The Avengers Review

After four years of setting up their main characters, Marvel unveiled its magnum opus: The Avengers. Though not the first crossover film ever made, this film was the most ambitious, in how it kept the continuity of all of its origin films and managed to balance the different characters, prompting many other studios to start making their own cinematic universes. 

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgaard
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Synopsis: When Earth comes under the threat of an alien invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D. decides to bring together the greatest heroes the planet has ever seen to prevent global domination.

Visuals and Audio: The first major thing of note is that The Avengers is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a theme that would be used again. Though character themes were developed for the other films, they remained in those other films, with new themes being developed for the sequel, save one or two moments. The theme Alan Silvestri composed for this film, however, has remained the main theme of The Avengers series all the way through Infinity War. As far as themes go it's pretty decent. It feels triumphant and heroic, which is very fitting for bringing six heroes together. It feels a bit like a missed opportunity, however, to not use the character's individual themes together at all, as it could have carried a thematic resonance. Likely the decision was made due to the characters mostly lacking memorable themes, but it's still a shame.

Visually, there's oddly not that much notable. The effects are good, though not groundbreaking, and the editing and cinematography do their job. The major aspects of The Avengers come in its acting and writing. The technical side of the film certainly doesn't hold it back, but it doesn't push itself forward in any significant way either.

Cast: The big question surrounding this film before its release was how Marvel would manage to balance six protagonists, four of whom had already led their own films. Thankfully, all of the actors are fully on board with the needs of the film. While a situation like this can to actors fighting and pushing to be the "main" character, the actors here all accept the film as an ensemble and allow themselves to work within the group. Chris Evans' Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man do seem to have the most screen time, but they play off each other well, falling easily into their roles within the group without losing the characterizations they developed in their own films. Scarlett Johansson's role is heavily expanded from her introduction in Iron Man 2, and very much for the better. She is playing an actual character here, who is allowed to fully keep up with the rest of the team, and never shortchanged or used solely for titillation. Chris Hemsworth's Thor has less to do. This is likely due to the fact that his villain is the antagonist of this film, and if he were more prominent it would feel more like a Thor sequel than a true Avengers film. He doesn't have an arc of any sort, but Hemsworth manages to feel comfortable in his role, and he absolutely nails most of his comedic dialogue. Finally, the two new additions to the cast are Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo, who takes over the role of Bruce Banner from Edward Norton. Renner doesn't make much of an impression, spending half the film as a mindless henchman before showing up in the finally to basically just fire some arrows at the enemies. Ruffalo's impact is far stronger. His Banner is much less intense than Norton's, albeit not completely lacking, which befits a character who was designed to fit into an ensemble. Ruffalo has fun with the role, finding a certain sense of humor in the character's predicament. Ruffalo also plays the Hulk through motion capture, and the character is given many of Ruffalo's facial features. For the first time the Hulk feels like the same person as Bruce Banner, which allows their situation to be more relatable. The Hulk himself is made far more fun to watch in this film. Though the character is still uncontrollable and unpredictable, this film uses those traits for comedy rather than for terror. This allows the character to be fun, as well as to not dominate the entire film.

The next step is finding a villain worthy of bringing together an entire team of superheroes. You can speak to the Justice League for confirmation that this is easier said than done. Rather than picking a new villain, The Avengers played it safer and took the best villain they had already introduced: Loki. Tom Hiddleston's performance as Thor's troubled younger brother was the highlight of that film, and he is similarly strong this time around. Now fully evil, Hiddleston makes the most of his scenery chewing, turning mischief into full blown malice and having a ball doing it. though his character is a far bigger threat this time around, he hasn't lost his sense of tragedy from Thor, and the trauma the character has felt is apparent through his actions, and through his more disheveled appearance. He manages to be a perfect foil for each of the Avengers, and gives the proper mix of threat and charisma to warrant an entire team of protagonists to bring him down.

Writing: Easily the largest challenge faced by the film was how to handle the screenplay. This movie had to balance six protagonists: four who had already been developed, one who had barely been introduced and a final one who had been recast with a personality change. On top of this, the film had to create a credible, yet interesting, threat that would feel large enough to warrant an "event" film. Finally, on top of all of that, it had to also be entertaining. To handle all of this, Marvel hired Joss Whedon, a television veteran who had specialized in funny and exciting ensemble television series. This proved to be the perfect choice for the film. Whedon gives most of the Avengers arcs of their own that complimented one another, and a strong and emotional villain arc that was more than just "big guy wants to take over the world." The way the characters interact, argue and finally work together feels genuine to how they had been established in their previous films, except for Hulk and Black Widow who are far improved from their introductions. Whedon also stacks the film beginning to end with his specific brand of witty, quippy dialogue. While this is a trait that would become somewhat overused in later films, here it serves to keep the film's tone light and bubbly. This way the movie never loses its sense of fun and whimsy, even when the stakes are highest. It also helps that most of these lines are very funny, and the actors posses capable timing to make them work at their highest. While the overall plot arc of the film is exceedingly simple, everything that had to go into making it work was so incredibly complicated that simple was about the only way it could have succeeded. While later films would add more wrinkles to the plot, anything more here would have weighed the film down. Those later films needed this one to establish the idea of these characters interacting and saving the world together, and the way The Avengers goes about that is absolutely what these characters and this world needed.

Directing: This was the first film in the Marvel Universe to be written and directed by the same person. This does come through on screen, as the film has many of the makings of a standard Joss Whedon production. This occasionally errs into a mistake, but manages to just avoid it. The thing that keeps it from falling down that hole is that the characters still feel and behave as they did in their prior films. Tonally, the Joss Whedon style is very light and fun. Though he has had heavier moments in his history of film and television making, he mostly avoids them here. The result is a film that moves quickly through its two hour plus run time, making sure every scene has some reason to keep the audience invested. There are occasional moments where this is lacking, but they are quick enough that the film never really loses the audience's interest. The sheer level of fun and enjoyment that Joss Whedon creates is admirable, and a huge reason as to why this film was and is a success. Even with as light as the film feels, Whedon still manages to give the final act some impact. He is able to tap into the differences between the characters so well, that the moment they all come together to fight off the threat, it feels like a momentous occasion. This final sequence becomes a standout action beat, and served as the Marvel third act template for several years.

Verdict: Possibly the most ambitious film of all time when it came out, The Avengers stands as a non stop thrill ride of fun. A nearly perfect balance of its ensemble and a hyper-focus on entertainment value and enjoyability take what could have been a messy film, and allows it to feel so coherent that some viewers felt it too simple. It's not a tremendously emotional film, but it is a tremendously entertaining film. It feels like a true event, one that served single-handedly as a proof of concept. It's such a success that many studios are still trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to copy it. However, it truly does feel like lightning in a bottle: the perfect mix of patience, talent and luck, that forced its series to be taken seriously in the popular zeitgeist.

Grade: 8.5