see buddies iz, nanaka n duck.
Anyway, story follows the establishment and coming together of the Avengers, consisting of, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye by Nick Fury, to combat the likes of Loki and an invader army; how they have their contrasting and thus often conflicting personalities drive them apart, but finally putting aside their differences and working together for the greater good.
There... frankly isn't much to say about the movie from an artistic perspective. The movie was distinctively... like shonen, for lack of a better word. It has everything you could want in such a genre. Simple plot. Lots of action scenes, starring brawling muscle men, energy blasts, high tech equipment, and enemies that are gross and huge beyond belief, to the extent that, despite their track record, our heroes are still somewhat the underdogs in that situation. Not to mention you have the Black Widow in her tight black suit... :3
But don't be mistaken, I did enjoy the movie. This movie is better than most of the shonen out there, for the following reasons.
The writing for this movie was unbelievably exceptional. Though simple, the jokes were exceedingly witty, both building on existing material and creating new perspectives. Furthermore, if handled badly, jokes tend to ruin the pace/atmosphere of the moment. Instead, the jokes in this film contribute fully to plot development, the setting and raising of the atmosphere, and pacing of the film. With this cast of heroes, made up mostly of volatile/serious/emo/uptight heroes, jokes are probably not very forthcoming. And yet, most of the jokes fit... pretty well :)
**Spoiler alert** Don't watch this if you haven't seen the film.
** Spoiler end**
Meh. Couldn't find the exact clip from the film. Those copyright people are doing a really efficient job these days...
Probably the my favourite scene in the film :) In fact, the scenes with the Hulk in this film were all great! The previous movies didn't really do well in terms of portraying the Hulk, and it became more of a demolition fest than anything. Here though, Mark Ruffalo did such a stellar job of portraying the Hulk that, I'd actually put it out to say, I couldn't imagine anyone else as the Hulk. He was that good! The Hulk wasn't a disease. It was a part of Banner, an extension of him, and should be treated as such. Ruffalo enacted the Hulk with that thought in mind, and the outcome was outstanding.
I don't really need to mention Robert Downey Jr. aka Iron Man. He's basically the embodiment of "the party " in the Avengers. No Tony Stark = No jokes, no wisecracks, no funny stuff... etc. His charisma practically powered the movie. Need I say more?
Some flaws...
There really isn't much to say about the other characters. Thor was suitably over-powered, since he's supposed to be a god. The others though were, kinda underwhelming. Their capabilities were far too insignificant as compared to Iron Man, Thor or the Hulk. The film did well to ground the movie with each character's properties, and utilise them suitably, but for me, I kinda had to make a conscious effort to suspend disbelief.
Loki was, on the whole, lame. His plot was simple, for a god who was supposed to be full cunning. He was practically incapable of fighting himself. Altogether kinda disappointing in this respect.
I want to give a paragraph here to a side character... Clark Gregg aka Agent Coulson. To avoid spoilers, I won't write more about his exploits, but to this character, insignificant though his role is in this film, if Hulk was awesomeness and Iron Man was the wise cracks guy, Coulson was the one that the film that little bit of soul it needed to differentiate itself from the other *boom boom* *smash smash* films. Whedon did well to give a side character such a surprising role, and he's become one of the most endearing characters in this film.
Overall, this is one of the best films I've seen this year. Equal parts cool, funny and exciting. I'm totally gonna buy the dvd when it gets out :P
Alright cya for now!
Ray
No comments:
Post a Comment