Review of The Avengers (2012) by Valewyn — 11 May 2012

This is not so much a review in & of itself, as a response to all of the negative reviews I have read. With that said, this will be FULL OF SPOILERS. Do not read anymore if you hate spoilers. Most of the negative reviews I have seen thus far have been written by individuals who, quite obviously, have absolutely no clue what they are talking about. At least in regards to The Avengers. Some common complaints I have seen:

1) The movie did not have enough exposition & I struggled to keep up with what was happening.

~The movie had plenty of exposition...about FIVE MOVIES worth of it. If you can't remember what happened in Iron Man or Thor because you haven't seen either of those movies since their theatrical release, that is not Joss Whedon's fault. Nor is it a fault of this movie. It would have been impractical to squeeze in an extra twenty or thirty minutes of exposition in a pointless attempt to bring those individuals who didn't "do their homework" up to speed.

2) The heroes bickered & fought too much with each other.

~The reasoning behind this was two-fold. First & foremost, this is a form of fanservice. Geeky comic nerds (i.e. the target audience) WANT to see Thor & Hulk go toe to toe. We WANT to see Captain America deflect Mjölnir with his shield. Pitting our favorite heroes against each other has been a part of comics since comics existed, & to exclude that element from the film would have been a massive disappointment. Even if you ignore the fact that the heroes fighting amongst themselves was a desired piece of the movie, you cannot ignore one simple truth: it was entirely in character for these heroes to not get along with one another. At least, not at first. How unbelievable would it have been if the upright, disciplined, & serious Steve Rogers became fast friends with the pompous, arrogant, & self-absorbed Tony Stark? It would have been an outrage.

3) My willing suspension of disbelief broke when I saw the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

~Having S.H.I.E.L.D. play a role in all of the movies leading up to The Avengers, & then planning S.H.I.E.L.D. to have such a large part in The Avengers, but to exclude the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier? Or, perhaps even worse, to simplify or dumb down the Helicarrier so it was JUST an aircraft carrier? Tantamount to blasphemy. Thor without his hammer, Captain American without his shield. Sure, those characters would still WORK & would still be recognizable...but (much like the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier) those are iconic elements that the audience is expecting to see.

4) The movie had a slow start.

~You must have missed the first fifteen minutes. You know, the part with all of the explosions, the gunfights, the car chase, the demi-god vaporizing people, & the massive underground complex that was turned into a city sized crater. All before the title appeared on screen. After that, the movie gives a brief (six to ten minutes) exposition on what each individual Avenger is currently doing, gives the viewer a glimpse on what the bad guy is up to, then dives right back into more action. Perhaps the first hour felt slow because the second hour was an absolute non-stop adrenaline fueled thrill ride. That's my best guess.

5) Nothing but mindless fight scenes.

~I don't know how to reply to this, other than ask...have you read a comic book? Ever? There is, on average, a pretty good bit of fighting. Which, most comic book readers will agree, is not a bad thing as long as its done well. In The Avengers...it is done very well.

6) The dialogue was terrible.

~I digress that some characters are less interesting to listen to than others. However, that is not something you can fault the movie for. Every character works at their maximum capacity, & every actor fulfills their roles quite well. You cannot blame the movie or Chris Hemsworth for Thor having epic sounding if somewhat stiff dialogue. You cannot blame Joss Whedon or Mark Ruffalo for Bruce Banner seeming somewhat bland, boring, or shy. They are playing the characters perfectly, absolutely spot-on! Not every member of The Avengers gets to be the witty & sharp tongued Tony Stark.

In closing...I am sure I missed some complaints. Those are the ones that burned foremost in my mind. Is The Avengers a landmark groundbreaking masterpiece? No.

Is it a work of art that will be discussed in classrooms? No.

Is it a damned fun movie that hits all of the right spots, pushes the right buttons, & pleases its target audience? Hell yes. It is certainly that.

Will there be a sequel? Without doubt.