It’s been almost a week since The Avengers was released (in Australia. Sucks to be you, America!) and I still can’t believe what I saw in the cinema. In the span of 4 days, I have watched the movie twice and those 4.5 hours are just pure movie magic.
I may have invested a bit more in the movie and the materials than other people. I read a lot of comic book during the last 5-10 years, and I always liked a team comic book story. I still remember reading the superb Justice League of America run by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter. There was a void left by Morrison and Porter when they depart the creative team for JLA. A couple of years later I picked up the new Marvel Universe Ultimate comics line. For you who are not familiar with the “Ultimate Marvel Universe”, back in 2000 Marvel decided to create a new and separate universe from their usual line and did full re-imagining of all Marvel characters. This universe (and heroes inside this universe) will be re-started from scratch and have new origins. Among a couple of the new titles, there is a new book called “The Ultimates”. As you can probably guess, The Ultimates is the modern re-imagining of The Avengers. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch took on the responsibility to relaunch this title with the premise that they would approach it as if “they are making a movie out of The Avengers”. For the next 5 years, Millar and Hitch’s Ultimates become one of the best ongoing titles in the comic industry. It was during this time that I converted to Marvel and became heavily invested in the characters. The Ultimates are probably the closest we ever get to see an Avengers movie. At this point, as much as I love to see a big screen movie adaptation of The Avengers, the only right way to do it is to have a studio with unlimited budget and let James Cameron to do it. The scale of the movie would be so big that I thought it’s going to be hard to translate whatever it is in the comics into the big screen.
Then came a wave of Marvel movies that will be tied together into one big Avengers movie. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America got their own individual movie, and they turned out to be a success. The final piece of the puzzle, that took 5 years in the build up, is given to one Joss Whedon. I loved everything that Whedon did. Buffy was a great TV show, Serenity was a very fun movie, and when he wrote the Astonishing X-Men title for Marvel, it was one of the best comics around at that time. But doubts are still there, as he never made a big budget blockbuster. He’s got a lot at stake here. Luckily, Whedon is not a stranger to the comic book world. He knows the industry, understands the material, he’s aware of the big fanbase and he knows the characters. This is why the film doesn’t fall into the same hole as Transformers (I’m looking at you, Michael Bay!). In terms of scope and scale, the two might be comparable, but while Transformers failed badly to get the audience to get attached to the characters, Avengers managed to deliver and thrived with its characters.
The movie is fun, witty, and even moving. Whedon managed to balance his clever script with big action set pieces that will satisfy all comic and non-comic book fun alike. The final act of the movie is probably bigger than any other comic book movies combined. You can really see the influence of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s The Ultimates comic, something that I didn’t think possible.
Almost all of the characters have their own story arc and got an equal amount of screentime (except for Hawkeye probably). Tom Hiddleston continued his brilliant portrayal of Loki, just as he did in Thor. I love what they did with Tony Stark, who clashes a lot with Steve Rogers/Captain America. Both of them, while very different in personality, somehow compliments each other. Stark became more mature, and Rogers learned to become a better leader. The interactions between the characters are exactly what you would expect when you pit a Demigod, a supersoldier, a superhero diva, an unstable monster, pair of killer assassins, and a master spy. Whedon even gave agent Coulson a moment to shine. I’m not going to spoil anything here, let’s just say Coulson has a big part in the forming of The Avengers.
Now, who gets the MVP in terms of the characters? I would say it’s the Hulk. After half a dozen movies, they finally got it right this time. Mark Ruffalo played a better and more believable Bruce Banner than Eric Bana and Ed Norton combined. He shows the shy and uncomfortable side of Banner while also showing his explosive nature of when he’s about to be consumed in anger. When Hulk takes over, let’s just say he’s great in every scene he’s in.
Of course the movie is not without its fault. For one, I think they should do a lot better with the score. For a movie this big, they need a big number that everyone would remember. They need someone like John Williams, who made the classic theme for Superman the movie. I bet you that most of the people who saw that movie will still remember how awesome the music was when the big “S” icon pops up on screen. The other thing lacking was with Hawkeye. I don’t think they explored the character enough. We didn’t learn anything about his past, his SHIELD background, or his motivation. His arc could probably be more tied up to Black Widow’s. It’s such a shame because the two of them had such great chemistry.
In the end, the positives far outweigh the negatives. People were clapping when it all ends, and gasped everytime Hulk did something cool (most of the stuff he did in the movie was really really cool). The mid-credits scene will excite comic book readers and made them squeal “Seeequeeeeeel”. Kids would like this movie, comic book fan would absolutely adore it and people in general will undeniably be in love with it. For me personally, this is my childhood dream comes to life.
