“The Avengers” – Review by Delon Villanueva

After getting home from the movie theater, I wasn’t ready to write my review. There was a LOT of hype going into this movie, obviously, and I was extremely excited myself, of course. I mean, it’s The Avengers! Probably one of the most epic film collaborations of all time. I felt assured about this after the early responses to the movie, some calling it Marvel’s Dark Knight. It is possible I took that way too literally for what it was. No, I was not expecting some dark, moody adaptation of The Avengers, but still somehow Marvel’s counterpart to it. It seemed like it had everything going for it, anyways. With Joss Whedon, king of nerds, as director and writer, The Avengers did have the potential to be one of the best superhero movies of all time. You are probably getting worried at this point, thinking that this movie let me down. Well, don’t read into it too much, because I still loved The Avengers, but avoid a couple of misleading comparisons of it to other great films. I’ll get to that in a bit.

So, the story is about Loki, the brother of Thor, who returns to Earth to take the Tesseract, an incredible but mysterious source of power, away from S.H.I.E.L.D., an espionage organization, who then appoint our beloved superheroes to help save the world. Our heroes are where left them in their last movies…sort of. Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, is still in frustration with winding up in the future, unable to finish what he had back in his original time period. He agrees on joining S.H.I.E.L.D. in helping them, but very hesitantly. Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, is still the narcissistic playboy he has always been, and did not much care for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mission, either. Dr. Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk, is residing in India, finding inner peace and healing the sick, but is found by Black Widow to be recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Then, Thor literally just shows up unexpected ten minutes later. Not kidding. Getting them all together is what made me a bit skeptical about the movie. The first thirty minutes of this movie are very awkwardly structured, but still with some great dialogue. The opening scene at S.H.I.E.L.D. fumbles a bit on where it wants to go, and does not really live up to the grand scale of what this movie has. The scenes with each main character after that are great, reminding us what we love about them, but when they do unite for the first time, it yet again does not exactly live up to what it is expected to. Though after the first fight with the gang is all done, this is where the movie really shines.

Although the script is rather weak in the beginning, Joss Whedon still “assembles” awesome cast chemistry with his directing. Many people were worried about having way too many plot points because of all the characters, but it actually worked pretty well. Captain America was more of the main character in this case, but yet, everyone got an even amount of screen time, showcasing what they do best. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is still a wisecracker, as shown in much of his comedic dialogue, even when the stakes are high. Black Widow and Hawkeye, played by Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner, may not be as significant as the rest, but get some good screen time, too, giving info on their relationship and why they matter in the story. Chris Evans’ Captain America continues to be the most relatable one, as he is the soldier with a golden heart, making him also the golden heart of the movie. And yes, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk is the best Hulk yet. That is all that there needs to be said. The only character that missed out on a lot was Thor. Chris Hemsworth is fine in the role like he always was, but star power was not much of his thing in this movie. Still, when they all join together, especially in the last action scene, it’s a real blast and I was squealing like a little girl in my seat just watching it. Let’s not skip on Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, either. I was very unsure about him being the villain for this movie, since he was a very mediocre villain in Thor, but I was impressed. He’s quite menacing, and Tom Hiddleston needs to be in way more movies. Or at least, mainstream ones.

Now, let me clarify about the confusing comparisons. Joss Whedon created what he was asked to to: a summer blockbuster featuring almost all the biggest and most recognizable characters in pop culture. Though what threw my expectations off was the idea that this would be one of the best superhero movies of all time. And it is! Though the fact that people were making many comparisons towards The Dark Knight, even calling Loki the best villain since The Joker, made me want a more intellectual film. It is an extremely smart script in putting these very different people together and managing it to work, but it’s no Christopher Nolan movie. It is an extremely exhilarating and energetic superhero movie, but I was hoping to be more blown away by it on a filmmaking and emotional scale. Maybe it was just my audience, too, who did not seem very pumped at all. Or, as I said, I expected the wrong movie. I feel pretty sure that this is not going to top The Dark Knight Rises (unless that completely blows, which…well, why?), but come on, it’s The Avengers. Saying it has everything you want in a summer blockbuster is hyperbole, but it comes pretty darn close. You HAVE to see this movie. I guess I was just wanting to give it a 10/10, but I still loved it, and it at least deserves a