Movie Review – The Avengers (2012)
What do you get when you combine the mighty forces of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk?
The answer, my friends, is The Avengers, a major motion picture that combines the Marvel Cinematic Universe into one massive movie. What started in 2008′s smash hit Iron Man has grown tremendously and culminated into The Avengers.
Before seeing The Avengers, you’re best off seeing Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and Captain America (2011). With all of the back stories and references to the previous movies, you’ll get so much more out of The Avengers if you’ve recently seen the other Marvel super hero movies. That is, if you’ve seen the movies and little teaser clips after the credits in the movies, too.
What about The Incredible Hulk (2008)?
Although The Incredible Hulk is a great movie, very little of it is mentioned in The Avengers. The production crew even switched actors and this time around it’s Mark Ruffalo playing the role of Dr. Bruce Banner, and not Edward Norton. Basically, all you really need to know about The Incredible Hulk is that Bruce Banner gets angry and transforms into the Hulk, and he destroyed part of Harlem in New York City during a rampage in the previous movie. That’s about it as far as The Avengers is concerned.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The Avengers begins on a distant world as Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston), makes a deal with the Other (Alexis Denisof), the leader of a race of aliens. If Loki is able to provide him with the Tesseract (seen in Captain America and after the credits in Thor), then the Other will provide Loki with an army of aliens that he can use to conquer the Earth.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Back on Earth, SHIELD director Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is seen arriving at a remote research facility during an evacuation. Dr. Erik Selvig (played by Stellan Skarsgard) has been experimenting on the Tesseract, and SHIELD agent Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders) informs Nick Fury that the Tesseract mysteriously powered up on its own and began radiating energy. While evacuating the facility, the Tesseract suddenly opens a portal and Loki arrives. Loki attacks the SHIELD agents and uses his magical staff to enslave Dr. Selvig and SHIELD agent Clint Barton / Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner). The enslaved agents help Loki escape with the Tesseract while the research facility implodes, nearly killing Nick Fury and agent Hill.
After the attack, Nick Fury meets with his supervisors and decides to launch the “Avengers Initiative,” a previously cancelled project. In other words, it’s time to assemble the Avengers.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Dr. Bruce Banner / Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo) is hiding in the slums of Calcutta, India. He’s a local doctor healing sick people when Agent Natasha Romanoff (played by Scarlett Johansson) comes asking for his help. Bruce Banner reluctantly agrees to help SHIELD.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Steve Rogers / Captain America (played by Chris Evans) is working out on a punching bag when SHIELD director Nick Fury approaches him and recruits him for a mission. The captain has little choice and agrees to aide SHIELD and retrieve the Tesseract.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Tony Stark / Iron Man (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is busy making moves on Peppers Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) when he’s approached by SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (played by Clark Gregg). Agent Coulson is able to convince Tony Stark to assist SHIELD and review Dr. Selvig’s research into the Tesseract.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The mobile home base for SHIELD and the Avengers is on-board a fancy flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier, complete with its own cloaking system. Just try to ignore the “ancient” AV-8B Harrier jump jet attack aircraft on the carrier. Despite the F-23 Joint Strike Fighter and other futuristic transport aircraft in the movie, apparently SHIELD still wanted to have strike aircraft nearly thirty years old.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
It doesn’t take long before the team locates Loki in Stuttgart, Germany. While Barton / Hawkeye steals some valuable iridium needed for the Tesseract, Loki causes a distraction. That distraction ends up with a battle between him and Captain America and Iron Man. Loki is ultimately captured, but while flying back to the Helicarrier, Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) suddenly arrives, freeing his brother. Thor wants Loki to give up his plans and peacefully return to Asgard, but Iron Man and Captain America disagree. The three super heroes fight until they reach a stalemate, each one realising that they are equally strong in battle. Thor joins the Avengers and together they all return to the Helicarrier with Loki still a prisoner.
All of that is just the first part of the movie.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
On board the Helicarrier, the Avengers get into an argument about how to handle the Tesseract and its incredible power. During this time Loki’s forces attack the flying aircraft carrier. There’s a tremendous battle as the Helicarrier is damaged and Loki is freed. Hawkeye is knocked unconscious and this breaks the mind bridge he had with Loki, freeing him from the villain’s power. Agent Coulson is killed during the fighting. His death is used to spur the Avengers to fight together and defeat Loki.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Using both the Tesseract and a device constructed by Dr. Selvig, a wormhole opens above Stark Tower and the Chitauri alien fleet invades New York City. The Avengers rally and do everything possible to save innocent people, battle the invading aliens, capture Loki, and close the wormhole. It’s an incredible battle on and above the streets of New York City.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Near the end of the battle when the situation looks bleak, the military launches a nuclear missile at NYC. Iron Man intercepts the missile and pushes it up through the wormhole and towards the Chitauri fleet. The missile destroys the Chitauri mothership, which disables the rest of the Chitauri alien vehicles. Tony Stark is wounded and he falls back through the wormhole towards Earth. The Hulk catches him before he hits the ground.
As a whole, The Avengers is an outstanding super hero movie.
The cast of characters is huge, the action scenes are great, and the movie itself is a whole lot of fun. When you combine the previous Marvel films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ve got an incredible amount of storytelling that combines itself in The Avengers.
One of the best things about the movie is the clash of characters and their personalities throughout The Avengers. From Tony Stark’s ego to Steve Rogers’s leadership to Thor’s wisdom, each of the main characters brings something different to the table. Throw in the deadly accuracy of Hawkeye, Loki’s desire for world conquest, and Bruce Banner always on edge for transforming into the Hulk, and there you go. The “good guys” fight with each other at times, and in the end they rally together and work as a team to fight the alien invasion.
Throughout the years I’ve heard the description “greatest superhero movie of all time” for a variety of films including Superman II (1980), X2 (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and of course, The Dark Knight (2008). Surprise, surprise, but The Avengers is also being hailed as one of the best superhero movies of all time. While The Avengers is a great film and a lot of fun, I still keep The Dark Knight on that pedestal of being the best of the best for superhero movies.
If you’re a fan of the Marvel characters and superhero movies in general, then The Avengers is a must see. Just make it a point to see Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America BEFORE seeing The Avengers!
The Avengers (2012) – movie trailer
Do NOT expect a flawless cinematic masterpiece with The Avengers.
DO expect a hell of a lot of fun!
Tony Stark: “Call it, Captain.”
Steve Rogers: “All right, listen up! Until we can close that portal up there, what we need is containment. Barton: I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark: you’ve got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash. Thor: you’ve gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You’ve got the lightning – light the bastards up!”
Steve Rogers: [turns to Natasha] “You and me: we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk: smash!”
————————–
NOTE – The screenshots were added after The Avengers was released to DVD.