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The Avengers Review

By on May 4, 2012

It’s official, the summer blockbuster season has started. The Avengers is the first of many superhero movies coming to theaters this summer, so it’s tasked with setting the bar for its peers. Now, on paper this shouldn’t be hard, after all six heroes are better than one, right?

PRAISE:

  • Action Packed – If you’re a fan of action then this movie is for you. Seriously, you can stop reading now. There are fights, explosions, and huge set pieces aplenty. Summer blockbusters are all about the spectacle, and The Avengers doesn’t disappoint. Joss Whedon has created one of the most action packed movies in existence.
  • Performances – The actors bring their characters to life with ease and precision. From the heroes all the way down to the supporting characters — there isn’t a single cringe worthy performance to be found. Although, one of the actors outshine the others (more on that later).
  • Assemble – Seeing all the heroes on-screen was like a wet dream come true. Dear DC — make a Justice League movie, please!
  • Great One-Liners – This is probably the funniest superhero movie I’ve seen. The comedy is timed brilliantly, and none of the jokes fell flat.
  • Hulk Smash – Can I tell you a secret? I hated both of The Incredible Hulk movies, he’s a good character, but he can’t carry a movie on his own. Mark Ruffalo’s version of The Hulk is the best one yet, and he fits in with the cast wonderfully. I literally howled in delight the first time he hulked out.

WELL-DESERVED CRITICISMS:

  • Lack of Conviction – A superhero movie is only as good as its villain, and unfortunately Loki is completely one-dimensional here. It’s not the acting; Tom Hiddleston is a good actor. The problem is Loki lacks conviction, and the writers were aware of this because one of the characters tells him “You lack conviction.” I felt like he was just doing everything for sport, like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and said, “Fuck it, I’m going to enslave the human race.” Trying to take over Earth just to spite Thor is a terrible motive, and it hurts the movie.
  • Tony Stark Dominates – After watching this you may want a new Ironman movie sooner than later. Robert Downey Jr. steals every scene he’s in; it felt like he was the driving force throughout most of the movie.
  • Too Much In-Fighting – It was exciting seeing the heroes duke it out, but eventually it became vexing. They don’t truly become The Avengers until the last 30-20 minutes of the movie. This should have happened at least 30 minutes earlier, I wanted more scenes of them working together as a team.

CONCLUSION:

If you’re looking for a movie with tons of action, an all-star cast, and a great sense of humor look no further. But if you’re looking for some substance with that side of style — The Avengers will leave you feeling empty. It falls into the classic summer blockbuster trap, it looks wonderful, but it’s shallow. Rating: 7/10 “Good”

I'm DeShaun Zollicoffer, and I approve this message/bio. "26-years-old, Proud Northeast Ohioan, a Gamer Without Loyalties, an Equal Opportunity Offender, Apple Evangelist, Apple Hater, Music Lover, Anime Junkie, Little Monster, Frequent Flyer, Dexter Fanatic, Title Case Addict, and Geek Revolt's Founder and Editorial Director."
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  • Kaizin514

    Well, the in-fighting is very necessary because of the fact that in the comics, during their formation, a lot of in-fighting had occurred. So much so, that it did cause people like Banner to leave The Avengers for a short amount of time. And even then, I would still say this was one of my favorite movies this year, regardless of what else comes out. 

    Yea, Downey Jr. took all the scenes, but is that really surprising, even if he didn’t, he has become so established that he would take them even if he tried not to. As far as Loki is concerned, I partially agree, doing this to spite Thor was rather durr, but at least they explained his return and in a way, it did make sense. Thor fell in love on Earth and had decided to do his best to protect it, so, how do you get at him? Destroy the things he loves. 

    Cap’t America was exactly as he needed to be, a leader. He did his best to cope with current times and to top it all off, he made some of them realize that they need to stop fighting. I felt his presence wasn’t as strong as it should have been, but ultimately, I am ok with it. I really liked Ruffalo’s Hulk, considering at first I felt he was a last minute replacement. He did a good job of feeding the satirical parts while still holding true to the character’s role.

    Ultimately, I would have given this an 8/10, because Joss Whedon did something that nobody has really done very well, and that is take stars from multiple movies and combine them into a highly enjoyable movie that stays true to its roots (in the movie universe, anyways).

    By the way, you have a typo for “Well-Deserved Criticisms” 

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      Stop with the long comments ha-ha ;) Yeah, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed it, but I just wanted to see less in-fighting and a stronger plot. And thanks for the heads up on the typo.

      And no disclaimers! My word reins supreme lol

      • bisiro

        for that my friend you will get batman. marvel is more brawl less brain but don’t get me wrong, this movie was fucking awesome. hulk and hawkeye were the shit.

  • http://geekrevolt.com/author/fallguysoldier/ Edgar Ocampo

    I held off on posting here because I wanted to see the movie for myself before reading the review. I’ll admit, I was really impressed with it. But now that I’ve worn off that kid-in-a-candy-store feeling, I have to say I agree with your criticisms.

    I thought Loki was out for revenge and whatnot, but it just seemed like he wanted attention more than anything, and that’s pretty weak for a motive. (It may have worked for villain archetypes back in the day, but now, it’s almost comical… no pun intended.) I hate to say it but Loki was kind of having a teen angst moment…

    As for Iron Man, I never really liked him, both as a comic character as well as Robert Downey Jr. So the fact that this movie just put him in the spotlight even further kinda made me feel iffy. I would’ve liked more Captain America, Hulk, or Thor in the scene. Not so much Iron Man.

    I think the feud between the heroes themselves was pretty interesting, but I also think they dragged it a little too far. It’s one thing if they were doing this on purpose as a pre-cursor to the Civil War arc, but seeing as how that’s wishful thinking, it didn’t make too much sense for it to go on for as long as it did in this movie.

    Good review DeShaun, I think your score on it is pretty fair. I would’ve been a little bit nicer and gave it a 7.5 lol. It’s not a bad movie but it isn’t all the way up there as some fanboy critics have given it, either.