The Avengers

Directed by: Joss Whedon

Written by: Zak Penn, Joss Whedon










I have to admit, I was very late to the "Let's all go see 'The Avengers!'" bandwagon.  Like, a month and a half late.  I've had the problem lately that I get extremely excited about an upcoming blockbuster, but then lose almost all of the will to see it when the movie is finally showing in theaters.

The plot of "The Avengers," is pretty standard fare for a superhero flick.  Bad guy Loki (Hiddleston) decides to align himself with some nasty aliens to take over the earth.  Nick Fury (Jackson) decides to bring together a group of otherwise-unconnected heroes to fight off the evil onslaught.  The heroes must realize that their concern for the survival of humanity trumps their individual personality conflicts.  Action ensues; heroes win.  (And sorry for that last spoiler.)

I've got to say that this movie was 100% what I expected it to be.  Unfortunately, that was also it's biggest weakness.  "The Avengers" played out pretty much exactly how I imagined it would, with a few inconsequential variables.  There was never a moment where I thought, "Hey!  I didn't see that coming!"  The dialogue was sharp, as is expected from a Joss Whedon script, but the plot didn't deviate at all from the simple hero archetype.

Now, that being said, the movie was awesome.  The effects were phenomenal.  The actors really brought the characters to life.  The action scenes were pretty fantastic.  It hit every mark with flying colors.

A friend asked me what grade I'd give the movie.  I said I'd give it a solid A.  I'm just bummed there wasn't that extra-special moment to push it up to an A+.

Thor

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Written by:

-Screenplay: Ashley Miller, Zach Stentz, Don Payne

-Story: J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Protosevich

Being totally upfront (as I always am, sometimes to a fault), I grew up absolutely loving the "Thor" comic books. I've always been fascinated with this hero-as-mythical-god character and his adventures. I've also easily been able to ignore the strange contradiction of an ancient Norse god somehow speaking Elizabethan english. But, to my point - I'm not sure that this review is completely unbiased. I don't care, but I thought you should know.

In the film, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is banished from the kingdom of Asgard and has his powers stripped from him. Thor spends the rest of the movie trying to regain his powers. Unfortunately, without Thor in Asgard to keep his brother Loki in check, Loki has seized power and is up to his typical antics.

I absolutely loved this film. It managed to efficiently capture the energy and spirit of the comic books while also forging a new path for the character. Thor himself is exactly how I've imagined him for my nearly two decades of reading him. Loki is just as nasty as always, although I don't feel he received enough screen time to develop into the truly nasty villain that he should be. Even Natalie Portman's portrayal of Jane Foster was not as bad as I had imagined (although I'll never forgive her for what she did to the "Star Wars" prequels).

The visual effects were amazing, if a bit over-the-top. Asgard was visually stunning, although the CGI limited how many panoramic shots were seen, limiting most of the Asgard sequences to only a few locations. The Destroyer (unnamed in the film, for some odd reason) is terrifying in its destructive simplicity and managed to convincingly destroy basically an entire New Mexico town. My only fear, though, is that the effects are so grand that they won't translate well onto the small screen - but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Most impressive was how well balanced I felt the film was between comic book surrealism and a basic adventure story. The battle with the Destroyer is a perfect example - the little New Mexico town had a great sense of verisimilitude, but the battle itself was straight out of a comic. It didn't feel too far out of this world as to disrupt my sense of disbelief, but it clearly wasn't realistic either.

There were definitely some pacing issues in the story. The movie spends quite a long time establishing and developing characters before anything meaningful happens in the plot. I suppose some of that fat could have been cut while still maintaining the core vision of the story, although the epic scope of the film might have been diminished.

Go see this movie now!