The Avengers: A Late Review

If you haven't seen The Avengers yet...you don't want to read this review. Otherwise, I'm going to assume you've seen it. It was released May 4, 2012 in the United States and has made $1.4 billion worldwide. It's the 3rd highest grossing film in history, beaten only by Avatar and Titanic. It was the culmination of Marvel Studios' attempt to create a cohesive film universe, beginning back in 2008 with Iron Man. In the interest of full disclosure, I've seen the film at least 5 times. Some people have said that it is the greatest comic book film of all time. It certainly has a claim to it, based on how much money it made in theaters. However, I have to be honest and say that I do not believe that it is the greatest comic book film of all time. I give Marvel Studios a world of credit for being able to pull this off. From 2008 to 2012, Marvel Studios released the following films as part of what's known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man (2008) The Incredible Hulk (2008) Iron Man 2 (2010) Thor (2011) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) These five films were building blocks ultimately leading up to a major jam session in The Avengers. Each of these films performed well at the box office. Some did better than others but there wasn't one that could be considered weak or a misfire. Marvel Studios took the time and the effort to build stories that could be seen as good stand-alone films but also act as stepping stones leading to something bigger. As big as The Avengers was however, it wasn't really an event. There was a lot of hype attached to the film and it delivered in spades. It was a thrill ride of a film but as I left the theater, I felt...empty. The film was worth the wait but it was the first type of this film I'd ever seen or even heard of for that matter: it was in itself a culmination of a series of films and at the same time, really only at the halfway point of a mythology that had been set up. You knew that there would be sequels to Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, leading up to The Avengers 2. You knew that you were only getting the first half of a much larger story. Until ALL of the films are released, it's going to leave audiences with something of an empty feeling. You're not really aware of it at the time because there's so much spectacle jammed into the film that you're not paying attention. The Avengers picks up at the end of Thor. The Tesseract (what's known in the comics as the Cosmic Cube) is a powerful energy source in the hands of the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. represented by Colonel Nick Fury (the always awesome Samuel L. Jackson) and his aide Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) last seen in Thor is studying the Tesseract when it activates, revealing Thor's evil brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who had encountered a race of aliens, the Chitauri in the beginning of the movie. He uses a scepter that he brought with him to enslave Selvig and a few other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in order to escape with the Tesseract, notably Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) who comic fans will recognize as Hawkeye. Fury responds by activating "The Avenger Initiative" bringing in Iron Man/Tony Stark, Captain America/Steve Rogers, the Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner and the Black Widow (Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson) to locate the Tesseract and stop Loki. After a battle in Germany, Loki is taken into custody. Loki's possessed agents, led by Hawkeye, attack S.H.I.E.L.D's flying fortress. Loki escapes after causing major damage. The Avengers discover that he wants to use the Tesseract's power to open a portal from space, allowing the Chitauri to invade Earth. The rest I think you can figure out: destruction on a massive scale, bickering heroes learning to work as a team etc. The film has a lot of humor that works well. The cast is top-notch. It is the closest thing I've ever seen that mimics the experience of reading a well-written, well-drawn comic book. Director Joss Whedon, best known for his TV work creating shows like Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse has become one of the most powerful names in movies with the massive success of The Avengers. No one else could have made this film this well. He deserves a lot of credit for taking a story, an idea that could've easily collapsed under its own weight and delivered a fun, fast-paced narrative with quotable dialogue and great performances. Yet, despite all the superheroics and world-saving, you know that there's more to come. It's like a balloon that may get filled up with too much air: at some point, it explodes. Comic book characters can exist indefinitely in a comic book (Bruce Wayne has been Batman since 1939, with a few brief periods). That can't translate in reality. Actors move on and roles need to be recast, bringing in a new dynamic.The Avengers feels, to me, like an ever-expanding story. Stories need to have an ending, whether good or bad. You want to get off the stage while people are still applauding you, not until you're standing there with nothing left to give and having your audience tired of you. That is my main issue with The Avengers. I don't want them to overstay their welcome and they may be in danger of doing that. That, among many other things, is what I think Christopher Nolan has done right with his Batman trilogy Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises. That series is designed to have a beginning, middle and end. It's ending with a lot of acclaim, though as of this writing, DKR hasn't been released yet. But I may very well be wrong. $1.4 billion in sales? I imagine the superhero craze is going to be around for a long time. I highly recommend watching it, especially if you've seen the previous films, so you know what's going on.