MCU Rewind #6 - The Avengers - Review
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Release date (US): May 4th, 2012
Directed By: Joss Whedon
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston, Gweneth Paltrow
MCU REWIND REVIEW EXPLANATION: In these reviews, I will be going back to all the Marvel Cinematic Universe Films that have been released to date, reviewing each one in a retrospective manner. Expectations and background will detail how I felt about the film before the repeat viewing. This review will contain spoilers for these movies. You have been warned.
Previous Rating: 9.0/10
MCU REWIND REVIEW EXPLANATION: In these reviews, I will be going back to all the Marvel Cinematic Universe Films that have been released to date, reviewing each one in a retrospective manner. Expectations and background will detail how I felt about the film before the repeat viewing. This review will contain spoilers for these movies. You have been warned.
Previous Rating: 9.0/10
Expectations/Background: Fun fact - this was the first MCU movie I ever saw. This was the first MCU movie I saw in theaters and this was the first MCU movie that I bought on DVD. This was the movie that began my love of the MCU and the film that made me appreciate what a huge franchise this was. I remember watching the film and being absolutely blown away, but little did I know that this was the product of 5 other movies that had lead up to this. Throughout the years, I had watched this movie countless times as the MCU continued to grow, but I will admit that it had been awhile since I had last seen it. Of course I knew it was going to be good, but I had no idea how good it was going to be as compared to the newer additions to the MCU.
The Movie: I forgot how incredible this movie is. We take this for granted, how this movie kicked off the modern "cinematic universe" as we know it because of how long it's been, but this movie is truly spectacular. The way Joss Whedon was able to meld these dynamic, developed characters and match them against such a great villain was something that you wish you could see for the first time over and over again.
Positives: There are so many wonderful things about this film.
Let's start with the cast behind the characters that we have grown to love. Robert Downey Jr. again brings the same charisma that he had in the previous two Iron Man films. Chris Evans and Hemsworth as well as Johansson and Renner brought their respective characters back. But real kudos belong to Mark Ruffalo - Edward Norton was out at this point, and Marvel brought in relative unknown small-time actor Mark Ruffalo. And Ruffalo completely encapsulated and embraced this character of Bruce Banner, bringing a dry wit, sarcasm, and insecurity that we really hadn't seen in Hulk before that point.
Supporting players such as Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders also are great additions to the film. And what can we say about Clark Gregg - what a wonderfu character that we'll all be looking forward to seeing in Captain Marvel come 2019.
Loki - we'll talk more about him later, but Loki is by far one of the most charismatic, cunning, and entertaining villains that Marvel has ever brought us. We knew we had something in Thor, but come Avengers, and even Dark World and especially in Ragnarok, we knew that we had a fan favorite. As it turned out, Loki would be a mainstay for years to come.
What I find most impressive as well is how Joss Whedon handled the story. The story revolved around rounding up these volatile, impulsive characters together where they meet about halfway through. By the time they meet, Loki has been running amuck and you begin to unravel his plan - trying to tear the Avengers apart from within so he can set the stage for his invasion.
What Whedon and the writers do so well is set up motivations and characters so that they can set up the story in a way that works so seamlessly. It all comes to a head when Coulson falls to Loki and the Avengers, scattered, disassembled, and broken are forced to set aside their differences.
And then thee film really does pick up when they all converge at New York and the battle of New York begins.
And boy does.
The Battle of New York was one of the first, big action set pieces from the MCU. It was a glorious 20 minute ride where each character got their moment to shine and each hero got to showcase what they were made of.
And above all, this movie is fun. When you first watch this movie, you almost feel giddy, because every single frame has a few characters that are interacting for the first time or talking and bantering back and forth that you had never thought you'd see before.
Negatives: The first time I saw this movie, I thought that this movie was the golden standard - when I was younger I had thought that this movie was perfect.
However, now having seen some more movies in my time, I do see that there are some inherent flaws in the film, and they are a couple "nit-picky" pointers that most people have already pointed out.
First the Hawkeye character - while I think that he wasn't used in a bad way at all, there is a reason that he is the "least favorite Avenger". He wasn't given any dimension at all. Even Black Widow was given a scene with Loki where she was allowed to divulge into her character. But Barton? He wasn't really given anything.
The faceless army battle at the end was awesome to see at first, but simply because it's been used so much since this movie, it has become a little tired. That being said, this movie gets a little bit of a pass because it was one of the first films that had done so.
And also Cap's costume - comic accurate, maybe, but not a fan. Not a fan.
The Villain(s): What can I say? I love Loki. There's a reason that Loki is one of the best villains of the MCU. He drips charisma whenever he steps on screen, and you can see how unhinged, yet justified in his own actions he is. Truly one of the best modern comic book villains to date. And maybe he wasn't a physical match for the Avengers, but the way he manipulated the Avengers to do what he wanted was masterful.
Positives: There are so many wonderful things about this film.
Let's start with the cast behind the characters that we have grown to love. Robert Downey Jr. again brings the same charisma that he had in the previous two Iron Man films. Chris Evans and Hemsworth as well as Johansson and Renner brought their respective characters back. But real kudos belong to Mark Ruffalo - Edward Norton was out at this point, and Marvel brought in relative unknown small-time actor Mark Ruffalo. And Ruffalo completely encapsulated and embraced this character of Bruce Banner, bringing a dry wit, sarcasm, and insecurity that we really hadn't seen in Hulk before that point.
Supporting players such as Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders also are great additions to the film. And what can we say about Clark Gregg - what a wonderfu character that we'll all be looking forward to seeing in Captain Marvel come 2019.
Loki - we'll talk more about him later, but Loki is by far one of the most charismatic, cunning, and entertaining villains that Marvel has ever brought us. We knew we had something in Thor, but come Avengers, and even Dark World and especially in Ragnarok, we knew that we had a fan favorite. As it turned out, Loki would be a mainstay for years to come.
What I find most impressive as well is how Joss Whedon handled the story. The story revolved around rounding up these volatile, impulsive characters together where they meet about halfway through. By the time they meet, Loki has been running amuck and you begin to unravel his plan - trying to tear the Avengers apart from within so he can set the stage for his invasion.
What Whedon and the writers do so well is set up motivations and characters so that they can set up the story in a way that works so seamlessly. It all comes to a head when Coulson falls to Loki and the Avengers, scattered, disassembled, and broken are forced to set aside their differences.
And then thee film really does pick up when they all converge at New York and the battle of New York begins.
And boy does.
The Battle of New York was one of the first, big action set pieces from the MCU. It was a glorious 20 minute ride where each character got their moment to shine and each hero got to showcase what they were made of.
And above all, this movie is fun. When you first watch this movie, you almost feel giddy, because every single frame has a few characters that are interacting for the first time or talking and bantering back and forth that you had never thought you'd see before.
Negatives: The first time I saw this movie, I thought that this movie was the golden standard - when I was younger I had thought that this movie was perfect.
However, now having seen some more movies in my time, I do see that there are some inherent flaws in the film, and they are a couple "nit-picky" pointers that most people have already pointed out.
First the Hawkeye character - while I think that he wasn't used in a bad way at all, there is a reason that he is the "least favorite Avenger". He wasn't given any dimension at all. Even Black Widow was given a scene with Loki where she was allowed to divulge into her character. But Barton? He wasn't really given anything.
The faceless army battle at the end was awesome to see at first, but simply because it's been used so much since this movie, it has become a little tired. That being said, this movie gets a little bit of a pass because it was one of the first films that had done so.
And also Cap's costume - comic accurate, maybe, but not a fan. Not a fan.
The Villain(s): What can I say? I love Loki. There's a reason that Loki is one of the best villains of the MCU. He drips charisma whenever he steps on screen, and you can see how unhinged, yet justified in his own actions he is. Truly one of the best modern comic book villains to date. And maybe he wasn't a physical match for the Avengers, but the way he manipulated the Avengers to do what he wanted was masterful.
The Verdict: There's a reason that this movie is one of the hallmarks of comic book movies today - it started off what would become an era. I believe that regardless of how good the movie was, it would have been an achievement in its own right. But the fact that Joss Whedon pulled together these different movies and characters in such a seamless manner was truly brilliant, just like this film. Letter Grade: A. Number Score: 9.3/10
Should I Skip?: If there was any movie that you shouldn't skip in the MCU it would be this movie. This is the one movie that if you were to skip the rest of the MCU movies, you would watch this one.
TLDR: The Avengers, scattered across the world, are brought together by Nick Fury and SHIELD because of the arrival of Loki, who steals the Tesseract. Loki is captured by the Avengers on a Helicarrier, but tears them apart and escapes to Stark Tower with the Tesseract. He calls in an army of aliens known as the Chitauri, and the Avengers converge to defeat him. Thor takes Loki back to Asgard where they belong and the rest of the Avengers part ways for the time being.
9-10: Nearly Perfect
Should I Skip?: If there was any movie that you shouldn't skip in the MCU it would be this movie. This is the one movie that if you were to skip the rest of the MCU movies, you would watch this one.
TLDR: The Avengers, scattered across the world, are brought together by Nick Fury and SHIELD because of the arrival of Loki, who steals the Tesseract. Loki is captured by the Avengers on a Helicarrier, but tears them apart and escapes to Stark Tower with the Tesseract. He calls in an army of aliens known as the Chitauri, and the Avengers converge to defeat him. Thor takes Loki back to Asgard where they belong and the rest of the Avengers part ways for the time being.
**IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER**: Letter grades and Number grades do not mean the same thing. Just because I give a film an A does not mean it gets a 9.5 or above. They do not line up like a traditional school grading system To see specifics, see below.
A- to A+: Amazing
B- to B+: Enjoyable, but Flawed
C- to C+: Redeemable in some cases, but heavily Flawed
D- to D+: Nothing but Flaws
F: A Failure of a Film
8-9: Very Good
7-8: Good
6-7: Okay
5-6: Average/Mediocre
4-5: Apparently Flawed
3-4: Heavily Flawed
2-3: A complete and utter mess
0-2: A Failure of a Film
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