Summer blockbusters have varied over the years. Jaws was the first one, a thrill ride that touched something fearful inside all of us. Back to the Future was fun to think about as well as experience. Now, movies like Independence Day and Transformers show us how things can get blown up in the most amazing way possible. The core of all of these movies though is fun: it’s fun to see people overcome their fears, travel through time, and blow things up. The Avengers, Marvel Comics moniker for their collection of superheroes, is pure, enthusiastic fun. On top of that, it injects the superhero genre with something that hasn’t been extensively studied: a super team (with Exceptions being Watchmen and Mystery Men).
While Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) have been off having their own adventures, SHIELD members Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), Agent Hill (Colbie Smulders), Professor Erik Selvik (Stellan Skarsgard), and Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) have been learning about the uses of the tesseract, a multi-dimensional energy tool. Trying to take it from them is Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s adopted (this is made clear) brother who was lost at the end of Thor, the movie. Loki wants to use the tesseract to unleash an alien army on earth, with Manhattan being the beginning of the enslavement of the planet.
As you can see above, there are a large number of characters in this movie. Credit goes to Joss Whedon for successfully giving each character a moment or two to shine, including minor characters like the SHIELD agents. More importantly, the time is equally proportioned based on the pedigree of each of the superheroes. Iron Man has more screen time than say, Captain America, who is not as interesting/complicated of a character. Each character moment is also built around who the character is, which is a nice way of saying the moments don’t feel forced or over the top, they feel organic to the story.
The special effects aren’t stellar, but they are very good. The last 45 minutes is lots of CGI related battles, and I never felt as if I was not sure who was battling who like in Transformers. Yes, there are lots of explosions, but there is enough time between them to make sure the audience is centered to what is going on.
The acting is fine across the board. Downey is very good, but surprisingly so is Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, who finds the right tone for his character in this film. Clark Gregg, in an expanded role, is also nicely drawn. Some of the other characters do not have as much to do such as Black Widow and Hawkeye, but they are established enough in this movie to be expanded upon in later films.
Even though it is not perfect (the 1st 45 minutes can bog down in story), the Avengers provides nice counterweight to other superhero adventures like Batman. While Batman taps into the struggles of being a superhero, the Avengers embraces the wonderful fantasy of the superhero. When I read comic books as a child, I imagined myself flying though the air like Iron Man, smashing things like the Hulk, and shooting a bow an arrow like Katniss Everdeen, I mean, Hawkeye. The Avengers ushers in the summer blockbuster season with the enthusiasm of you inner child. Just sit back, and let the joy sweep over you.