Which Avenger Is Best ? (Part 3) Iron Man and Thor (Spoilers)

I'll throw a SPOILER ALERT right here again in case you missed it. Below I review each Avenger and some other important characters to decide who the best is. There will be several systems of voting including:

• Badassness - How badass are they? I need some DAYYUMM moments. 
• Wit - Can they make you laugh or banter brilliantly?
• Intelligence - What smarts do they have?
• Heart - Are they a team player? What is their limit? Would the sacrifice themselves for the world?
• Style -  How good do they look while they do what they do?
• Hotness - Hotness impacts how much we want to watch them...

This will hopefully determine the Best Avenger.

Iron Man/ Tony Stark

• Badassness- There's something automatically badass about a man who already has everything and yet still chooses to fly around in a metal suit of armour trying to save the world. He risks his life twice in order to help save the world, he takes out Thor mid sentence. He then continued on to fight Thor (and it was epic and badass) He has lasers in his arms, he tries a new method based on Jonah and the whale, he doesn't fall victim to Loki's brainwashing. Oh yeah, and he hacks into S.H.I.E.L.D Badass rating: 10/10
• Wit- Everything Stark says drips in wit and sarcasm. Creating an original Shakespeare in order to mock Thor, congratulating The Cap and his efforts with modern technology, being confused when Agent Coulson is called Phil ('His first name is Agent') He's just a funny guy and a cocky bastard. They say you have to be smart to be witty... Stark has that down. Wit rating: 10/10
• Intelligence- Inventing a suit of armour that builds itself around you as you walk along a platform is pretty smart. Making it build around you as you fall out of the sky, is pretty smart. Inventing a flying suit of armour in the first place is pretty smart. He hacks into S.H.I.E.L.D and discovers their secrets and his intelligence has made him ridiculously rich. He's the only person that can understand Banner when they talk... science. Intelligence rating: 10/10 
• Heart- Tony Stark does not play well with others. This is evident throughout the film. He's rude, sarcastic, puts everyone at risk by poking fun at banner. Despite all this, he loves Pepper Pots and he risks his life numerous times in order to help or save the team/world. It takes a lot of guts to fly a bomb into a portal to another world that is closing behind you, especially when your suit is almost out of power.  Heart rating: 7/10
• Style- Tony Stark handles everything with a surrounding presence of cool. He offers an evil god of mischief a drink. He flew into the mouth of a giant alien creature and blew it up from the inside. Just everything is done with style. However, his carelessness (particularly with Banner) is stupid. It's not cool and he gets immature. It's a good thing he has those super cool and stylish hologram computers. Style rating: 9/10
• Hotness- Well, he's cocky and that confidence and arrogance is somewhat attractive. However, he is getting on. Again, like Banner, he looks old enough to be half the viewers' dad but I'm sure they all 'would'. Plus he's an action hero and a genius. Rather attractive qualities to most people I am sure.  Hotness rating: 8/10

Thor

• Badassness- Well, he's from a different realm and he's had to get his father to conjure up enough power to send him to Earth and on top of that he's a god. Why did he return? Simply to collect his jackass of a brother. All of that to get his brother. He then proceeds to fight Iron Man and attempts to attack Captain America. When he's involved with the team, he works well with others. No rouge side here, but he'll still kick your ass. Badass rating: 8/10
• Wit- A god does not participate in the childish banter of the mere mortals. In fact, he stands to the side and points out how petty they all are. He just want's to return Loki to Asgard without too much hassle. Evidently, Loki was always the more outspoken one and Thor was a bit more serious. Wit rating: 2/10
• Intelligence- He has knowledge beyond our realm. He understands space and the stars better than any astrologer. But yet, here on Earth, he is a bit out of place. This is mostly shown in his solo movie (smashing coffee mugs, ordering a dog to ride) but, again, his main task is to collect his naughty brother and hand him over to the justice system in Asgard. I suppose you could say his intelligence is relative to the context surrounding him Intelligence rating: 6/10 
• Heart- Family comes first. Always. Despite his brother killing dozens upon dozens of people, he still stands by and states his love for him. He has no wish to kill him, only arrest him. And one of the first things he does when beginning to work with S.H.I.E.L.D is he checks that Jane is okay (from his solo movie). Yes, family and friends are important. But he's also quick to angry or offend. Bless well spoken Thor. Heart rating: 8/10
• Style- He wears a cape. If that's not stylish then I don't know what is. Also, he talks with such grace and grandness that you can't help but love everything he says. He can make his hammer fly around the room into his hand and, oh yeah, his weapon of choice is a hammer. Now that's stylish. He also stops The Avengers mid flight to get his brother back and starts a group brawl. Though he doesn't handle it quite as well as Iron Man. If only he had more cool stunts to do.  Style rating: 8/10
• Hotness- When fully clad in his armour, it leaves a lot to the imagination, perhaps too much. Some girls go crazy for long blonde, wild hair but not all. In his solo movie he is adorable at the same time as being smoking hot. Something about the human clothing that makes him more attractive. The armour seems a bit over the top. But still, look at those arm muscles. It would be impossible to claim they're not hot. Hotness rating: 7/10

A Group Of Freaks... To Save The World

2012 was always going to be a year for highly anticipated movies. Batman, The Hunger Games, Men In Black, The Hobbit, Spiderman. But there was one movie that the superhero fan world were preparing for. They'd been preparing since Iron Man 2. They got super excited with the release of Thor. They practically melted after Captain America. Why? Because soon, all of these movies would combine to create the superhero super-team known only as The Avengers. (Well, the film is known as Marvel's Avengers Assemble over here in England)

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), and their team at S.H.I.E.L.D have been trying to harness the power of the The Tesseract which they rescued from the sea when they picked up Captain America. However, it starts to misbehave. Agent Coulson and Nick Fury order an evacuation as The Tesseract opens a portal in space and Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the god of mischief, appears in it. Within seconds several men are dead, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Agent Clint Barton - aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) - brainwashed onto Loki's side and The Tesseract in the hands of the mischievous god. Loki plans to unleash an army on Earth so that he may rule it. Fury resorts to a desperate method, a project that was abandoned: The Avengers Initiative. With the help of Coulson and Agent Natasha Romanoff - aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) - Fury begins to round up his super team to take down Loki. His team consists of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Dr. Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans). Thor(Chris Hemsworth_ also decides to join the team but because he believes Loki and The Tesseract should be back in Asgard with him. They name themselves The Avengers and go out to stop Loki and protect the Earth... Or at least make damn sure they avenge it.

hothothothothothothothot (for both genders)

As far as action/superhero/adventure movies go, this one had some solid acting. There were some moments that really stood out. Tony Stark's tears, Hawkeye's realisations, Cobie Smulders  not being Robin from How I Met Your Mother. Some honestly great acting from all involved, but mostly, it was at a level that you would expect from a blockbuster. Tom Hiddleston's Loki takes a step up from Thor in all senses. He's more evil, more delightful, more dastardly, and better acted. He's a joy and a pleasure to watch; everything a superhero should be. Jeremy Renner and Robert Downey Jr. reprise their roles as the two coolest people in the universe with Hawkeye and Iron Man respectively. They both just drip with coolness. Downey Jr.'s laid back response to everything and Renner's pure badassery... Or should I say badarchery? No? Some of the best acting, continuously, comes from Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner who seems genuinely pained by his power and what he becomes. It seems like it eats at him and that it is constantly inside him. Scarlett Johansson and Cobie Smulders as Black Widow and Agent Maria Hill respectively both have their moments of excellence, awesomeness, and sexy badassery. They're just hothothothot chicks. And Chris Evans does wonderfully, reprising his role as Steve Rogers. The good guy heart pumps inside him all the time and his extremely funny reactions to modern things are priceless. ('It seems to run on some sort of electricity...')

It was only now, suit in front of him, that Steve realised it...
'How do I get into it?'

Now, there is a layer of brilliance to this film that other blockbusters don't have. It dives straight into it. It's a very short time until people are dying at the hands of Loki. What I love about this is it gives you no time to get bored. It straight away jumps into the action and keeps you engaged the entire time without letting off. just as one action scene is over, another is beginning. And not a small one either, they're big ones.. Massive ones. But don't think it doesn't have a coherent or decent plot line. It tells a great, if not simple, story but it doesn't try to be anything more than that like other movies can try to. As far as action goes, Joss Whedon has found a pretty perfect balance. It's funny, it's touching, it's epic, it's engaging, it's action-packed, it's thrilling, and did I mention it's epic? A brilliantly witty script too with plenty of 'banter' to keep you engaged. A couple of small complaints though. The almost needless 3D is one. Yes, it looked nice at points. However, with so much going on on the screen, it can be difficult to follow and some things looked... well... a bit crap and out of place, visually.  It gave me a bit of a 3D headache, something I've never had a problem with before. The other issue I had was the (very occasional) flat jokes. The things that were obviously thrown in to be funny but so obviously it seemed wasted. A close up shot of a worker changing back to playing games on his monitor when Fury isn't looking is my main example. Someone noticing that in the background is funny. When a whole shot is deditcated to it, it seems immature and a desperate attempt for laughs in an otherwise hilarious script.

When Stark asked, 'What's up?' the two not from
 modern Earth took it a little too literally.

A solid action movie. A solid superhero movie. A solid adventure movie. Funny, action packed, intelligent, and fast paced. It's the sort of movie you could watch again straight after seeing it.  A well written script with great actors. It also is the sort of movie that has so much you can talk about afterwards. I heard people claim it was the best superhero movie ever? I personally disagree. It's excellent. It's the best of it's kind. I personally prefer The Dark Knight as a superhero movie, but each to their own. Don't get me wrong, I will almost certainly buy this on DVD the second it comes out. Also, see my next post for a break down on each of The Avengers and who is the best.

Best Bit? So many good bits. Personally, I adored Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America's fight near the beginning of the movie. It cracked me up and was visually incredible.

The God Of Thunder

With the record breaking release of The Avengers (which I will be reviewing, don't you worry) I thought it's about time we jumped back and had a look at some of the other movies that have led up to this. I've already looked at Iron Man 2 but I've neglected a couple of others. Let's make it up to them. Starting with the Asgardian 'god', Thor.

Somewhere out there, there are other realms. One of these realms is the realm of Asgard. In other realms, particularly Earth, the Asgardians are regarded and worshipped as deities. A long time ago, they fought an evil race known as the Frost Giants, who were rather fond of attacking Earth. The Frost Giants were defeated by the Asgardians, led by the king Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and their power source was taken away. Odin recites this story to the audience by telling his two sons, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Time passes and Thor, as the oldest son of Odin, is preparing to take over as king. However, the coronation ceremony is disrupted by a few Frost Giants who are trying to steal back their power source. Thor demands that war is the only option and, despite Odin's direct commands to not attack, Thor travels with his greatest fighters to Jötunheim, the land of the Frost Giants. After battling carelessly against the Frost Giants, Odin arrives to protect his fighters. He tries to calm the Frost Giants and returns to Asgard with his sons and fighters. Furious, Odin banishes Thor to Earth where he is hit by a van containing three scientists, Jane (Natalie Portman), Erik (Stellan Skarsgård), and Darcy (Kat Dennings). Thor's aim is to get back to Asgard, but an evil plot may be brewing against him...

Stop! Hammer time!

A very solidly performed movie. Not a bad piece of acting in there. Admittedly, there's nothing that's exceptional either (though the fandoms of the internet may try to argue that). Chris Hemsworth was wonderfully naive in a sense of the world he was now inhabiting - walking into a pet shop and asking for a horse... or something large enough to ride - and also an extremely likeable character. My only issue, if any, is that his character changes too fast with little development. Tom Hiddleston, as Loki, is fantastic (and he may need therapy when he discovers he is not actually Loki). He's wonderfully bad but completely loveable, which I suppose the god of mischief should be. A great performance. Nice to see Natalie Portman in anything as she is always a fantastic actress, and Anthony Hopkins, as well, has still got plenty of game in him. A great performance as Odin, even with the occasional bit of incomprehensible yelling.

This reminds me a lot of this scene...
I'm unsure how this makes me feel.
(See here for why)

The wonder of this movie is the little bits of hinting that encourage even the least nerdy person to have a fan girl fit. Things like the inclusion of Hawkeye. Barely noticeable (if you're not aware who Hawkeye is) but so effective. A fantastic job from Kenneth Branagh and (to a far lesser extent) Joss Whedon for producing such a wonderfully playful and epic movie. If I had to chose one word to describe the film, it would be that: epic. From the visually stunning world of Asgard at the beginning to the large scale fight scenes between Frost Giants and gods, everything was epic and looked epic. the creators of the film knew exactly what they were aiming for and the hit it spot on. It was funny, epic, emotionally absorbing, and good fun to watch. You could loose yourself in it.

A big hand for everyone involved. It's no instant classic but it is the sort of film that can be watched again and again. Not too long, not to short, and constantly captivating.

Best Bit? My favourite moments were when Thor was on Earth and was unsure of everything around him. Smashing a cup of coffee, claiming that no one can stop the mighty son of Odin before being administered an anaesthetic. I kept laughing.