"The Avengers"

Ben's Avengers Review After five movies, two casting changes, and a whole lot of speculation, the Avengers is finally here in 2D and 3D. That’s right the very ambitious culmination of the Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America has hit theatres. But how could such an endeavor ever be pulled off and is the Avengers worth the $13 bucks? The Avengers begins where Thor and Captain America left off. Thor’s jealous sibling Loki (played brilliantly once again by Tom Hiddleton), has disguised himself and returned to Earth to steal the _____, an energy producing cube that has the power to enslave the world. Loki steals the cube from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and SHIELD and is trying to use it to enslave Earth with an army from an unknown neatherelm. Fury, knowing he is outgunned against Loki, decides he must enact the coincidentally titled “Avenger Initiative”. This results in the bringing together of Earth’s mightiest heros: Captain America, Ironman, Incredible Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. Some of these heros are ready and willing to step up to the plate i.e. Captain America (Chris Evans), Blackwidow (Scarlet Johasson) , and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Some of them need some convincing such as Tony Stark aka Ironman (reprise by Robert Downey), Thor (beefcaked by Chris Hemsworth), and the Bruce Banner, aka Incredible Hulk (taken over by Mark Ruffalo). Stark, still upset that he was originally thought to be too self centered to actually be on the Avengers, reluctantly agrees to help. Bruce Banner, always trying to avoid stressful situations, wants to help but only in a clinical role. Thor simply wants to take Loki back to Asgard. Of course Loki is not going to sit around and let the Avengers simply capture him. This coupled with Avengers’ problems working together make for quite a bit of Comic book drama. Will Loki prevail? Will the Avengers learn to get along? Would characters receive screen time and development or would the whole movie implode into something that resembles Mystery Men or Leonard Part Six? Was Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fame up for the task of directing such a feature? Would my wife divorce me after I made her stand in line on opening night and wear 3D glasses in room full dateless adult men and poorly supervised children? Well…. Yes. For those of us who sat through the other five movies and even those who did not, this movie was pretty darn good. This movie did a lot of things well. First, this script gives all major players ample screen time without appearing to do so. The story line is well developed and can be followed. Mark Ruffalo may have been the best Bruce Banner yet, and all of the characters play very well off of one another. The other thing that is appealing about the Avengers is that it has a sense of humor without being goofy. Where movies like Kick Ass came off too dark and Green Latern too comic bookie, the Avengers is serious enough to make want to follow the story but lighthearted enough to make you laugh. Beware, if you want to really enjoy this movie, you may want to review Thor and Captain America just so some of the technical jargon is not lost on you. Otherwise this was worth the money and a very good time at the movie theatre. Just a side note, make sure and stay for the whole movie, end credits and all. I give this movie 4.25 Mjolnir out five. *Something Extra- Iron Man 3 is set for next summer, Thor 2 is out next Thanksgiving, and Captain America 2 is set for 2014, just in case you were worried that there would not be more of these movies. Thanks Disney. Elisa's Avenger Review Well, it happened. I went to another comic-book- movie, “The Avengers.” In 3D. My husband reminded me every day for two weeks it was being released and to be ready. By ready, the husband meant that I would get tickets during lunch, and we would stand in line no later than one hour prior to the start of the movie to make certain we would have good seats. “The Avengers” is the ultimate in comic-book movie coolness. Marvel Comics Heros: The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and Thor join forces to fight the Norse god Loki. Much of the plot is based off the “Thor” movie released last Summer. You may recognize Loki as Thor’s brother, or from the Target commercial promoting superhero wares. Upset that he was banned from his Norse home, Loki has teamed up with some alien-type creature to take his revenge on Earth and his god-of-Thunder-brother Thor. In order to exact his revenge, Loki plots to take back the Tesseract. The Tesseract is a shiny crystal box with magical powers, specifically, it allows travel from space to Earth. Loki and the aliens take the shiny box from a super-secret military location causing death in destruction in the process. The only way to stop a Norse god and aliens is with superheroes. Nick Furry, acted by Samuel Jackson calls to action The Avengers to stop the total destruction of Earth. Tony Stark—Iron Man, is approached first at his recently constructed and self-titled Stark Tower. Scarlett Johansson’s spy/superhero character is sent off to bring in Bruce Banner—The Hulk. Captain America’s sense of patriotism is called upon and the group of superheroes is sent into action. The next few scenes of the movie are every comic nerd’s dream come true: A fight scene between Thor against Captain America and Iron Man in a Bavarian Forrest. Thor versus Loki all over Earth and Space. The Hulk and everybody, everywhere. The movie is really cool. It was pretty fun to watch The Hulk in action and hear the roar of nerds and little kids laughter. I was not a comic book reading Tomboy. I was a Barbie loving girly girl—and I have to admit the movie was fun, and gasp—the special effects, “were really cool.” The movie was filmed in 3D, not converted after the fact. We paid the premium price of $13 per person for the 3D and it was really fun. In fact, the whole movie is just really cool and really fun. Movies I Watch with My Husband....: "The Avengers"