Review of The Avengers (2012) by Sean W — 02 May 2015

It may surprise you to know that I've only seen The Avengers once (in its theatrical run) so before checking out it's bigger and badder sequel, I thought I'd revisit the film that so many seemed to love. And it's still overrated as all hell.

First off, props go out to writer Joss Whedon for actually understanding these characters and what seems to work with them. He clearly has a lot of fun watching them bounce off one another (literally in some cases) and it makes for an enjoyable experience, for the most part. He gives them a reason to band together (we'll get to that in a moment) but tends to use humor as a crutch. The film's more humorous tone works, but it's hard to take things seriously when shit goes down. It's as if the characters are too self-aware of their situation to give them the weight necessary. I'd be okay with this approach if the flick was an hour and half, but alas, that's far from the case.

As for the reasoning for the team-up, well, we have Loki who's an entertaining villain, but far too incompetent to take seriously. Anywho, he partners with some aliens because . . . well, why not? The aliens are something out of a Power Rangers film, and no, that's not great. When they pour into New York through a portal in the sky, it's shrugged off in moments and not really brought up again. I know this is a world with super heroes exist, but films like Iron Man and even Captain America are somewhat grounded in reality. I digress. Given that they're mostly CG, the bloated finale is just watching a bunch of humans fight against a bunch of CG shit. And this goes on for nearly 30 minutes. It is REALLY tiresome. Here's a finale that should have taken the less-is-more approach.

As for every other action scene in the film, it's one Avenger taking on another. It's as if there was a checklist of who fights who and Wedon was sure to check every single box. His direction is decent, but feels like TV. This is undoubtedly the biggest budgeted cheese-fest cinema has ever seen. A little cheese is fine every once in a while. This, on the other hand, is two and half hours worth.

At the end of the day, The Avengers proved to be an entertaining, but exhausting comic book film. The buzz from seeing you favorite comic heroes on-screen together wears off quickly and all the quips in the world don't make up for the fact you're not invested in the characters or the ridiculousness of the finale.

Whedon got a lot right, and fans commend him for that, but I've never seen so much praise for a film simply because it didn't suck. Thankfully, movies like Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy proved what Marvel can really do with a license. I'm hoping Whedon kept that in mind with his follow-up, Age of Ultron.