Avengers Assemble - Review

I've never been an avid follower of Marvel's comics, having missed the opportunity to become a regular reader at some point during my youth. While I'm more than aware and respectful of their contribution to popular culture, my knowledge of comic book lore isn't exactly all that impressive.
My experience of the famous names of DC and Marvel is largely limited to their depiction in TV and film, and unfortunately for me, those adaptations have scarcely been any good.

In my opinion, comic book movies don't usually offer much of merit. They are quite often poor films, designed to keep film studios afloat with eye candy that is proven to sell to pre-established audiences. There are obviously a number of exceptions - most notably The Dark Knight - but these are the exceptions to the rule.
Perhaps expecting every comic book adaptation to display the intelligence of Nolan's Batman series would be foolish though, as many of these characters deserve a more lighthearted and colourful approach. But regardless, it is true that many adaptations struggle to strike up an even balance between character development and action. Adapting from comic to film presents the challenge of trying to translate decades worth of comic lore onto the screen - which is no doubt a daunting task - and the difficulty of trying to determine the right tone for the film and grounding its protagonist in any sort of reality. Few directors are successful in overcoming these challenges.

Whedon demonstrates a scene

It's true that my interest in The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble if you're in the UK) piqued once I learnt that screenwriter/director Joss Whedon was co-writing and directing. Whedon is a skilled creative individual who has made quite a name for himself with pulp entertainment fans, and you've likely seen some of his work whether you know it or not. To learn that he was taking up the reigns of a major studio production was good news indeed. My first and only concern was, will his creative streak shine through despite the financial pressure of such a big budget production, or will he fall foul at the hands of the studio system?
For those unfamiliar, Whedon has had many ups and downs throughout his career. Being a younger director, he first saw success in the 1990s with cult TV shows Buffy and Angel, and was then screenwriter for 1995's wildly successful Toy Story. He then had his screenplay for Alien Resurrection (which is actually quite good in literary form) turned into a visual catastrophe, before moving into the world of animation where he wrote Titan A.E and Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He then had his sci-fi TV series Firefly cancelled before he could complete a single season, but later managed to conclude the story by bringing the show to the big screen in the movie Serenity. This is the first (and only) time a cancelled TV show has subsequently been adapted for cinema. He was also responsible for writing current horror/thriller Cabin In The Woods.
Whedon - being a skilled writer/director and a huge comic book fan - was the logical choice to make The Avengers the success Marvel studios wanted it to be, especially since many of his previous works dealt with ensemble casts and the simultaneous development of various characters.

With the Marvel movies Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor all directly leading into Avengers via their post-credits teasers, it's obvious that Marvel has been gearing itself up for this event movie for some time. Avengers is a convergence of plot lines from all three of those films, and in that sense it has an awful lot to live up to, delivering a satisfactory continuation to each individual series but also being an exciting introduction to the famous collaboration of fictional heroes. For viewers who haven't seen any of those three comic book adaptations (or read the comic books), the opening portion of Avengers may seem a little confusing due to many of the characters' origin stories being featured in each of the preceding films, but once it picks up speed, you can rest assured that it's all self contained from there.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki

Having said that though, the premise of the film is fairly simple. Villainous Loki - the antagonist in Marvel's Thor - has come to Earth and stolen the Tesseract - the blue cube of immense power featured in both the Captain America and Thor movies. Loki's threat is to use the Tesseract to open another portal to Earth and bring through it an extra-terrestrial army called the Chitauri. To counter this threat, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) of fictional espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D is tasked with assembling a response team consisting of recently defrosted Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen).

It's important to consider that on paper, this film sounds like the recipe for certain cinematic disaster. You've got atleast 8 major characters all needing precious screentime and fleshed out story arcs, a concept which is incredibly hard to sell with any degree of realism and credibility, loose narrative threads to tie up from the previous films, a crisis to introduce and circumvent, an army of critical fans waiting to jump on the bandwagon at the first sign of disloyalty to the comics, and within the Marvel studio itself, a massive budget on the line and the potential for one incredibly expensive box office failure. But somehow, the film is not only successful in avoiding these potential failings, it's also one of the most enjoyable cinema experiences I've had.

Mark Ruffalo (Banner/Hulk) and Robert Downey Jr. (Stark/Iron Man)

For those who are familiar with Whedon's work, his trademark is (fortunately) all over the film. From the witty banter between the lead characters, to the humour that gives the characters a streak of vulnerability and humanity. The overall package is well balanced, with an equal measure of superhero action and equally important character dialogue and development. None of the characters are short changed in favour of another. Each member of the Avengers team is treated equally in terms of their role in the film.
This isn't Shakespeare, it's a Marvel movie and Whedon is aware of that as the film parodies its own seriousness at points for a pleasantly more lighthearted approach. But for what it is, it's incredibly well written. At one point, Captain America is warned not to engage in a fight with Thor and Loki as they are 'basically Gods' and their power is far beyond what the Captain may be able to handle. Leaping into the fray regardless, he replies 'There's only one God miss, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that.' That single line of dialogue sums up the Captain's attitude in a dangerous situation, his old-fashioned view of the world and religion and it delivers a few laughs along the way. It's not Shakespeare, but considering the genre, it sure is clever.
The pacing of the film, while not perfect, was consistent enough to maintain my unwavering attention throughout. Again, considering the multitude of elements the film had to address in its opening stages, it's incredible that pacing was consistent at all. To those reviewers who claim that Avengers is a 'slow movie' with 'too many dialogue scenes' and 'poor pacing,' you are idiots. Take away those 'slow dialogue scenes' and this would be just another comic book movie without any narrative purpose and with poorly established, unidentifiable characters. It's these character developing scenes that enhance the action later on, and it's these scenes that make Avengers stand out as the most accomplished Marvel film yet.

Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury)

While it does borrow a story beat or two from The Dark Knight (you'll know it when you see it), Avengers makes the smart decision of preventing its heroes from actually 'assembling' until the final act. The film is constantly building up towards the final confrontation, and this escalating tension is crucial in making the conclusion as exciting as it is. This doesn't prevent plenty of conflict from emerging during the earlier parts of the film though, with plenty of friction between the protagonists as they work out their personal differences and reveal their issues and concerns.

Some of the characters are actually portrayed better here than they were in their own origin movies. Captain America and Thor seem to be particularly more exciting and effective in a fight (the Captain actually throws his shield and Thor demonstrates plenty of hammer slinging and lightning bolt action) and the combat is visceral and dominated by large scale stunts rather than poorly composited high speed footage a la The First Avenger. With a twinkle of humour, Whedon's script repeatedly references the Captain's disappearance and subsequent lack of knowledge of the last 50 years. He emphasises the character's flaws, and reminds us of the humanity behind the hero, which is crucially important if you want an audience to invest emotionally in your film.
Hulk, who has recently been featured in two poorly received modern adaptations with two different lead actors, finally gets an appearance worthy of his character, and it's frankly quite amazing that a film with such broad ambitions manages to depict the character so well. Mark Ruffalo is fantastic as Hulk alter ego Bruce Banner, playing the role of the socially awkward scientist in the midst of a crisis situation. Making another smart choice, Whedon's screenplay prevents Banner from unleashing 'the other guy' until the latter half of the film, leaving the audience to wonder how long he can truly contain his anger and when he does lose control, where he will direct his rage. It's quite a potent buildup, and does more for the anti-heroic status of the character than the two Hulk movies combined.
Loki himself, who is often recognised as the weakest element of Marvel's Thor, is a much better villain this time around. He isn't written particularly intelligently, but his self obsessed ranting and self indulged moments of scheming make you quite happy to see him get the beating he deserves.
Newer characters Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Natasha Romanov/Black Widow, who were featured briefly in Thor and Iron Man 2 respectively, are given their own subplot this time around to integrate them fully into the story - testament to Whedon's caring treatment of even the lesser characters.
Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is a show stealer as always, getting most of the witty lines and some incredible set pieces, most notably at the end of the film. His conclusion does border on the realm of cheesiness, but it's quickly rescued by sharp, humorous dialogue.
Joss Whedon seems to write with the philosophy of, 'if it doesn't quite seem credible, make it funny instead,' and for the most part it works. The final act itself - with its epic scale urban destruction - might have seemed reminiscent of Michael Bay's Transformers if it wasn't for the snappy dialogue, humour and well developed team character dynamic. This a blockbuster action picture that's been lovingly crafted by a writer/director who knows the importance of grounding a film in some kind of reality - albeit a heightened on - before launching the characters into larger than life situations.
Quite simply, all the characters here do what you would expect them to do, they look good doing it, and for many Marvel fans I'm sure that's a huge relief.

Avengers succeeds greatly despite the odds being stacked so heavily against it. Despite its protagonists being an odd squad of superheroes with bright latex costumes, Whedon gives them a dash of humanity and they almost become fully formed, believable characters. The action is slick and well conceived, and when the film reaches its final act, the climactic battle is mesmerising to watch. I found myself amazed not only by the stunning visuals and well conceived set pieces, but by the fact that I was engrossed in an adventure of such absurdly epic proportions and loving every minute of it. Joss Whedon deserves an enormous amount of praise for pulling off a feat as extraordinary as any depicted in the film. I sincerely hope he gets the credit he deserves for making the unbelievable so believable. It's bizarre to think of it this way, but essentially, it took the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer to show Hollywood how to make a decent Marvel film.