"The Avengers"
5 out of 5 Pitchforks
Rated: PG-13
Released: May 4
After much anticipation and speculation, “The Avengers” opens nationwide Friday. Picking up, more or less, from where “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” left off – both released last year – “The Avengers” proves that an ensemble cast of super heroes can do more than merely just attract a crowd of comic book fanatics in costume.
Unlike the wasted “X-Men” series or the abysmal “Fantastic Four,” Director Joss Whedon delivers an epic film from start to finish. Whether you’ve seen all (even any) of the previous Marvel movies (or have read any of the comics) that are directly related to “The Avengers” or not, the film easily puts everything into context: the Avengers are assembled to save the world.
Without wasting any time, Whedon presents the crux of it all, the Tesseract. Introduced in “Captain America: The First Avenger,” the Tesseract holds the key to potentially endless renewable and sustainable energy – a hot commodity on Earth for sure, certainly beyond.
Other uses yet discovered are bound to exist within this beautiful blue-cube, as it is triggered to open a wormhole of sorts, allowing none-other than Loki (Hiddleston), Thor’s (Hemsworth) adopted brother to emerge before Nick Fury (Jackson) and company in the heart of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s underground base of operations. In no time flat, Loki has the Tesseract, and the call is out for the Avengers to assemble for the first (hopefully not last) time.
One by one each of the seven key members of the Avengers are called upon to join in on the capturing and stopping of Loki before it’s too late. As is the case with any group facing world annihilation, these “super” personalities, attitudes and tempers flare as they try to make sense of it all. Naturally, as both the preverbal and figurative muck hits both the preverbal and figurative fan, the Avengers look to one another to get the job done as a team.
While standard action movies seem to be losing ground to comic-book, science-fiction – even fantasy-action movies – “The Avengers” puts them all to shame. Each character, be them good or bad, is given their fair share of time on screen. Picking a favorite is hard to do, though the third-time seemed to be the charm for the Hulk (Ruffalo). Unlike the “Transformers” series that Michael Bay ruined, watching the none-stop action (in 3D or not) isn’t lost in sloppy CGI.
There is already talk of several future Marvel productions, and like many of the previous films to “The Avengers,” there is a little extra at the end of the film – both before and after the credits roll – not to mention the official release of the new “The Dark Knight Rises” trailer at the beginning. All of this lines up perfectly with Free Comic Book Day which is May 5th.
Clearly audiences are embracing these films for a variety of reasons: the rugged good looks of the performers, what they stand for and how the stories are being told – and shown. In spite of these trying times, and the seemingly vapid absence of actual heroes today, “The Avengers” message of collective partnership for the greater good rings loud and clear.
With great power does come great responsibility, and if you truly wish to be the change in this world for the better, don your cape and mask and assemble.
Reach the reporter at jbfortne@asu.edu
