Escape to the Movies: Avengers

[duchaked]

if I hadn't watched this movie at the midnight premier, I would have walked back to the ticket booth and bought one to immediately watch the next showing

 

[Thespian]

Can't have Ultron without the Pyms. Red skull died in Cpt. America. Dr. Doom is owned by fox via Fantastic 4 (which, incidently, is why they weren't facing the Skrulls), Kang is a little to tied in with the FF as well. Mandarin and M.O.D.O.K. are probably a little too obscure. Marvel tied down the Leader with some comic tie-ins, He is in S.H.E.I.L.D. custody, he was in The HULK though.

Yeah yeah. I was pretty much just rattling off the reasons why Thanos didn't make me wet my pants. And it does sorta suck with the Skrulls, but I'm kinda glad they went with the generic Chitauri anyway. I didn't want to see a Secret Invasion movie. Not yet, anyway.

Also, Red Skull totally survived. He got sucked into the same sort of wormhole as Loki. They could easily bring him back, and I bet he'll be in Avengers 2.

 

[KirbyKrackle]

It's a shame how Marvel fucked over the creators of the original creators of the characters from the Avengers which makes it hard for me to really enjoy this movie.

Co-creators I assume you mean.
Stan Lee is in all the movies so I doubt he feels 'fucked over' and the only character in Avengers he didn't have a hand in creating is Captain America.

Really, and I say this as an at least wannabe writer who is sympathetic to creator's by nature.... I think there's a lot of overstatement of how 'evil marvel' was to creators back in the day.

No one around had any real idea these things would continue on for ages or be having huge blockbusters in 50 years.

Comics were seen as cyclical no one would care about superheroes in another 10 years.
So better a continued check as a writer than permanent royalties for something that wouldn't be worth anything in 20 years.

It's unfortunate that this ended up with guys making far less money in the long run, but it's not like Marvel or DC we're forcing them to give up the rights, they could have gone to some of the many other publishers who did exist at the time and kept the characters they created, though it's unknowable if we'd remember these characters if they had.

Uh, who's talking about back in the day? Marvel and DC continue to find new and innovative ways to fuck over creators right now (I'm mean seriously, "Marvel's The Avengers"? What the fuck.) You're also ignoring the basic extortion Marvel used when getting creators, particularly Jack Kirby, to renegotiate contracts in Marvel's favour. Also, I'm curious, what other publishing companies do you believe they could have turned to? Not to mention that you seem to be implying that it's the creators' fault that the industry treated them badly as opposed to suggesting that maybe, I don't know here's a novel idea, it's the companies that treated them badly who are at fault. Not only that, but it's pretty silly to pretend that the only reason Kirby or Lee's characters are remembered is because they're part of Marvel. It's rather the reverse: the only reason Marvel still exists is because it feeds off the corpse of their ideas.

 

[maswell]

Came for the Avengers review
Stayed for the Diablo 3 ad

 

[Britisheagle]

My thoughts exactly, so amazing that this is the first time something like this has been attempted and yet it was done to such a high standard.

Awesome review and I'm glad he didn't just there and then say it was the best super hero movie of all time, very proffessional.

I also agree that you don't have to see all the other films which is why I really disliked one of the reviews on Meta Critic that said it is only good if you do the 6 hours of homework that are the other films. Bull....Shit.

 

[Mewick_Alex]

Really? That was probably the only disappointing thing about the film for me. Never did like Thanos.

That was the mid credits scene, not the after credits scene.

Oops, looks like I may have left the cinema too soon.

 

[maninahat]

I have to admit that I'm kind of disappointed that this film is turning out to be good, at least according to the consensus. I was hoping for a mediocre, anti-climactic movie, just to see how furious Bob would have gotten. Guess I'll just have to watch a good super hero movie instead. Win win.

Wow. How... pointlessly dickish of you.

Perhaps the point is not to get too worked up over something as trivial as a comic book movie. Or to not get on your fans nerves with constant references to said comic book movie.

Or maybe the point is that schadenfreude is fun.

Your comment is bad and you should feel bad... Jerk.

Whilst part of me wishes that I could spend months getting so excited over something as simple as a comic book movie, I think I prefer the sense of perspective. I feel contempt for people who get seriously upset over something as meager as a bad comic book movie, and I have no problem poking fun at them. You know who else feels that way? Bob. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/5357-The-Phantom-Menace-13-Years-Later]

 

[Yeager942]

The after credits scene for the avengers was the best scene to ever scene in scening history.

Dear lord, my sides.

 

[Samantha Burt]

The only real complaints I had with the movie was a plothole in regards to the Hulk, and that the 3D looked awful and was awkward and distracting. Otherwise, I had a helluvalot of fun with it :3

The only real complaint I had with this comment is what on earth possessed you to watch it in 3D? xD

 

[Naeras]

The only real complaint I had with this comment is what on earth possessed you to watch it in 3D? xD

Theaters are dicks and won't set it up in anything but 3D. I didn't have a choice. <.<

 

[karamazovnew]

Just seen it. I usually get suspicious when everybody recommends something, so I wasn't expecting much. But yeah, the movie was good. And the 3d effects were the best I've seen so far in any movie. Every scene was made with 3d in mind. The amount of glass, corridors, wires, cockpits, tunnels, the camera movements, the way the actors are positioned in every scene... this was done by pros. The effects are usually subtle, at times you'll forget about it and just focus on the action. Most other 3d movies I've seen are harder to watch in 3d and your eye muscles hurt from so many things hurled at you, or from too many objects hanging around to close to the camera. The Avengers really pushes the bar for 3d movies.

As for the rest? Well, Captain America and Hulk are clear favorites in this movie (their solo movies were the best anyway). At first I thought that not casting Edward Norton again was a mistake, but the new guy is really really good. I don't really get Thor's role, even more so after Iron Man basically kicks his god ass... Iron Man just annoys the hell out of me, but I guess that's the whole point and he delivers where it counts. I never did cheer for him in his movies, so seeing him made fun of (a bit) here was a welcome sight. The normal guys, Black Widow and Hawkeye are fine I guess (Scarlet is Scarlet), but again, their role isn't very clear to me and they seem too "normal" for this particular superhero scene. At least the actors had chemistry, so kudos for them for making a decent entrance.

Captain America has less to do in this movie, but his innocent attitude of "protect the innocent" is even better here that it was in his own movie. He's the only clear "good guy", even when the going gets rough between them. The Hulk clearly shines here and delivers the best moments, you'll now what I mean when the entire cinema audience laugh their ass off on some occasions. On the downside, why he suddenly decides to stop acting berserk around his team mates, after previously loosing his mind over nothing is not explained well. Loki lacks credibility, although he has one scene in which he does look bad (in a good way). Otherwise he's as pathetic as he was in the Thor movie. If "The Dark Knight" thought us something is that you really need a good bad guy for the movie to work. The Red Skull was a far better bad guy (although Hugo had a splendid reputation as Agent Smith, which is simply cheating).

So overall, the "Avengers" idea seems well made and well explained, the movie clearly works. Which is indeed a miracle. BUT, when we'll see the movie again, some parts of the script might not be so good anymore. The middle act in particular was weird to say the least. More might've picked that up on the first watch, but with good cinematography and splendid shots, we didn't really care. So, money well spent. Will cheer for the next one. Already miss the Hulk.

 

[CK76]

I'll say this, the whole film was a massive amount of fun. The logistics of making this work were staggering and 95% of the time the solid writing held together what could have been an unmitigated disaster. This is a true blockbuster film where I felt the price of admission was fair.

Stand out moment: Single shot across the battle in the climax. That is the thing my childhood dreams are made of.

 

[DarksBlade]

I have to ask ... well let me preface this buy saying loved the movie and have seen it twice ... but am i the only person who was bothered by the fact that when Thor "suits up" he doesn't get his helmet ( not saying it had to stay on ) but Loki get his redonkulous helmet and is rocking it for most of the film

 

[pilouuuu]

Can't have Ultron without the Pyms. Red skull died in Cpt. America. Dr. Doom is owned by fox via Fantastic 4 (which, incidently, is why they weren't facing the Skrulls), Kang is a little to tied in with the FF as well. Mandarin and M.O.D.O.K. are probably a little too obscure. Marvel tied down the Leader with some comic tie-ins, He is in S.H.E.I.L.D. custody, he was in The HULK though.

Yeah yeah. I was pretty much just rattling off the reasons why Thanos didn't make me wet my pants. And it does sorta suck with the Skrulls, but I'm kinda glad they went with the generic Chitauri anyway. I didn't want to see a Secret Invasion movie. Not yet, anyway.

Also, Red Skull totally survived. He got sucked into the same sort of wormhole as Loki. They could easily bring him back, and I bet he'll be in Avengers 2.

I think Ultron will be in the Ant-man movie. Red Skull should fight Captain America in the present in his second movie. Mandarine will be in Ironman 2. And then The Avengers will fight Thanos in Avengers 2

 

[AgentNein]

Loki is probably one of my favorite villains of all time, and the entire cast just owns their roles. I loved this movie, it was what I wanted, and I don't know when I'll be able to walk out of the theater without a big stupid grin on my face.

Sorry, but how could that whiny brat possibly be a favourite villain? He takes orders from some faceless aliens and gets tossed around by individual avengers. His whole motivation is a childhood inferiority complex and some megalomaniacal delusions.

For a 'god' he seemed fairly human I guess. He's charming after a fashion, flawed, he sells vulnerability (moreso in Thor, granted). If I've got a problem with him in Avengers is it's that he feels fairly one note compared to how he was in Thor.

I like Loki for the opposite reasons that I liked Joker in Dark Knight. The Joker was this completely abstract villain. Even though he was human, his motivations were completely closed off to us. Loki in contrast, despite being a god is all too human.

 

[Friendstastegood]

I have to ask ... well let me preface this buy saying loved the movie and have seen it twice ... but am i the only person who was bothered by the fact that when Thor "suits up" he doesn't get his helmet ( not saying it had to stay on ) but Loki get his redonkulous helmet and is rocking it for most of the film

I was bothered by that too! Especially when he first arrives, that entrance (amazing as it was) would've looked twice as good if he had been wearing his helmet!

Also, I get why hawkeye did not get a ludicrous mask like the one he wears in the comics, but he could at least have had some purple on him? A little splash of colour or something?

Small nit-picks for a movie of this magnitude but still, you have to wonder...

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

What now?

We wait and see how well The Dark Knight Rises does in theaters. If at the end of the re-booted Spiderman film goes the way I think it will then we may see Spiderman in the 2nd Avengers movie.

For any future Marvel Superhero films I'd like to see Deadpool(technically an Anti-hero but c'mon) and Doctor Strange.

 

[Tono Makt]

I had half-expected Moviebob to gush about this film, afterall it's stuffed full of stuff just for the fans of the comics. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid 7/10 film with superb moments (favourites involve Phil, Loki, infighting and all Iron man and Thor quips), but it has flaws.

As Moviebob said the story is secondary and slim. The opening leaves you feeling you've missed a film and is taken a little too seriously for all the silliness involves. Loki's CGI army has no backstory, a stupid forgettable name, and just show-up as faceless goons to fight. How they're dealt with is a plot contrivance followed by a magical killswitch that left me with the impression they had forgotten the army weren't robots.

Echoing this sentiment, so won't go into detail about this below.

Also, the extended action scenes get a bit physically exhausting after a while, but that may just be watching it in 3D.

The worst scene was Loki making people bow before him (kneel before Zod, etc) and one old man with a stereotypical Jewish accent disobeys him. Captain American then shows up and compares Loki to...well if you can't guess where this is going already, here's a clue: the scene is set in germany. -_-

It's testament to how good the film is that the main storyline could be so bad, but not detract that much...

EDIT: Did anyone ever say 'Hawkeye'. I heard a 'Hawk' and his regular name, but it seemed like it assumed you knew already...

That scene just about destroyed the movie for me. The joke in the scene was so forced and telegraphed that it made me cringe in the theatre. If I hadn't been wearing 3-D glasses, I might have given myself the satisfaction of a literal face-palm.

Overall, the movie disappointed me. Part of it was reviews like Bob's which make the movie sound like it's like finding out (insert starlet's name here) and (insert second starlets name here) and (insert third starlets name here) are all bisexual nymphomaniacs with a fetish for (insert whatever aspects of geek stereotype you qualify for; Mr. Makt being chubby, stammering and nearsighted), and they've all decided that you are who they want. Sure, (starlet 1) could use (bigger/firmer/more symmetrical/real/insert breast preference here), and (starlet 2) really should (wax/not wax/insert body/pubic hair preference here), and maybe (starlet 3) is a bit older than you might like, but still, it's freakin' (starlet 1), (starlet 2) and (starlet 3) looking to make you the king of their world, man. Don't nitpick the small stuff!

When the movie is mostly a larger than average number of great moments (not scenes - moments) connected by barely-par filler and far too much reliance on Robert Downey Jr. being a mouthy narcissist. (Really wish that the writer of Captain America had been working with Whedon on this - this movie could have used a third as much Tony Stark, and then taken that third to give to Cap. Or heck, split that third into two sixths and give one sixth to Cap and one sixth to Thor. Just, erm, keep the writers of the Thor movie working on that Mysterio vs Elektra movie that they've been "working" on for the past couple of years.) Plotwise, it's average comic book fare. For the first time in a while, I actually wasn't surprised by any of the plot - usually there is something that I find surprising and creative. This time everything was predictable.

Spoiler

Though I will admit to being surprised that Whedon didn't write anything for Pepper Pots and Tony Stark when Tony tried to call her to say goodbye. I didn't want anything there as every goodbye I could think of were just plain stupid or didn't fit the scene, but I did half expect him to try to throw some sort of witty banter in there.

The fight scenes at the end were at their peak with the Hulk in them, but without the Hulk they were just passable. Fight scenes in the beginning and middle of the move were meh to eye-rolling examples of "It's a comic book movie. That's why." sub-par writing.

Spoiler

Yeah, I'm talking about the fight between Iron Man and Thor, and Cap coming to the exact same area just a few minutes later... having parachuted out of the plane after the two guys who can fly at supersonic speeds. Yeah, okay, sorry - that bugged the crap out of me.

Fight scenes at the end made most of the movie worthwhile, particularly the scenes with Hulk. On this point I'll agree with Bob - this is the best I've seen of the Hulk in live action. (If the rest of the characters had been written as well as the near-wordless Hulk was in the final fight scenes, or if the dialogue free final hidden scene...)

Really, the biggest reason this movie is being gushed about so much is that it's an enjoyable movie when so many of us Geeks were terrified that it was going to be Snakes on a Plane 2: Electric Boogaloo. That it would be a $200+ million dollar Ishtar that would destroy comic book movies for a decade or more as well as sinking Marvel as a comic book company. It's an enjoyable movie, and even if you go in 3D you'll feel like you got your moneys worth. But seriously, to say "This is a movie I've waited my entire conscious life to see." crosses a line from movie critic to squealing fanboy nerdgasm.

And this movie doesn't deserve that type of hyperbole. What saves this move is the way the Hulk is utilized in the final act, and the final hidden scene. Not the dramatic one that sets up the next Avengers, the one after. It'll be up on Youtube sometime (might be now), so google it if you haven't seen it yet but have seen the movie.