Avengers: Movie Review
May. 19th, 2012 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaSo, whereas the majority of you have seen The Avengers twice or three times by now, I saw it for the first time last night.
In a word.
*SMASH*
Let me first state that I went in with very low expectations. Like, none. I've barely read any other reviews and the majority of the critiques I've caught via twitter were mainly about Joss not doing his bit for feminism, which yes, I will get into in my next review, because yes, I'm going to see it again and it's just too much to get into here!
My low expectations came about because other than Iron Man back in 2008, which I love, adore and rekindled my love for Robert Downy Jr., all the other prequel movies were utter shit.
So, yeah, no high expectations, but Joss Whedon, to whom I am loyal to a fault, compelled me. It's not like I wasn't going to go see a Super Hero Movie, but seeing as I felt no qualms about watching Captain America (oy, wow, two hours I'm never getting back) on my little computer, the Joss factor is a big one.
Well worth it too.
Over all, yeah it was big and epic and huge and the scope of it was grand.
It left me kind of cold.
There's just so much explosions and destruction that I can take before I say, "Bored now".
And really, it was the character interactions that sold me, because that's what Joss does best. And what made me have little "squees", especially when they're being manipulated by the Glo-Stick of Destiny in the lab, I had actual flashbacks to Buffy with that one.
So, yeah, the team was awesome. Because individually they were all a bit, well, I probably wouldn't chose to hang out with any of them except, maybe Bruce Banner.
Thor, meh. The hammer is his penis, what else is new?
Natasha and Clint, well, I don't know them. In Iron Man 2, Natasha was a kick ass femme fatale, which didn't impress me, because I have an intense dislike to Scarlet Johanson. She has one single expression on her face and no, the fact that she looks sad all the time does nothing to make me feel anything towards her.
Did she kick ass? Yes, she did. Are the nay-sayers, sexist? Yes, they fucking are, because she saved the world okay! By wielding the Villain's weapon no less. I like that ambiguity and I would have liked her more if her moral ambiguity were a little more obvious than her "skill set" of emotional manipulation.
As for Clint; "Legolas", 'nuff said. Thank you, Tony, for saying what we were all thinking.
The mind rape could have been horrific if it were framed as, well, rape and not "magic" and left hanging there for us to ponder kinda sorta. The fact that when Loki tried to do it to Tony and failed and Tony called it performance anxiety - which made the audience laugh as we were supposed to - makes the sexual connotation of it all the more apparent, as well as marking (like we needed a big neon arrow on the Glo-Stick of Destiny) Loki's staff for what it is - a source of phallic power. Not that the horns didn't give that away, either.
Speaking of Loki, your actions, kind of bely your words, most of which I agreed with a whole lot, because humanity sucks. It sucks hard. We look to gods and monsters, in the hopes that we forget that we are the biggest monsters to ever walk the earth.
But never mind that when we have the very best of what makes America great fighting against the nameless, faceless horde of some sort of Warrior Race, while they destroy New York city and we see police officers and fire fighters help move unkempt and dusty civilians out of the fray.
Um.
My favourite, and this is nor surprise, were Tony and Bruce. Tony, because, well, Iron Man. Duh. I don't think I really need to expand on that - he's the most compelling morally ambiguous character (not even Nick Fury, who's moral ambivalence drips off him like Sameul L. Jackson's disdain for you, you motherfucker).
I kind of expected some character development from him, but the most I got was him proving to Captain America that he too can be self sacrificing and shit. Which, if you watched the first movie, is kind of a given.
Not cool, though, Tony, making sure nobody kissed him. Though you could construe the Hulk hitting him in the chest a love tap.
Oh, the Hulk. I loved him. A lot. A lot a lot. Eric Bana was good. Edward Norton fell a bit flat (Tim Roth took home that movie) and Mark Ruffalo was bloody perfect. When he says "My secret is I'm always angry" my grin split my face.
I am a big fan of righteous anger.
And the Hulk is like a representation of that in one Green monster. Also, who doesn't love a re-imagined Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
It helped that the Hulk really was no holds barred when it came to his power. He's a juggernaut and it's was awesome.
Not to mention, that Bruce's emotional depth was the best throughout. He actually spoke about trying to commit suicide and "the other guy" preventing it. At the start of the movie, Bruce is resigned to the fact that he's alive, but he isn't truly living.
His is the only real character development in the movie and that was nice to watch.
Captain America... well... I hate him.
But I love that Phil Coulson loved him.
In my next review, I'll get into the feminism, the slash, how Phil Coulson is all of Fandom and why I prefer the X-Men. Because I'm so original.
No, I'm not.
In a word.
*SMASH*
Let me first state that I went in with very low expectations. Like, none. I've barely read any other reviews and the majority of the critiques I've caught via twitter were mainly about Joss not doing his bit for feminism, which yes, I will get into in my next review, because yes, I'm going to see it again and it's just too much to get into here!
My low expectations came about because other than Iron Man back in 2008, which I love, adore and rekindled my love for Robert Downy Jr., all the other prequel movies were utter shit.
So, yeah, no high expectations, but Joss Whedon, to whom I am loyal to a fault, compelled me. It's not like I wasn't going to go see a Super Hero Movie, but seeing as I felt no qualms about watching Captain America (oy, wow, two hours I'm never getting back) on my little computer, the Joss factor is a big one.
Well worth it too.
Over all, yeah it was big and epic and huge and the scope of it was grand.
It left me kind of cold.
There's just so much explosions and destruction that I can take before I say, "Bored now".
And really, it was the character interactions that sold me, because that's what Joss does best. And what made me have little "squees", especially when they're being manipulated by the Glo-Stick of Destiny in the lab, I had actual flashbacks to Buffy with that one.
So, yeah, the team was awesome. Because individually they were all a bit, well, I probably wouldn't chose to hang out with any of them except, maybe Bruce Banner.
Thor, meh. The hammer is his penis, what else is new?
Natasha and Clint, well, I don't know them. In Iron Man 2, Natasha was a kick ass femme fatale, which didn't impress me, because I have an intense dislike to Scarlet Johanson. She has one single expression on her face and no, the fact that she looks sad all the time does nothing to make me feel anything towards her.
Did she kick ass? Yes, she did. Are the nay-sayers, sexist? Yes, they fucking are, because she saved the world okay! By wielding the Villain's weapon no less. I like that ambiguity and I would have liked her more if her moral ambiguity were a little more obvious than her "skill set" of emotional manipulation.
As for Clint; "Legolas", 'nuff said. Thank you, Tony, for saying what we were all thinking.
The mind rape could have been horrific if it were framed as, well, rape and not "magic" and left hanging there for us to ponder kinda sorta. The fact that when Loki tried to do it to Tony and failed and Tony called it performance anxiety - which made the audience laugh as we were supposed to - makes the sexual connotation of it all the more apparent, as well as marking (like we needed a big neon arrow on the Glo-Stick of Destiny) Loki's staff for what it is - a source of phallic power. Not that the horns didn't give that away, either.
Speaking of Loki, your actions, kind of bely your words, most of which I agreed with a whole lot, because humanity sucks. It sucks hard. We look to gods and monsters, in the hopes that we forget that we are the biggest monsters to ever walk the earth.
But never mind that when we have the very best of what makes America great fighting against the nameless, faceless horde of some sort of Warrior Race, while they destroy New York city and we see police officers and fire fighters help move unkempt and dusty civilians out of the fray.
Um.
My favourite, and this is nor surprise, were Tony and Bruce. Tony, because, well, Iron Man. Duh. I don't think I really need to expand on that - he's the most compelling morally ambiguous character (not even Nick Fury, who's moral ambivalence drips off him like Sameul L. Jackson's disdain for you, you motherfucker).
I kind of expected some character development from him, but the most I got was him proving to Captain America that he too can be self sacrificing and shit. Which, if you watched the first movie, is kind of a given.
Not cool, though, Tony, making sure nobody kissed him. Though you could construe the Hulk hitting him in the chest a love tap.
Oh, the Hulk. I loved him. A lot. A lot a lot. Eric Bana was good. Edward Norton fell a bit flat (Tim Roth took home that movie) and Mark Ruffalo was bloody perfect. When he says "My secret is I'm always angry" my grin split my face.
I am a big fan of righteous anger.
And the Hulk is like a representation of that in one Green monster. Also, who doesn't love a re-imagined Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
It helped that the Hulk really was no holds barred when it came to his power. He's a juggernaut and it's was awesome.
Not to mention, that Bruce's emotional depth was the best throughout. He actually spoke about trying to commit suicide and "the other guy" preventing it. At the start of the movie, Bruce is resigned to the fact that he's alive, but he isn't truly living.
His is the only real character development in the movie and that was nice to watch.
Captain America... well... I hate him.
But I love that Phil Coulson loved him.
In my next review, I'll get into the feminism, the slash, how Phil Coulson is all of Fandom and why I prefer the X-Men. Because I'm so original.
No, I'm not.
