The Avengers (2012) in Theater Review

After multiple solo films, Marvel’s heroes band together for a cinematic spectacle that may be the best superhero movie made so far and one of the best action films ever put on screen. UPDATED for 3D.

Yeah, that basically says it all. Go see it.

What, you want more than that? Fine…

The cast is terrific (even Scarlett Johansson does a great job), the effects are convincing, the writing excellent, character moments and development everywhere, and that final action sequence puts other blockbusters to shame. With Loki as the main villain, the drama and psychological battles equal any of the physical combat. This added much to the film and made me look forward to every scene he was in. Not since The Dark Knight has there been as fascinating a bad guy to watch.

If there was one awkward thing about the film, it would be the way it starts. The structure feels like the first act was skipped and we are dropped into the second act already in progress. In a sense the previous solo movies are collectively the first act, so it was slightly disorienting until I figured that out.

Every character gets good development and the interactions between the disparate personalities is played to entertaining effect. Stark and Banner’s “bromance”  is a highlight, with Stark and Loki’s back and forth a close second. Captain America gets some terrific lines as the elder of the group trying to adjust to the modern world, while Thor radiates guilt and frustration at not properly protecting the planet he has grown fond of. Meanwhile, the “normal” humans, Hawkeye and the Black Widow, have some very good moments dealing with personal loyalty and adjusting to the escalating weirdness around them.

The special effects deserve a comment or two. Not once did they pull me out of immersion in suspension of disbelief. Given how big and spectacular the set pieces were, this surprised me a great deal. WETA did a fantastic job.

Various themes are interwoven throughout the story, with freedom being the biggest one. Redemption, control, trust, narcissism, and self sacrifice are just some of them in this densely packed movie.

Expect to be highly entertained and left wanting more.

I need to see this film again and soon – this time in 3D.

UPDATE:

Well, the 3D did not disappoint like it usually does for me. Instead, I was highly impressed by the organic feel of the effects and felt it leant a lot to the movie. In fact, the 3D version was better to my surprise. Check out any sequence involving the Tesseract (still the Cosmic Cube to me) to be very impressed. The Stark tech holograms looked fantastic and made me want to see a 3D redo of Iron Man.

Also, I now have to say this is the best super hero movie so far. The Dark Knight is a more brilliant movie and true art, but part of its success is that it was a better James Bond movie than any since Sean Connery’s era. Which is to say it was not a comic book come to life on the big screen in the way The Avengers is.