Movie Review: The Avengers

As I mentioned in my last blog, I went to see this Sunday, but it was sold out, so my friend and I were like, ‘let’s see it in the middle of the week, it’ll be empty.’  Well, we were wrong.  The theatre was packed, and apparently AMC was caught unawares as well, because they were woefully understaffed.

If you haven’t seen the various Marvel movies over the last few years, the Avengers builds off of them, joining Iron Man, Thor and Captain America with the supporting cast that had been introduced previously.  In this movie, the main villain is Loki, Thor’s foster brother.  While I can’t say the story was utterly original, it was still done on a large scale and written and directed by the indomitable Joss Whedon.  And that is the main point I need to make about this movie.  Being a long time Buffy fan, I know all too well how amazing and talented Joss Whedon is a storyteller, and even his worst episodes of Buffy, Angel, Firefly or Dollhouse were still leaps and bounds above other shows.  It is only Lost that I can ever compare to a Joss Whedon franchise.

In assembling the Avengers, Joss Whedon brings together a star cast that works at every level.  Even though each character may not get the same level of attention, each actor brings the character to life.  The story opens around Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD who has his greatest weapon stolen by Loki, subsequently; he must assemble the various members of the Avengers.  The group assemble, and after much arguing and epic battles, decide to work together to stop the common enemy.

The story isn’t what is packing the theatre, and it isn’t the special effects either, it is the acting and directing.  While children will come in droves to the theatre to see superheroes, adults can come and enjoy the double-speak and hidden meanings to story.  Whedon is known for adding hidden gems and is the fanboy that we all dream about making the comics we grew up with.  The only way this movie could have been better is if Kevin Smith (who wrote for the Green Arrow at one point) had been involved.  The level of fanboy-ism is directly related to the level of success of a franchise movie.  While I respect Christopher Nolan, even the Batman movies can’t rival the Avengers.

I know this review wasn’t really much of a review, but given the box office numbers this movie has, I’m betting you’ve already seen this movie at least once.  Avengers starts the summer movie season off with a bang and I can’t imagine any movie surpassing it this summer.