Yet Another “The Avengers” Review

Marvel Studios Assembles its much-loved Superheroes in latest movie “The Avengers” (or “Marvel’s Avengers Assemble” if you like that sort of thing), but can these stars-in-their-own-right work as a team?

Captain America (Chris Evans, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Losers), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man, Iron Man 2), Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Thor, The Cabin In The Woods), The Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson, Iron Man 2, We Bought a Zoo) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island, The Kids Are Alright) are brought together by super-spy Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson, Iron Man 2, Django Unchained) to prevent evil Asgardian Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Thor, Midnight In Paris) and his army of reptilian-Aliens "The Chitauri" from unleashing the power of the Tesseract.  Are you keeping up?

The movie opens with a very Bond-esque pre-titles sequence.  What I enjoyed most about this was that it didn’t feature any of the Superheroes and instead focused on the inner-workings of shady Government Agency SHIELD.  The scene leaped straight into the action and showed us just how high the stakes were, you genuinely believe they have no other choice but to round up the big guns.

The first act is all introductions. Cap and Iron Man’s introductions are quick and to the point, our introduction to the Black Widow does more for her character than the entirety of Iron Man 2 ever did and within five minutes of meeting Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner he seems more complex and believable than Edward Norton’s take.  I think out of all the super-characters in the movie it is Black Widow and Bruce Banner/The Hulk who get the best treatment in terms of character development; they are the real heart of the whole piece.  The first act ends with the capture of villainous Loki, and a battle between “The Big Three” Thor, Captain America and Iron Man that shows everybody just why Cap should be boss.

Act 2 slows things down, focusing on character and plot.  This paranoia/Psychological Thriller vibe may not sit too well with those audience members who just came for the “Hulk Smash”, but the tension between the uneasy group scintillates and a marvellous action sequence at the climax should win everybody over.  Fans of Agent Coulson will be pleased to see him get in on the action, as his importance to the mythology is ramped-up to heroic status.

The third act is pure, pant-wetting action.  Visually stunning and unrelenting, it grips you to the end.  I saw this movie in 2D, but the loveliness of this action-packed act did have me tempted to go back and watch in 3-Dimensions, headache be damned!  All of the characters are given equal screen-time and importance, even the previously short-changed Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) holds his own amongst the big-boys.  The ending is suitably upbeat and cheesy and definitely leaves you wanting more from these characters, both individually and as the Avengers.

The entire cast is stellar, but the standout star is clearly Writer/Director Joss Whedon.  Given the impossible task of squeezing a bunch of Larger-Than-Life characters into one Two-and-a-bit-hour story, Whedon manages masterfully.  His storytelling strengths lie in his depiction of strong women and being able to keep an ensemble cast in check with a great balance of character-driven moments and a razor-sharp wit, and his fingerprints are all over this movie. You are never more than two minutes from a real, gut-tensing laugh and you will leave genuinely caring about all of the characters, even the ones for whom you previously didn’t.

There are plenty of Easter Eggs for Keen-eyed fans of the Comic books (is that the Stark Resilient Repulsor-Car Tony takes off in?) but this may occasionally work to the film’s detriment, particularly in the post-credits scene.  Thankfully you only have to sit through a couple of minutes of credits before you are treated to a taste of what “Avengers 2” may have to offer but, unless you are knowledgeable about the comic book universe, you may come away feeling a little under-whelmed.

“The Avengers” is bigger, better, funnier and more emotionally resonant than anything that has come before, and has definitely raised the standard of Superhero Blockbusters to a whole new level.  Most importantly it is proof that you can maintain the sense of fun and unbelievability of the source material without compromising the quality.

Best Line: THOR: What do you think this is?

IRON MAN: Shakespeare in the Park?

                       

          (Gesturing to Thor’s cape)

                       

         “Doth Mother know thou weareth her drapes?

The Comics: Whedon borrows from many different sources within the comics, but clearly the biggest influence is Mark Millar’s 21^st take on the Super-Team “The Ultimates”.  Millar wrote two volumes:

Ultimates: Ultimate Collection TPB


Ultimates II Ultimate Collection

Both are well worth a read.

Yet Another “The Cabin in the Woods” review.

Five Teenagers head to a creepy Cabin in the Woods. “Jock” Curt (Chris Hemsworth), “innocent” Dana (Kristen Connolly), “sensitive” Holden (Jesse Williams), “promiscuous” Jules (Anna Hutchinson) and “stoner” Marty (Fran Kranz) soon find themselves fighting for survival.  Sounds familiar? Think again…

Let me start by warning you, this is really a film that has to be seen without any knowledge of what is coming, and so I won’t be providing any kind of detailed synopsis.  With a film filled with as many twists and turns as this one has it would be impossible to keep any synopsis spoiler-free.

First and foremost, “The Cabin in the Woods” is not a Horror movie, not really.  Anyone hoping to see ninety+ minutes of guts (yuck!), shocks (Jesus!) and boobs (Wahey!) may come away a little disappointed.  While the movie does feature all of these tropes and more, that really isn’t the point of it all.  It’s really more of an essay on Horror movies than anything else: deftly deconstructing the genre - picking apart the flaws and the clichés and putting them back together with a knowing smile and a wink - more meta fiction than fiction proper. That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable, it very much is.

After a brief opening scene that sets up mysterious-yet-humorous technicians Sitterson and Hadley (played by the brilliant Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, respectively) it’s very much business as usual for the next twentyish minutes: the Protagonists are set up swiftly and nicely before setting off on their adventure without a care in the world, until they meet a creepy, redneck Gas attendant in the middle of nowhere who fills everyone with plenty of pant-filling dread before pointing the way to the Teens’ final destination.  So far, so “The Hills Have Eyes”, right?  They reach their home for the weekend – an Evil Dead Cabin-copycat – and step inside, and the predictability of the movie grinds to a halt… To reveal anymore would be doing you a disservice, but believe me when I say that most of what follows will have you alternately thinking “WTF?!” and “Oh, I see!”

Anybody in his or her right mind should know the name of co-writer Joss Whedon, but it’s the authorial voice of collaborator Drew Goddard (who also Directs) that can be most strongly heard.  As the screenwriter of Cloverfield it’s pretty obvious he has the chops for writing horror, but here it seems more like he’s channelling his work from Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” where it’s humour that plays a more prominent role.  A lot of Horror Movies tend to throw in a bit of humour to relieve the tension - and to wrong-foot the audience into a false sense of security - before smacking them in the face with a trouser-wetting scare and this is where, for me, this movie falls a little flat. Not because it isn’t funny, but because it is so funny that the horror seems less scary.

The principle cast all perform well, but the movie really belongs to the comic relief: loveable-stoner Marty (played wonderfully by Fran Kranz, who was also the comic relief in Joss Whedon’s short-lived TV series “Dollhouse”) and the Lab-Technician duo, played by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford.

Overall, the movie was a success. What it lacks in horror it more than makes up for in humour, intelligence and sheer originality.

The Good: The way the Japanese Schoolchildren deal with their problem had me in stitches.

The Bad: The “Big Twist” was so obvious I thought there was sure to be another (message me if you want to know what my theory was, it’s a doozy).  There wasn’t, but once you come to terms with that the movie still works.

The Ugly: Ballerina. ‘Nuff said.