Marvel's The Avengers: The Review

By now, everyone must've heard the news: The Avengers have broken the billion mark worldwide. Congratulations, Mr Whedon, for making it in big in a very treacherous territory that is the superhero/comic book movies.

Not many can claim to such accolades, not even the other Marvel or DC comic book movies which I also adore. For example: X-Men (2000) directed by Bryan Singer. Mr Singer probably was the first to give this genre a slight reboot by not focusing overtly on the fights and more on the psyches of the characters.

Sam Raimi polished it a bit more with Spiderman (2002) and Christopher Nolan expanded on the entire premise of psychological drama with a reboot in Batman Begins (2005). Since then, it looked as if nobody could combine the affecting storytelling, comedy and drama we comic book readers often find within those pages, and make it work on the big screen.

The guys are great,
but she is so much more.
Don't tie her onto a chair.

It was with an open mind - as I have with anything else - that I approached the latest Marvel offering. The first few moments opens with a loss on the human side: Loki steals the tesseract, an item filled with supposed endless energy. Normally, that was where everything began to slide downhill. But then we are introduced to men and woman who are to be part of Fury's team that will at first attempt to recover the stolen tesseract. Things however go awfully wrong, and before they all realised what actually is happening, Loki gets the upper hand again.

It sounds very simple when I write it like that. But Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed this movie, has been working with ensemble casts most of his career. Weaving stories around characters, making one action affect the others, carefully tying the loose ends (or at this point, probably intentionally leaving a few untied) are his fore. Nothing in this movie is done without a reason, and where no reason is provided, it is sure to mean something else is coming out of it later.

Captain, when he thinks no one
is looking.

The character interactions in this movie are brilliantly written - the comic book gist is acted out in the real world, making it akin to a tennis-match watcher's delight, watching and listening to their banter. Even the villains are given ample time to remind the viewers they have valid reasons to exist in the story, not to simply become the opposition.

Therein lies the attraction to Whedon's version of Marvel universe. Every character has a moment to shine, even the villains. The backstory of each character is shown briefly but ample for future expansions. Newbies and hardcore fans both will be delighted because in this manner, the newbies will learn a little about a character, while the hardcore fans can reaffirm their memories and move on with the storyline.

The action scenes, while not groundbreaking, are a feast for the senses. You are taken within Iron Man's suit during the fights, and treated with bird's eye view of the battlefield as seen by the sniper, Hawkeye. The scenes are shot with closeness that sometimes tend to overwhelm, but in a good way.

So yes, I was deeply satisfied, and very happy with the movie. Whedon has done what I thought nigh impossible: a stellar ensemble cast with an actually interesting story, and have each character enough time in the limelight but not overshadowing each other. In an interview, that was the reason why, Whedon had said, he wanted to do this project: the seeming 'impossibility of it' (errors are mine, I am writing from memory).

In the end, I guess the deceptively simple premise paid off in the end. Like over 1 billion dollars worldwide.