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| Magnificent Seven! The cast of THE AVENGERS. Images: MARVEL/DISNEY/PARAMOUNT. |
MARVEL's 'AVENGERS ASSEMBLE'
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston.
Written by Joss Whedon and Zak Penn
Directed by Joss Whedon
Out in UK cinemas from April 28th, from MARVEL STUDIOS, in association with DISNEY.
Out in US cinemas from May 4th.
UK Certificate: 12A
Reviewed by Scott Weller
NOTE: Contains possible plot spoilers
After years of anticipation, “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”- THE AVENGERS- finally assemble, within a crowd-pleasing and exciting big-screen collective that will not only make fans of the long-running Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created MARVEL comic series proud, but also have them excitedly clamouring for more, more, more: pleasing music to the ears, and the bank balance, for the company’s always ambitious, risk-taking feature film empire, which, with George Lucas surely as its inspiration, will wisely and surely spread its profit coffers into even bigger and better superhero projects to come…
Despite the glorious reviews now coming in, though, AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, prior to its release, and despite the line-up of actor talent/on-screen heroes, as well as the popular cult TV/film director Joss Whedon assigned to the project, was a risky poker gamble initiated by MARVEL. If it hadn’t have worked it could have sunk the relatively new studio or at the very least crippled it, killing off a highly anticipated team franchise, and possibly even curtailing, or even ending, some of the planned future adventures for some of its previous characters. Fortunately, for MARVEL, for Hollywood, heck, the world cinema audience, this first film is a veritable triumph and tribute to their unique universe, and its inspirational comic book writers and artists that give it such iconic life. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE (as its known in the UK) is a glorious triumph that actually lives up to its superb teaser trailers, with my weighty expectations- having grown up reading the comic series addictively between the ages of 7 and 17 years old- exceeded for the most part.
Primarily a much beloved figure of the TV industry, with populist genre shows like BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL and DOLLHOUSE under his belt, as well as the axed before its time sci-fi western/friendly STAR WARS homage, FIREFLY, all of which mixed comedy and adventures with mostly ensemble casts, I have to say that I’ve never really been a convert of Whedon, whose sometimes over-rated works I’ve always found bordering on great but often highly derivative. But, with AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, he proves the perfect choice to helm this densely packed project. Watching the bigger-than-life tale unspool, you can see that it was in this mans destiny-nay, his genetic make-up- to handle its gargantuan requirements, which ultimately not only has clever characterisation, ingenious moments and sterling and incredible action that will get audiences hearts pumping, but also has a lot of heart and humour so lacking in many of today’s thoroughly modern blockbusters. With the huge shopping list of responsibilities in bringing such legendary characters together, it could all have been a huge burden on any other normal directors shoulders. Fortunately there’s no sign of such Olympian pains from Whedon, the luckiest of kids within the ultimate candy store, who breezes through the project with seemingly skillful ease, alongside a fine ensemble cast and first rate technical wizards, backed up keeper of the MARVEL cinematic brand, producer Kevin Feige, all of whom treat the material with the greatest of respect and enthusiasm that it deserves.
Lets be honest here, there is nothing basically original at all with AVENGERS ASSEMBLE’s main plot, with its thinly developed cannon fodder aliens from another dimension breaking through and bringing about the kind of carnage that the Michael Bay and the TRANSFORMERS would be envious of. And it has some overly done but required exposition, too, in its opening half that needs to be addressed for potential first time audiences who haven’t seen the previous IRON MAN, HULK, THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA lead-ins, but overall the whole thing is done with such a great sense of joie de vivre that renders such niggles moot. It's simply invigorating to watch and I was laughing and smiling in all the right places and caught up in the sheer fun and entertainment of it all.
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| Determined to keep Earth safe: SHIELD agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). |
Even with such grand scale storytelling, though, it all-importantly starts small: with a little box-well, a little box that’s also of alien origin-the Tesseract, also known as the Cosmic Cube- seen earlier in both CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and THOR, that possesses a seemingly inexhaustible energy supply ripe for adaptation not only to power Earth’s finite resources but as a massive military weapon to be used against any future outer space aggressors that may land on their doorsteps. Unfortunately, such aggressors are soon arrived before such harnessing is primed, namely in the form of the snarling and embittered Asgaardian exile, and brother (well, adopted brother) of the mighty Thor: Loki, as played once more with posh conviction and calculated cunning by Tom Hiddleston, who, in master manipulator mode, wants the Tesseract so as to launch a massive terror striking invasion of Earth, and its human plebs, with a mysterious and legion army, in a thin but ultimately intriguing plot with shades of a villain behind the villain, Phantom Menace-esque overtone that comes into its own by the films finale scenes (more on that later).
The perfect modern choice to play Nick Fury, supreme agent of SHIELD (which, with all its high-tech agents and gadgets has a bit of a modern JAMES BOND feel about it), and one of Earth’s earliest beach-head resistors, Sam Jackson continues to solidify his reputation as an actor/icon as the eye-patched warrior, kicking the film’s first quarter off in a lively way, as the story then leads into the gathering of the at-first shaky AVENGERS INITIATIVE, a very tricky and head-butting first meeting/collision of contrasting personalities, against the emerging terror of Loki. By Fury’s side, and seen across four films, is the sometimes sly, often vocally clipped, but always formidable Agent Coulson (always nicely portrayed by Clark Gregg), who goes on to play an important part in the movie and acts as a catalyst for what happens later in the story with our heroic group. He’s also pretty fearless in once very cool scene, using big and untested weaponry against the most dangerous of baddies!
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| Back in the saving humanity business: Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man. |
Helping SHIELD in the fight back, and back in the red and yellow metal suit of Iron Man, is Robert Downey Jr., the acting/charisma glue that holds the film together at all the right times, saying Whedon’s often cracking one liners with confidence and mixing humour and drama with the same vitality he had in his prior solo films. The actor clearly relishes this successful venture and obviously a key behind the scenes player in helping to make the film and his character such a noteworthy reality. In many ways, despite Iron Man/Tony Stark being part of the ensemble, this gathering proves a better showcase for them than the previous IRON MAN 2!
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| The God of Thunder, Thor (as played by Chris Hemsworth). |
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| The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) stand ready. |
Downey is clearly the star here, but only just, as all the other dedicated AVENGERS heroes alongside him get some terrific moments in the spotlight, particularly Chris Hemsworth’s this time around, rather more serious, but still magnificent, God of Thunder: Thor, and Mark Ruffalo as a surprisingly good David Banner/Incredible Hulk who, separately and together with Hemsworth/Thor, almost steal the limelight from him in one particular noteworthy scene of high action and comedy that positively had the advance screening audience for the movie in positive hysterics and claps of brilliance. The rampaging not so jolly, green-skinned Hulk finally gets an on-screen appearance worthy of his comic book genesis- a monster marvel who will delight audiences in ways that had been lacking in his first solo movie vehicle from director Ang Lee. His/it’s eerie first transmutation, rampaging through SHIELD’s impressive sky base in pursuit of the Black Widow is terrific, followed by a fantastic Hulk-Smash! spree against the alien hordes later on.
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| A true hero of the star-spangled banner: Captain America (Chris Evans) |
Just as Thor’s mighty hammer is kept busy busting multitudes of alien heads, so too is the equally iconic and trusted stars and stripes super armoured shield belonging to the equally noble and patriotic Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, as played by the always likable Chris Evans, an actor with the talent to bring some class, dependable heroism and dignity to the square jawed, once World War II hero/icon character-a favourite hero of mine since I was a kid, who ultimately becomes the true leader of THE AVENGERS, rallying the troops and producing the leadership core that turns them into a fully fledged fighting force of power and instinct. Previously awakened from his icy tomb of the 1940’s, I think the fish out of water aspects of Cap in his new time frame could have been played with a little longer (in the kind of tradition that had been previously done by Gil Gerard as Buck Rogers), but with so many characters and expectations to fulfill, something had to go. Perhaps all that will be on the upcoming film’s immense 30 minutes of deleted scenes on September’s Blu-ray /DVD release?
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| Don't mess with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). |
Not superheroes, but extremely adept at what they do with their physical talents, Jeremy Renner is a welcome full-time character addition to THE AVENGERS as the crack-shot archer with the potent arrows, Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, since his earlier, blink and you miss it cameo in THOR, who also works well with modern-day sex symbol Scarlett Johansson. Looking great in 3-D, the actress also gets a chance to bring a bit more life to her role of ex-Russian agent/now SHIELD super-spy Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow, thanks to the kind of positive characterisation injection that Whedon has given his trademark women heroes since his days shaping BUFFY. Oh, and she kicks great enemy butt, too, especially in one impressive air-chariot combat sequence!
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| The evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wants Earth! |
Against such an incredible pooling of heroic power, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki emerges as a satisfying primary villain, as he and his alien invading buddies make the most of the unusual and power building qualities of the Cosmic Cube. Though it’s a shame that Cap’s nemesis, the Red Skull, previously played by Hugo Weaving, couldn’t have made a long-rumoured appearance in this film, too. He’d have made a brutal and finely matched pairing with Loki against our colourful heroes.
Amongst the mayhem and explosions, its nice to see lot of other references to the MARVEL universe of film characters, with fun cameos from Gwyneth Paltrow as Tony Stark’s resident Girl Friday, Pepper Potts, and the always reliable Stellan Skarsgard as top scientist, Erik Selvig, from THOR. There’s also some nice film/TV genre cameos to look out for that I won’t spoil, alongside supplemental support from UK actress Jenny Agutter and Powers Booth, now doomed to forever play corrupt politicians and businessmen, but, hey, he’s still great! And where would the world be without the ubiquitous cameo from the legendary Stan Lee, eh?
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| Some of the horrible alien horde attacking New York. |
Even with such acting thrill-power, the film has a few sagging moments here and there in its first half which could have been tightened up, with Whedon visually showing some of his TV rather than filmic experience as a director, but such niggles vanish when the film builds towards its genuinely thrilling climax, as our gang takes on the alien armada as it tears across New York, most notably with their eel/manta ray-like war machines weaving and smashing themselves in and around the city’s ravaged skyscrapers, courtesy of incredible effect work primarily by ILM. (Nobody else does it quite like them when it comes to blockbuster effects, and this is more than worthy of their incredible and indomitable talents in what is the ultimate fan-boy project-surely making boss George Lucas ever more proud!)
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| Thor and Captain America defend New York. |
Against a mighty and resilient main theme of steel and heroism from the always reliable Alan Silvestri-easily one of his best scores in a while-there’s also one long and exhilarating camera pass showing all of our heroes in their action prime, valiantly engaging the overwhelming hordes, that is genuinely inspired, and beautifully handled. A truly jaw-dropping moment of movie-magic that can only be really, totally experienced on an immersive, digital 3-D cinema screen!
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| Hulk smash! |
By films end, and as the cinema audience broke into enthusiastic clapping, there was one last surprise with the unveiling of the next major villain to plague Earth’s Mightiest, possibly even sending them out into the depths of outer space: his/its appearance sending a shiver of eager anticipation down my spine; that one of MARVEL’s most memorable alien baddies will be unleashed sequel-wise not too long from now. I’m not going to reveal who, or what, it is, but the excited reactions on one young kid’s face as he left the cinema, after the revelation, said it all for me and how I felt at the oncoming storm ahead. I just can’t wait for AVENGERS 2!
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| AVENGERS assemble for the final showdown! |
MARVEL’s most qualified success yet, I estimate that AVENGERS ASSEMBLE will easily make half a billion dollars at the box office this year, and that its presence will surely get up the goat of rival DC COMICS, who, with the modern exception of BATMAN and the possible popularity of their upcoming new SUPERMAN re-imagining, have not yet had epic success at translating their characters to the silver screen in the way MARVEL have. Their equivalent to THE AVENGERS, THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, or the WORLD’s FINEST movie pairing of Superman and Batman that almost happened a few years back, will most definitely kick into development high-gear now, part of an era of the superhero that looks set to be around for a few more years yet!
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| The splendid Japanese poster for the movie release. |
KOOL TV RATING: A fine cinematic template established for future group adventures. 9 out of 10
With thanks to DISNEY and its publicity teams for their help with this review feature.
