"We're not a team. We're a time bomb." Those words encapsulate the driving force behind 'The Avengers'. It is a destructive spectacle unlike any other, and at the same time an interesting character study on what happens when enormous egos are put in the same room. Think 'Transformers' with a brain.
'The Avengers' follows the converging story lines of Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as they are brought together by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to combat a force unlike anything the Earth has ever seen. The army of other-worldlies is led by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor's exiled brother, who wants to gain control of an unbridled energy source called the Tesseract (which was also the MacGuffin in 'Captain America') and inenvitably rule the world. The Avengers is rounded out by the best the Earth has to offer: the world's greatest spy, Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), and the world's greatest archer, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). But assembling superhumans who have each saved the world once before (in their own movie) proves to be a flammable situation. Can this ragtag team band together in time to defeat Loki and save the fate of the world?
In short, 'The Avengers' is the best comic book movie since 'The Dark Knight'. However, not everyone may like this movie. Namely, my girlfriend.
She: I hated it.
He: I saw you rolling your eyes under those 3D glasses. What could you have possibly not liked about this movie??
She: It was two and a half hours of aliens and creatures.
He: See, that sounds awesome to me. And you've seen the other Marvel movies before... you didn't expect that from a comic book movie?
She: No. I liked 'Iron Man'. I liked 'The Incredible Hulk' too. I don't mind superhero movies, as long as they're grounded in reality. On this planet. Although I thought 'Captain America' was cheesy, I liked it a lot better than 'Thor'. If I would have known that the villian in this movie was Thor's brother, I would have lowered my expectations.
He: I actually liked Loki as the villian in this one. He's much more formidable a foe than he was in 'Thor'. Tom Hiddleston made Loki more menacing, crazed, and almost downright disturbing in 'The Avengers'. His gaze approaches Hannibal Lector levels in certain scenes.
She: I will say this: 'The Avengers' was a lot scarier than I expected for a PG-13 movie. People brought their little kids to this!
He: Good point. Even the subject matter is decidedly more adult than the previous flicks. You really feel like the world is at stake in this one.
She: And thankfully you made me watch the other movies, otherwise I would have had no idea what was going on.
He: Well, the storyline of this one isn't that hard to follow...
She: Yes, but the characters had no backstory. If I hadn't seen 'Captain America', I would be asking "who the hell is this dork running around in the blue suit?"
He: I'm sure you'll catch flack from the fanboys for that one. I did like how director Joss Whedon didn't waste time with that though... it definitely pays to see the previous movies. They didn't spend much time on Hawkeye and Black Widow either. They gave them just enough motivation to have skin in the game without weighing down the movie with even more history to keep track of. Plus, I'll never complain about casting Scarlett Johannson...
She: And even though I hate the story of Thor, he's not hard to look at...
He: So can we agree that 'The Avengers' is at least worth the price of admission?
She: If you know what you're in for, sure. And the only way to see it is in IMAX 3D.
He: Couldn't have said it better myself!
'The Avengers' is now playing in theaters.
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