Runtime: 02:22:56
Total Runtime: 12:25:03
We've made it. The first official team up-movie. It's also the smallest, in terms of members, by about a mile. Of the four Avengers movies, this one is the second-worst. Not because this one is bad, but because "Infinity War" and "Endgame" are way too good, and "Age of Ultron" is not so great.
We open with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being handed a scepter by the Chitauri, The Other, a middle man between his master and Loki. That master sits in a chair facing away from the camera. Loki makes a deal he will retrieve the Tesseract for this master in exchange for a Chitauri army to conquer Earth so he may rule. They accept his offer.
Loki arrives on Earth after the Tesseract turns itself on. Hawkeye, Clint Barton, (Jeremy Renner) states this as being possible stating that "doors open from both sides" to Fury. Loki brainwashes both Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Hawkeye using the gifted Scepter.
The lab implodes in on itself as Loki escapes with his new minions and the Tesseract. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), and Maria Hill (Cobie Smolders) escape narrowly avoiding the destruction.
We cut to Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) being interrogated by some Russian mafia members. One of the gangsters receives a call from Coulson, for her, who then explains the situation. She puts him on hold and takes them out. Coulson states "I have Stark. You get the big guy," to which she responds "oh joy."
Here is the first and only lead actor change in the MCU so far. Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Ruffalo was the original choice of "The Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier, and according to him, Marvel wanted Norton in the role, because "he just does smart, intellectual movies" (source). He inevitably got his way as Marvel Studios fired Norton from the role "not based on monetary factors, but instead... in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members" (source). The whole situation was a mess, with Norton stating other reasons, and his team stating that the real reasons were the opposite of those posited by Marvel. At the end of the day, however, we now have a superior Banner.
Norton's Bruce was lacking character, he did nothing for the character to add interest to him. Utterly devoid of charisma and chemistry with his female lead. Ruffalo, on the other hand, adds a distinct vulnerability to the role that serves to the development of the character in later films. It definitely would have been interesting to see how the first film would have gone with this Bruce on screen.
Fury recruits Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), this is the scene from the end credits of "The First Avenger" only extended and has Cap make a bet with Fury that he won't be surprised by anything that happens. Tony (Robert Downey Jr) turns his new Stark Tower into a clean energy beacon, stating that it is "like Christmas, but with more [him]." Phil Coulson arrives, only "his first name is Agent," and has Tony consult for the team. On a Quinjet, Coulson fanboys over Cap telling him of his trading card collection, and mentions the suit, stating, "People might just need a little old fashioned."
Loki communes with The Other again, who asks of Loki, "You Question us? You Question him?" Loki does not. Banner arrives on a SHIELD carrier ship and meets Cap. Natasha tells them to head inside, they assume it's a submarine, with Bruce stating, "They want me in a submerged pressurized ship?" only to state "No this is worse" when it begins to fly.
Inside the Helicarrier, Cap pays Fury ten dollars from their earlier bet. Loki and Hawkeye discuss a plan to stabilize the Tesseract with Iridium to bring about the army invasion. Hawkeye needs "a distraction and an eyeball." Loki goes to Germany and gets the eyeball allowing Clint to get the Iridium. Lokie has the people of Germany kneel before him, one refuses and is saved by Cap. Iron Man comes in, and they capture Loki.
Thor arrives and takes Loki from the jet. Tony and Steve give chase, and Thor begs Loki to return to Asgard with him and give up his foolish pursuits. Thor is tackled by Iron Man. They land in the woods and exchange banter.
Tony and Thor fight, Cap intervenes to stop it but ends up fighting too. Thor "Puts the hammer down."
Following the three-way fight, we return to the Helicarrier. They talk about what to do with Loki. Thor, wanting to take him back to Asgard, states that Loki is his brother, but that he's adopted when Loki's crimes are brought up. Tony comes in and in typical grandstanding fashion manages to use his distracting words of "That man is playing Galaga" and plants a bug. Fury states that Loki was able to turn some of his best men into "[Loki's] personal flying monkeys," a reference that Cap understood.
Bruce and Tony work in the lab studying the scepter. Cap comes in and the two of them convince him that SHIELD is hiding something, and Tony will soon know all through his plant. Black Widow performs her same style of interrogation used on the Russians on Loki and learns his plan to unleash the Hulk. It's implied that Loki is still able to use the Scepter to manipulate the team in the lab. Everyone bickers.
Everyone calms down briefly when Banner unknowingly picks up the scepter. Loki had a backup plan, however, and Hawkeye attacks the Hellicarrier. The explosion brings out the Hulk. Hulk chases Natasha who is rescued by Thor. Tony and Cap run off to repair the engine destroyed in the attack. Natasha goes to fight Hawkeye while Thor and Hulk duke it out. Hulk can't lift the hammer and is eventually distracted by a jet which causes him to fall to the ground after destroying it. Thor goes for Loki.
Loki tricks Thor into entering his cage, which he drops with Thor inside. But first, he kills Agent Coulson using his illusions. Natasha knocks out Clint freeing him of the mind control, and Thor breaks out of the cage before it makes an impact with the ground. Loki escapes in the ship Hawkeye arrived in. Fury fakes that Coulson had Cap's trading cards on him when he died to give the team "a little push" that they probably didn't need. Cap asks Tony, "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier" to which he receives "We are not soldiers" in response.
Tony leaves and arrives at Stark tower, where Loki is waiting for the invasion to begin with Selvig working on the tesseract on the roof. Loki has an army, they have a Hulk.
Tony argues further with Loki that if "we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Loki tries to brainwash him but fails thanks to the arc reactor. Tony falls out of the building suiting up into the Mk.7 armor. There's one more person that Loki pissed off.
Selvig unleashes a sky beam and the invasion begins.
The Avengers arrive and Bruce reveals he's "always angry" and punches a big worm. This here is a point of contention with me. The end of "The Incredible Hulk" argues this exact point, that Banner has full control over transforming. But up to this point has not stated his control over it to the team, especially considering most were fearing a transformation, his lack of control was a key part of Loki's plan, and it worked. It's just poor script writing so that the moment is cooler. Nothing major, just disappointing.
Anyway, Bruce is always angry.
The Avengers assemble in a circle and the camera pans around them giving one of the best action shots of the first phase. A shot they've tried to replicate in almost every other team-up movie, in some form or another.
Cap gives the team orders, and tells the Hulk to "smash."
The action is fairly easy to follow. There is admittedly, a lot happening, which inherently is a detriment, but you're never really confused as to what is happening at any given moment. Most of this is brief sequences of two of the avengers working together to kill some Chitauri. Eventually, Hulk punches Thor and it's hilarious.
The Council overseeing SHIELD meets with Fury they want to nuke New York, which according to Fury is a "stupid-ass decision." Which is very much is. The portal is still open. Nuking New York might not close the portal, it could destroy the device the tesseract is being focused through, but may not shut down the tesseract which has been stated countless times to have a mind of its own.
Loki catches an arrow from Hawkey which explodes and conveniently lands him back on Stark Tower. In the tower Hulk confronts Loki.
Selvig awakens from his brainwashing and tells a nearby Black Widow that the Scepter can close the portal, lucky for them it's on the Tower where Loki had just landed not long ago. The Council sends the nuke anyway and Fury warns Tony. Tony carries the nuke into the portal. It explodes against a large ship whose hive mind kills the whole army, so convenient. Nat closes the portal and Tony falls through at the last possible second betraying the laws of space physics. Hulk catches him on his way down and yells at him to stir him out of unconsciousness. After joking about one of them possibly kissing him, he asks, "You ever try Schwarma?" The team arrests Loki still in the Tower, now with only the "A" left on it.
Thor takes Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Tony and Bruce ride off together and everyone else goes their separate ways. Mid credits we are back with The Other talking to the man in the chair, his master. He turns around and grins looking into the camera. It's Thanos.
Post credits the Avengers eat Shwarma.
The original comics Avengers team was different. Much different, but the villain was the same. The first team, in 1963, consisted of Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk, but also included Ant-Man and The Wasp. Captain America joins the team in 1964 in issue #4. Former Iron Man villain, Hawkeye, joins the Avengers first in issue #16 alongside former X-Men villains Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Black Widow doesn't join the Avengers officially until issue #111, she is considered an ally however from issue #36 on. All the while team members come and go throughout the issues, including most of the original line-up.
Loki was still the original comic team's villain and the best choice the MCU had. It would have been cool to see Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne come in as Ant-Man and The Wasp, too, but that may have been too much of an undertaking for Joss Whedon to handle considering how poorly "Age of Ultron" went with how few characters it added.
"The Avengers" when it came out in 2012 was one of my favorite movies of the year. It didn't make my top 10 movies, but it was an honorable mention. This was also 2012, and I was 20, a young boy compared to my now decrepit 28. Though that would still be the case now, my tastes have changed a lot in the past eight years.
This film is rather concise, as it needs to be with all that goes on in the narrative, so it doesn't have much breathing room once the plot picks up. The brief moments we get do relieve tension, but they are exceptionally brief, and once the climax is over the remaining five minutes feels like twenty. The action is paced exceptionally well, giving purpose to the action as each scene weaves into the next.
All of that being said. The movie is really just more of all the characters we've come to know, with the exception of the new Hulk. There isn't much more to it than that.
Phase One complete.
Official MCU 23 film ranking:
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Iron Man
- Thor
- Iron Man 2
- The Incredible Hulk
Soon to be reviewed: Iron Man 3 (2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment