Afternoon Assembly

The Avengers made its theatrical debut today here in the U.S., following a blockbuster two weeks abroad that seem to indicate it will be the biggest superhero film ever. For my part, I'd certainly love to see that, in the hopes that it may give its writer and director, the brilliant Joss Whedon, as much credit in the film world at large as he enjoys among the much smaller but fiercely loyal fan base he already enjoys. But is The Avengers a good movie?

The short answer is yes, it's pretty good. But the early word from many fanboys ("this is the best superhero movie ever" and "on my death bed, this will rival the birth of my first child for a great moment in my life") and the sky-high 90+% aggregate score over at Rotten Tomatoes don't really paint an accurate picture. If you look at the real tone of the reviews from most critics, you'll find nearly all of them saying "it's not bad for a superhero movie." That equates to a "positive" review, and accounts for the aggregate review. And as for the fans? Well, I gather it meets their lofty expectations.

For my part, my only prior exposure to Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury came in the films released over the last four years. I saw neither of the Hulk films (though I did watch a few episodes of the old television series). For me, there was plenty about this new movie that worked... and a few things that did not.

I say with conviction that this movie is certainly better than all those others I just mentioned. Joss Whedon did here what he has done so well in his other writing. There's plenty of great humor, deployed skillfully throughout. The characters all pop. Every one of them has a strong and clear personality. They all get their star moments, scenes where the movie seems to be all about them for a brief flash in time. In fact, there are plenty of side characters that are also well developed even as the focus is on the heroes, including Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson (a returning character), Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill (a new characer), and Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts (in a cameo appearance). The middle chunk of the film, which focuses on all of the characters interacting with one another, really shines.

But the past films starring these characters have all relied on contrived plots to get the action going, stories that lack the deeper emotional resonance present in the truly best superhero movies like the first two Spider-man films and Christopher Nolan's Batman films (so far, at least). The Avengers is like its predecessors in this regard. I found the Macguffin at the heart of this film to be murky at best. It somehow involves the boring villain from Thor siding with a vague army of aliens who want to destroy things for no apparent reason, and also requires the use of the infinite power widget from Captain America (which for some reason requires additional power to operate?).

On the one hand, I think I would have enjoyed more explanation so I could have context for why things were going boom in spectacular fashion. On the other hand, the fact that the movie soldiered on just fine all the same seems to point out just how little any of that really mattered anyway... so why waste any more time on it? It would have just meant less time for those great character moments I mentioned earlier.

The acting is all really solid. Robert Downey Jr. commands the screen with the same larger-than-life personality he introduced in Iron Man's solo movies. Mark Ruffalo is a sympathetic and intriguing Dr. Banner. Samuel Jackson gets lots of great badass lines. But actually, more than anything, this movie made me wish that Black Widow and Hawkeye would each get their own movies. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner both shine with a deeper personality than any of the super-powered heroes in this tale.

So while this wasn't the masterpiece I would have hoped for in Joss Whedon's big "mainstream" debut, I suspect the vast majority of its audience will be pleased. I grade it a B.