As much as this makes me sound like an insane Miss.Havisham-esque social castaway, I have no shame in declaring my love for all things superhero (so long as it has nothing to do with Superman...ugh.)
So, in 2008 after seeing the first Iron Man movie, I sat and waited as the last of the credits had faded to black and 'the Avengers initiative' was hinted at. I was so excited.
So, walking into the theatre last night and taking my seat to watch Avengers Assemble on opening night, I reflected that I had been waiting to see this film for just under 5 years and it did not disappoint.
The thing that really made it watchable was the continuity of character. Robert Downey Jr was back as multimillionaire playboy Iron Man, Chris Evans as super soldier Captain America, Chris Hemsworth and the God of thunder: Thor, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (the role he was born for) and even Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow.
However, even minor characters from the other 'Avengers universe' films were present such as Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye (he had a cameo in Thor), Gwyneth Paltrows chest thumpingly pretty Pepper Potts and even Greg Clark as S.H.E.I.L.D agent Phil Coulson.
The only issue with casting that made itself very clear was the lack of Ed Norton's Incredible Hulk.
Instead, the Avengers Assemble Hulk / Bruce Banner is played by Mark Ruffalo, a role he plays very well and is a believable, torn identity, 'you won't like me when I'm angry' Hulk. Not a big criticism but you get the feeling watching it that if Ed Norton had instead not demanded an outrageously high fee from Marvel to reprise his role, the whole film would have felt much more tightly knit, with all the story lines closely interwoven.
As it is, with Ruffalo in Nortons place, it feels almost like a string of the Marvel universe that hasn't properly been explored.
The attention given to each character was also something that I was concerned about. If you have a total of six Avengers (Cpt.America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, The Black Widow and Hawk-Eye), plus bad guys and secondary roles, how would Whedon be able to focus enough attention on plot, characterisation and development, and still cram in action and drama without drawing focus to one in particular?
However, again, he did not disappoint. All the heroes were given equal screen time with a humorous relationship growing between Thor and Hulk and a slightly frosty but eventually heat warming one between Captain America and Iron Man.
Actually, watching it, I found the attitude of Captain America to be slightly at odds with the situation he finds himself in. As far as he knows, he was frozen alive at the end of World War Two and when he comes to, 70 years later, he's jumping around and fighting alien invaders without a care in the world. Seems a little odd. If I was in his position (and God willing, one day I will be), grabbing my shield, donning my cowl and jumping over cars and the like, bouncing aliens off buildings that didn't exist in my time and dodging weapon blasts that could potentially disintegrate me instantaneously, I don't think I'd be as hunky-dory about it all as he seems to be. But maybe this is just me being picky. Maybe you'd just get on with it. I suppose that was the WWII attitude anyway...
Other than this minor criticism, the rest of the film was mind blowing. Joss Whedon has a number of classic films under his belt already including Toy Story, Alien Resurrection as well as Captain America and Thor so with him at the helm, I felt as a fan, my expectations would not be misplaced.
The plot follows a group of superheroes called 'The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes' (obviously) who are banded together by secret government organisation S.H.I.E.L.D in order to repel the attacks of demi-god Loki, who is interestingly enough the half-brother of the 'Avenger' Thor. This, you'd think, would allow for some interesting ideas on shifting loyalty on the part of Thor but this never really comes to fruition and Thor seems just as happy to lay the smack down on Loki's pointed helmet just as much as the rest of his team. Maybe this is for the best. I mean at the end of the day, it's a superhero movie! We don't want to see gushy exchanges between two demi-god brothers, we want to see them beat the shit out of each other and beat the shit out of each other they do!
Anyway, I won't give too much away as I know many of you won't have seen it yet and if anyone is reading this across the pond in America, I understand it's not due to be seen for another week or so yet.
However, I will say that the 'tesseract', an artifact featured in both Thor and Captain America (and I think hinted at in Iron Man 2?) is essentially what both the Avengers and Loki and his army are warring over.
As a comic geek, the other thing that I worried about was dedication to source material. Again though, Whedon included just enough to keep the fan boys (like me) happy without alienating the general public.
The fact that in one scene, the Hulk attempts to lift Thor's hammer but can't, drew a smile as I remembered 'No-one may use Thor's hammer 'Mjölnir' apart from Thor himself.'
Also, in one of the final scenes, a shot of the partly destroyed Stark tower is shown with only the 'a' remaining; a reference to the Avengers base at Stark Tower possibly? Almost certainly says I.
If you are a fan boy and haven't seen this yet, I will say this: STAY UNTIL AFTER THE INITIAL CREDITS! If you're not a geek, it hints at a possible second movie. If you are a fan, you will be quivering with ecstatic excitement as you shuffle limply out of the screen...
In conclusion, whether fan-boy or just curious to see what the fuss is about, go and see it.
This was the best film I've seen in a long old while and no doubt it will certainly top the box offices worldwide.
Go see it. Now!
I'd give it a total 'rant rating' of 9/10.
Right, I'll be off now I think. Just got an e-mail from someone called Tony Stark...something about getting me a suit? Hmmm...
Avengers Assemble!
Rant-Man out.
