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.