With the anticipation
building since 2008's Iron Man
premiere, Joss Whedon's The Avengers
is the icing on the metaphoric cake that has been built with each subsequent
Marvel film. The Avengers definitely
won't disappoint fans of the franchise.
Despite the headache of
bringing so many complex characters and storylines together, there is no
singular focus on any particular one of the Avengers, the group of superheroes
compiled by Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. Each hero plays to their individual
strengths and serves an important and individual role within the group; for example,
Evans' Captain America uses his military experience to strategize attacks and give
orders. While some of the heroes initially clash in some pretty amusing and
spectacular ways, the Avengers band together to save the world from an alien
invasion. Sounds a little like a Transformers
storyline, but it's so much better than that.
While the script could have
easily been just a basic story wherein some really cool superheroes save the
world through awesome action sequences with snazzy punchlines, Whedon avoids
that pitfall and manages to produce a film that highlights the action while
simultaneously developing characters. It's a directorial marvel (pun intended).
Many nuances from each film, the Iron Man
series, Thor, Captain America, and
The Incredible Hulk, end up being
featured, but never in a way that impedes the overall story. It's just a nerdy
bonus prize for the fans that really paid attention to the details of the previous
films.
My one complaint is the 3-D. While
it was used tastefully and generally just added to the depth of field, there
were a few occasions where something popped out, and I literally couldn't focus
on it long enough to compute what had just happened. Despite that issue, the
special effects are gorgeous and blow away anything I've seen recently. People
who are unfamiliar with the character's origin stories will be able to follow
along, and the people who have read and love the comics will greatly enjoy this
live action adventure. Don't forget to stay for the scene after the main
credits; it's ridiculously exciting if you know your Marvel. And maybe even if
you don't.
