Marvel's The Avengers

[Ekkebus]

It's hard to even begin forming a coherent thought about this movie. When Marvel started down this road with the first Iron Man movie, it seemed like such a pipe dream that the road was going to come to an end with an actual AVENGERS movie. It just seemed impossible that they would be able to make it all come together all those years down the road. Well, it fucking came together and it's fucking awesome. Random thoughts:

- Black Widow and Hawkeye got a lot of good character-developing love in this movie which was good, considering they were only in support roles in their previous appearances. I don't know if I'll ever totally love Scarlet Johannson as Black Widow but it was a big step up from basically just being a hot ass in Iron Man 2. I liked the early twist of having Hawkeye being mind controlled by Loki. It paid some homage to his villainous roots in the comics and gave him the opportunity to be badassed where he might have been overshadowed by the rest of the team coming together in the early parts of the movie.

- Holy shit, The Hulk. I like the other Hulk movies but this was the best Banner/Hulk we've gotten. I mean, both of those movies had Hulking and Smashing but neither of them really gave the Hulk the opportunity to really cut loose like he does at the end of this movie. There was a lot of awesome stuff but Hulk punching Thor and manhandling Loki are things I want gifs of. Also, Mark Ruffalo killed it, and was quietly hilarious in the face of the bigger personalities on the team. I'm totally down for a new Hulk movie starring him.

- I loved Loki and thought he was even better here than he was in Thor, hitting the right range from comically mischievous to maniacally so. Also props to Whedon for keeping the character alive and the Tessaract in one piece. Always nice to keep those doors open, y'know just in case.

- The Big Three were all great and I loved any and all of their interactions. Despite it being a team movie I thought they did a great job of picking up Cap's development as he tries to orient himself to a world so much more advanced than the one he left. Robert Downey continues to be Tony Stark, and I think there was a real risk of him dominating the movie as the most established character and biggest personality but they managed to balance things out really well.

- Going into the movie I was already speculating in my head who the villain might be for the next movie, the short list being Thanos, Kang or Ultron. From the first scene of the movie, where they set up that Loki is working with a force from the other end of space I knew it was going to be Thanos but that didn't make the pre-credits tease any less goosebump inducing.

Overall though, I'm fucking happy as shit. I'm sure I'll find some things to nitpick and surely some of the luster will wear off eventually but holy shit I saw an Avengers movie, a movie that took five other movies and many years to get to, and it was totally awesome. I can't wait for more and I just hope they can keep this ship sailing for many more years to come.

[barnaclelapse]

Going to see it tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.

[gobbleskat]

eh, it was okay. I hope the couple in front of me didn't mind my wall of jizz pouring over their heads from behind though.

[Wood]

I'm really hoping they keep this movie in the theaters for my homecoming. Lately they've been showing the marvel films on AFN, to include Iron Man 2 and Thor. I was surprised that Kenneth Braghna directed Thor, as I've only known him for doing Shakespeare films. Please don't spoil the film for me if you can.

[Ekkebus]

Well, you better not read that first post I made then.

Something tells me this movie is going to make a bit of money and it could still be at the top of the box office until MIB3 hits at the end of the month. So yeah, I think there's a good shot it'll still be playing when you get back.

[Ekkebus]

Uh, so yeah, Avengers had the biggest opening weekend of all time by a HUGE margin. I think you'll be safe for the theater experience when you get back Wood.

[barnaclelapse]

Think anything will even come close to "Avenger" numbers this summer?

[Wood]

So someone played a pirated copy of this film, and it was obviously a camcorder job. What I could watch of the film was genuinely good, and I'm very excited to see it in theaters. Also, pirates, if you want to pirate a film, for the love of a good fuck, get the screener. Comcorder recordings are universally horrible.

[barnaclelapse]

The best ones I've seen are the ones in which the person recording is actually talking.

[Wood]

Finally saw this, but in 3D. I've learned that having to wear glasses bugs the hell out of me. But the 3D wasn't bad though. The film really is excellent, but I think everyone knows that by now. Hell, even the ticket lady called me out on it, after she told me she saw it six times now. I had to respond with "I've been deployed."

I wish there was more to add to this post, rather than "It's AWESOME!", because what everyone already said applies. Though I'm incredibly impressed with the writing, all of the actors are really good in their roles, and Hulk get's to smash. It's really fun.