Oh Boy, Did They Ever Assemble...

May 7, 2012

In case you hadn’t heard yet on the news, Avengers made an astonishing $200 million estimated opening weekend, and when the final accurate numbers are released, it’s going to be higher than that. Much higher. The scary thing is that for all the presumptions that the John Carter debacle had literally lost Disney all the profit from The Avengers, the fact is that The Avengers will indeed blow away that $150 million writeoff loss because every single penny the movie makes from this day forward is pure profit as the $200 million budget has already been made. 

This weekend’s record, BTW, also leaves The Dark Knight, Harry Potter 7 Part 2, The Hunger Games and that Twilight piece of crap’s opening weekends in the dust. It also set the record for highest Saturday ever of $70 million in a single day and fastest ever to $200 million. It may also become the fastest to $1 billion depending on what the dropoff is like. 

I’ve gotta be honest, when I went to see it with the little nieces and nephews, we saw a 3:50 2D showing and the theatre was half full which shocked me. This led me to believe that Avengers would not be as big as I initially believed it would. However, we exited the show as the 7PM showings started and I noticed long lineups to get in. Now as for the film itself:

 

·         I loved the fact that the film took its sweet time in setting everything up and did not play to the ADD crowd, giving everyone the payoff in the final action sets. You can see all the Whedon trademark elements: the “Big Bad” villain; the great one-liners; the dysfunctional group argument scene with multiple valid points of view; the death of the beloved supporting character; the breaking of traditional setups (ex: Loki’s “I am a God” declaration followed by Hulk smashing him was exactly the same as a season of Buffy where Spike went into a big monologue of how he would finally bring down Buffy only to be zapped by the Initiative). Definitely Buffy the Vampire Slayer with superheroes. Overall plot was a bit weak and had some logic holes but who gives a crap? This was unbelievably entertaining.

·         Mark Ruffalo and Joss Whedon are the only combination that can make another Hulk movie work. Both of them got the Hulk so right and especially Bruce Banner right in a way the first two movies never did. They remembered that Banner was a SCIENTIST and Ruffalo portrayed him as intelligent, angry, scared, sad, paranoid and still a decent human at heart all at the same time. Whedon remembered that when Hulk shows up, the audience wants the big green loveable rage guy to be an actual SUPERHERO, not a “misunderstood monster”. The audience I was with LOVED him beating up on the aliens, saving Iron Man’s ass, and especially when he literally smashed Loki around like a rag doll during his imperious “I am a god and you are all beneath me” speech and couldn’t stop laughing at that one

·         Definite fanboy moments deliberately set by Whedon as he had several dream matchups between the heroes in Widow vs Hawkeye, Thor vs Iron Man, Thor’s Hammer vs Cap’s Shield and Thor vs Hulk. What was interesting to me was that in true comic book fashion… there was no winner in any of these. All ended in a draw and very cleverly so I might add in ways that were actually organic to the story itself.

·         The audience I was with completely lost the point of the scene with the janitor telling the naked Banner that the Hulk deliberately landed in a place where he could not have hurt anyone. This scene is what makes Banner realize once and for all that he can control the Hulk through his conscience and heart instead of his mind. I agree it was too subtle for the mainstream audience. To be honest, all the movies have to do to win the audience over is have Hulk save a little kid or a puppy. I mean that literally, he did this very often in the comics. There is in fact a famous issue of his comic  where the Hulk is asked by a little child (clearly implied to be Jewish to older readers) to save her oppressed village by acting as the Golem of Jewish mythology and he does so.

·         Tom Hiddleston is amazing. He brings such depth to Loki that the audience hates him yet still wants him to be redeemed. It was a great scene where Thor implores him to end the invasion and he shows a hint of pain and regret. When Thor says they can do it together as brothers, I could literally feel the audience wanting him to do it and then of course he stabs Thor which got my audience pissed at him. Yes, the lines help but only a truly great actor can put you on a roller coaster ride like that with his interpretation.

·         Oddly enough, Captain America was my favorite hero throughout the entire movie. He really developed well into a strategist by the end. If only Whedon had vetoed that horrible looking “updated” costume. Ah well, he made Dollhouse, he’s not perfect. On the flipside, I couldn’t stand Sam Jackson as Nick Fury. My perception is biased because I know people who have served in real life, but I really don’t buy Jackson as a soldier or leader at all. He is playing a caricature of one as opposed to being one. God’s sake, Cobie Smulders who is a fluffy model turned actress in real life from How I Met Your Mother actually had more depth and believability as a soldier.

·         You guys saw the TWO credits scenes right? The reveal of the movie’s next villain Thanos (another classic Whedon bit) and the great bit at the end of the credits, right? RIGHT? Shame on you if you missed it.