The Avengers

A few years ago, there was a stream of awful films coming out in summer, turning audiences away to the lack of originality in Hollywood’s summer movie output. Times haven’t really changed in terms of originality, THE AVENGERS being the result of around four quasi-prequels which themselves are, of course, based off of the ideas of the people at Marvel. But what has changed is the quality of our summer films, and most of them have been handed over to competent directors and writers, to the point where almost every summer film is acclaimed and singled out for being above the usual standard. In some cases, this acclaim is false, as it was for RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Filmic continuity and good pacing doesn’t always equal a good film, but the overrated Joss Whedon’s THE AVENGERS is deserved of the acclaim it has been met with. Whedon has been catapulted, weirdly, seeing as the only other film he’s directed was SERENITY, which few people have ever even heard of. But despite the weirdness of Whedon’s ascent, THE AVENGERS is actually a pretty damn good film, giving equal screen time to each of the superheroes and arranging villains who are equal parts smart, ridiculous, and comical. But what Whedon successfully accomplishes is a good dynamic between each of the heroes, each of them having special or funny moments, and the focus concentrated on each of their (admittedly small) arcs. Scarlett Johansson, a continually underrated actress, brings kinetic power to Black Widow, performing her own stunts and consistently tricking the audience into believing her to be a weak woman, and then turning the tables. Mark Ruffalo as a new character, the Hulk, is also effective in the sense that he gives us exactly what we want: smashing shit. That’s what’s at the heart of Whedon’s genius, for he does nothing less than give us what we want. Big explosions, fun dialogue, batshit effects.

★★★★/5