The Avengers review

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS:

EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES ASSEMBLE IN AN ADRENALINE BLAST OF MARVEL COMICS ORGASM!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A+ (4 stars)

Reviewed May 2012

MARVEL STUDIOS

Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) Avenging the world in Marvel’s The Avengers

            I’ve been a fan of Marvel comics for years and I saw every theatrically released movie based on their comics but never would I have expected a film like this to come along, a movie with not one, but four of Marvel’s mightiest superheroes fighting on the same side to protect the world in the long awaited Marvel’s The Avengers. It’s the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first installment to feature every superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although I wasn’t expecting this movie to be made at the time, the release date for The Avengers was set before the first Iron Man back in 2008; it’s a good thing they waited until the time was right to release it.

The world is on the brink of disaster and Nick Fury, director of the top-secret peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D must assemble a team of heroes to protect it. He calls upon billionaire and weapons developer Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.-Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes), Thor the God of Thunder from Asgard (Chris Hemsworth-Thor, The Cabin in the Woods, Snow White & the Huntsman), Super Soldier Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans-Captain America: The First Avenger, Fantastic 4), scientist Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton-Collateral, Zodiac) who was exposed to gamma radiation and transforms into the enormous green rage monster known as The Incredible Hulk (voiced by Lou Ferrigno-The Incredible Hulk TV series), and a couple of trained assassins Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner-The Hurt Locker, Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol) and Natasha Romanoff or Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson-Iron Man 2, The Spirit, We Bought a Zoo) to defeat an army of aliens assembled by Thor’s adopted brother and nemesis Loki (Tom Hiddleston-Thor, Deep Blue Sea) who recently acquired a powerful weapon that can wipe out the entire planet, the Tesseract (Hydra’s secret weapon from Captain America: The First Avenger).

            The Avengers is so far the best film out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because it was able to stay exciting and funny and have a good story at the same time with excellent writing and direction by Joss Whedon (writer-The Cabin in the Woods, Serenity, various Pixar animated films) who was a big fan of The Avengers Marvel comic books. The Marvel heroes and villains were in good hands. The cast’s acting was solid with surprisingly good chemistry from them especially from Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, and Robert Downey Jr. who seemed to have enjoyed working together since Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. both played geniuses except one of them has breathtaking anger management problems. The bitter rivalry between Captain America and Iron Man was flawless, amazing visual effects and action sequences especially the climactic final battle between the Avengers and Loki’s army, plus Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner got to kick some serious @$$ during the final battle.

During production Joss Whedon used the Avatar Motion Capture technology when Mark Ruffalo played the Hulk. Unlike Eric Bana and Edward Norton where directors Ang Lee (The Hulk 2003) and Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk 2008) used computer animation for the Hulk and making him look like a character from a video game, Mark Ruffalo actually played the Hulk thanks to the Motion Capture technology and Lou Ferrigno provided the Hulk’s voice.

            The Avengers is currently the top grossing superhero film of all time; The Dark Knight previously held the record back in 2008, the top grossing film of 2012 in front of The Hunger Games, and the best movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even better than the first Iron Man. It’s so thrilling, funny, and entertaining that once the movie is over you’ll go back in line, buy another ticket, and see it again.

            The Avengers should satisfy all fans of comic books at least until The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises come out later on in the summer.