"The Avengers" - 2012 - movie review

"The Avengers" is one of the best superhero movies I've ever seen. Arguably the best. Towering above most of the competition it's an action packed, superbly written and directed superhero epic with a top-notch cast that never forgets to be fun.

If the movie has a weakness it's that you need to go in with an understanding of not only of who these characters are but what they've been up to in previous films. There's no time for backstories (that's what the individual films were for) and director Joss Whedon doesn't pretend otherwise. If you have that understanding, or are okay with simply accepting what's put in front of you regardless, you're in for nearly 2 and 1/2 hours of comic book movie making the way it should be.

The story is basically this: Loki, last seen plummeting to oblivion at the end of "Thor", conspires with the Chitauri to bring the pain down on earth, his brother's beloved adopted planet. Loki wants revenge, the Chitauri want the tesseract, a cube of unimaginable power that will help them spread death and destruction across the galaxy. (Certainly we've seen that storyline before in the first "Transformers" film but The Avengers is so well done I'm not of a mind to take the writers to task for that narrative transgression.) Loki's plan discombobulates S.H.I.E.L.D. forcing Nick Fury and company to take the extraordinary step of recruiting all the superheroes in their stable to form a team to take on the threat. Problem is, the kids don't necessarily play well together. Being the alpha dogs in their respective neighborhoods they've never really needed to cooperate and when they're thrown together here sparks fly. Loki is aware of this and does his level best to drive wedges between them. This strategy culminates in a bitch session of mythic proportions as the various players take turns tearing into one another while at the same time questioning the motives of Nick Fury. Needless to say though when push comes to shove they band together and shove back, hard.

The danger in a film like this is that the "Shakespeare in the park" elements (to borrow Iron Man's toss-off assessment of the conflict between Thor and Loki)  will weigh down what should be a roaring good smackdown flick (see "The Dark Knight") but fear not, for the Avengers have within their midst ready made comic relief in the form of the aforementioned Tony "Iron Man" Stark. At one point stodgy old Captain America attempts to dress him down by asking "Is everything a joke to you?" Thank goodness the answer to that is mostly yes because his razor sharp quips continually work to balance the mood. The other characters are given their own opportunities as well and I must say that nothing in recent cinema has caused me to laugh louder than a brief but priceless interaction between the Hulk and Loki late in the film. This short scene is a perfect example of a device director Joss Whedon sprinkles throughout the movie where interactions occur that could go either way. Sometimes he breaks left, sometimes he breaks right but, since effort was taken to create both dread and levity you never really know which way things will go. Whedon understands that the element of surprise requires the coin have two sides; a seemingly simple but oft-forgotten element in storytelling.

Another big plus of the storyline is that it isn't cluttered with numerous baddies. Loki is the focus throughout. All you need to know about the evil army he employs is that they have their own agenda. Though Loki's plan exposes a dark side to the people who ostensibly 'control' S.H.I.E.L.D. that fact simply sticks in your craw as potential fodder for subsequent installments in the franchise. And they are coming sure as dawn follows dusk.

The Avengers manages to pull off the rare feat of giving everyone in a loaded cast of characters relevance. The only characters that could be seen as perhaps being out of place among the gods, uber-mutants and flying 22nd century war machines are Black Widow and Hawkeye. But even they are given their own parallel plot points which serve to give the audience someone in the superhero pantheon to relate to. It would have been nice to give them a more meaningful role in the ultimate victory like the Hobbits had with the victory over Sauron, but that's a small quibble indeed when the entirety of the film is considered. And while I'm quibbling I'd just like to state for the record that Thor is a god, not a demi-god as is stated in the film. A demi-god is the offspring of a god and a human. Thor is a pure blood Asgardian. Methinks his demotion here has little to do with simple error and everything to do with Marvel and Disney not wishing to alienate potential audience members who might subscribe to the one-and-only god myth. This is illustrated in an exchange between Black Widow and Captain America when Black Widow states; "You should probably sit this one out. Those guys (Thor and Loki) are from legend. They're basically gods." and CA replies "There's only one god and I doubt he dresses like that."

Quibbles aside The Avengers fires on all cylinders right from the get-go. Though it's undoubtedly a special effects film the effects serve to inform the story rather than becoming it. It never drags at any point during it's 2+ hours. It's exciting, funny and engaging and should more than satisfy fans of the comic books, (as well as the previous 'setup' films), while wetting their appetites for future installments. I'm seeing it more than once. You should too.