CAST: Tony Stark (Robert Downey), Cris Hemsworth (Thor), Cris Evans (Captain
America), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Mark Ruffalo (Dr. Bruce Banner/The
Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha/Black Widow), Don
Cheadle (Col James Rhodes), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson),
Stellan Skarsgard ( Professor Erik Selvig), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill),
Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts); DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon; SCREENWRITER: Joss Whedon, Zac Penn (based on Marvel Comics
Superhero Team, sixth installment of Marvel Cinematic Universe); PRODUCER: Marvel
Studios; EDITOR: Jeffrey Ford & Lisa
Lassek; MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Alan Silvestri; GENRE: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction; Fantasy; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Seamus
McGarvey ; DISTRIBUTOR Walt Disney; LOCATION: USA; RUNNING TIME: 142 minutes
Technical Assessment: 4
Moral Assessment: 3.5
Cinema rating: For viewers 14 years old and
above
Nick Fury
(Samuel Jackson), director of the international peacekeeping agency SHIELD,
recruits Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris
Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black
Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to form the superhero team of a lifetime that will
take on Loki (Tom HIddleston), the brother of Thor. Loki suddenly materializes at the SHIELD
headquarters to steal the Tessaract, the device that will enable him to open a
portal in the skies through which evil metal monsters will enter to attack Earth. Loki, of course, wants total control of the
planet, and so begins to wreak havoc on Manhattan, in New York.
What happens when you
have too many cooks in the kitchen? As
the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the brew, right? But what happens when you get together six
superheroes to fight one villain from out of this world? Superheroes = superegos. So, first, a clash of egos, which may begin
with words and escalate into actual fisticuffs and then metal clashing against
metal, as in Thor’s hammer banging Captain America’s shield and vice versa. In the movies, that is great entertainment.
Outside of Loki (who looks like a greasy-haired druid, although too
clean shaven to appear menacing) it’s hard to tell who’ll emerge as another
villain, what with all the superheroes’ superpowers! It’s a really super-super strangely enjoyable
freak show and you’d be hard put to decide which freak to root for. How can you not be amused, for example, by
the exchange between Captain America and Iron Man. CA mocks IM who’d be nothing without his
armor; IM with characteristic braggadocio quips that without his suit he’d be a
“genius, playboy, billionaire”. CM
glumly declares what is needed is a hero; IM blurts out, “A hero? Like you?
You’re a laboratory experiment!
Everything special about you comes from a bottle!”
Don’t expect a movie
of this type to have much of a plot; with six superheroes kicking ass, a meaty
plot would just be a distraction. What director
and writer Joss Wheadon does here is use the formulaic plot as a board on which
to pin his characters and action sequences.
It’s a good vs. evil story and we all know who’ll win in the end. But how the good will win is the challenge
that will showcase Wheadon’s directorial talents. Wheadon is able to delineate the hero-characters
admirably, which may be the main reason not one of them emerges as the
super-superhero; all are allowed to shine according to their nature and they
come out equally victorious in the end. Even
Black Widow who possesses no superhuman qualities turns out to deliver more
punches with her bare hands than any of the guys, precisely because she’s got
no magical props to lean on.
The Avengers delivers a message that upholds
teamwork as the essence of the war against evil. And it scores high because it explodes with
stunt after stunt but doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a good show, it doesn’t tax your
emotions, and it’s even unexpectedly funny at times—especially what it does to
the megalomaniac villain.
