THE AVENGERS 2012 MOVIE REVIEW!

Believe The Hype! [A few spoilers included, plus Avengers behind the scenes & on set images]

All right, I saw this movie over the weekend and I will say that it was impressive. Overall, director Joss Whedon [creator of the popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1997 TV series and the Firefly 2002 Cable TV series] was able to contrive a storyline that will please Marvel comic book veterans as well as newbies to the Avengers' superhero franchise.

At the end of the movie, the legendary artist/creator Stan lee was credited as an executive producer - I'm still not certain on what his work on the movie was, but perhaps he served as a creative consultant. Also, the final script of the movie executed by Joss Whedon was actually written first by Zak Penn, before Joss took things over and started modifying it to fit his own expensive tastes.
 

 

 Above: Pictures of Captain America [Chris Evans], Iron Man [Robert Downry Jr], Black Widow & Hawkeye

 
 

Iron Man's latest exo-suit combat armor is showcased above [either the Mark V, VI, VII or VIII.... I've lost count at this juncture].

Yes, Joss Whedon's tastes in terms of mega-movie production and epic battle scales are flashy and expensive; while sitting in the theater watching the 3D presentation, I specifically said to myself at two separate junctures: "This damn movie must have cost at least 200 million dollars to create all the special effects."
Guess what? I was wrong. I did the research and found that The Avengers movie cost approximately 220 million dollars. And that doesn't take into consideration the extra 15 - 20 million dollars spent on their global advertising campaign.

 

Mighty Thor [and his powerful hammer that conducts electricity /lightning bolts] played by Chris Hemsworth. Below,  more posters of the Black Widow [Scarlet Jo] & Hawkeye [Jeremy Renner], the archer assassin.... who seems to be... a rogue agent???

 

 

  Loki and Nick Fury, played by Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L Jackson respectively.

[You may need to click on the word link that says "Read More" to the see the rest of this lengthy article!]
 
Now that we're done with the numbers, lets talk about the plot:
This movie was distinctly story-driven, not character-driven. By that I mean that it was scripted to create a story that would slow down at strategic points, just to give you enough time to soak-in the ambience and nature of the diverse characters. And then the movie would rapidly speed up just to show off their super powers & abilities.

In the movie, the cunning god of mischief Loki [played perfectly by Tom Hiddleston] was the half-brother of Thor [Chris Hemswoth], the god of thunder. And Loki was the one sponsored by a disciple of Lord Thanos [leader of the infamous alien Skrulls] to attack earth. And a peculiar artifact from the Captain America 2011 movie was featured: the Tesseract, an alien energy source of unknown potential.

The first 5 minutes of the movie starts out at one of the ground bases belonging to SHIELD, a special government organization that puts tabs on superhuman beings around the globe. And soon Captain Nick Fury [played by Samuel L Jackson] arrives via helicopter to hear Special Agent Maria Hill tell him that the Tesseract is reacting strangely, which could lead to a nuclear-level explosion or facility implosion. Evacuation of their personnel ensue, and Special Agent Hawkeye [an archer-assassin that works for SHIELD] informs Nick Fury that it appears the blue cube - the Tesseract - is being activated like an interdimensional portal. Thus it was emanating blue energy, due to the fact that it was opening from the other end, not the Earth end. Soon an unstable portal opens and Loki arrives with his mystic spear.
Then the action unfolds from there. Eventually, the Command & Control Center for the good guys is transferred to the massive Hellicarrier dropship [a hovercarft navy carrier vessel], shown below:

  

 

 The Hellicarier, a navy aircraft carrier that has VTOL hovercraft capabilities; it is the mobile command center of SHIELD.

Later at the end, there is a 40-minute battle scene as the alien invasion actually takes place over the cityscape of Manhattan, right beside NYC [due to that same damn blue cube, which gets abducted by the bad guys half-way through the movie]. And the disparate members of the Avengers are forced to put their differences aside, in order to fight for the liberation of the planet.

There were some relationships intertwined into the movie, but nothing overly romantic. There appears to be a bond of camaraderie between the Black Widow [played by Scarlett Johansson] and Hawkeye [played by Jeremy Renner]. They are both assassins for SHIELD and they appear to have some combat history together. But at one point, in her own hardened way, Black Widow tells Loki in the movie: "I don't love Hawkeye; love is for kids".
If that is truly how she thinks, she is one hot lil' mama with a hardcore mind. In fact, to the amazement of the audience, she did kick Hawkeye's ass in the movie - you'll have to watch it to know why she did so. Scarlet-Jo really has a bit of a manly vibe in this flick.... perhaps it was best for her portrayed character though.

    

 Scarlet Johansson and Jeremy Renner [Black Widow & Hawkeye] sharing a "tender moment".

As the heroes are being recruited by Nick Fury and his group, the good guys end up fighting each other at one point per personal egos. And it appears that the "angrily unleashed lightning bolt" from Thor electrically charges Ironman, jacking up his suit's energy batteries by 400% - that 1-minute battle clip was released by Marvel Studios on Youtube about 2 weeks ago, as a teaser.
Honestly folks, Tony's Iron Man suit is made of a lightweight metallic alloy - its about 90 percent metal, hence the name "Ironman". Despite its lightweight construct, Tony's suit is so densely compacted and airtight that there is no leakage in it [in fact he survives and swims underwater with that suit at one point in the movie]. Therefore, based on the laws of physics and conductivity, the lightning bolt blast from Thor should have killed Tony, roasting him within the airtight suit.
But hey, this is a movie designed for entertainment, so perhaps it doesn't even matter..

As I said earlier, this movie was story-driven, not character-driven; there really was no in-depth character development for any of the 6 main heroes [and honestly, they should have been at least 7 heroes, but the director completely took out The Wasp from the script's first draft. If you watched the Marvel movie Iron Man, which was released back in 2008, then you can understand when I say it was a character-driven story; because the entire plot was believably supported by the outstanding performance of Robert Downey Jr [who reprises his role as Tony Stark / Ironman in this new Avengers 2012 movie]. Honestly, the storyline of the Avengers could have been better developed, but that would have required at least 30 more minutes of cinematography, in order to let you experience the true lifestyles and unmasked personalities of the super heroes.

 
Mark Ruffalo, aka Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk, aka the scientist / gamma ray analyst

On the other hand, the man who stole the show was......... THE INCREDIBLE HULK!! Trust me guys, they call him "incredible" for a damngood reason. He literally kicked the aliens' asses... and a few Avenger asses along the way [watch for the infamous Sucker Punch, in the Third Act]. Mark Ruffalo - the guy who played Bruce Banner / the Green Hulk - did an excellent job. And he also revealed a secret towards the end, explaining just how he'd learn to control his transformations. Bruce and Tony Stark were the two geniuses in the movie and they appeared to form a buddy-bond of their own.

At the very end of the 2-hour-22-minute flick, the heroes prevail..... although the title for the Greatest Marvel Superhero will be up for grabs; it should be either Ironman or the Hulk in my opinion, per what happens towards the end. And it appears that the Stark Towers building will turn into the new Avengers Tower, in the heart of the state of New York.

If you want to watch an explosive action movie with magnificent Special FX and a few comedic interludes wired into it, go ahead and see the Avengers. It you are a geek at heart, then trust me, you'll want to buy it on Blueray / DVD right when it's over. Plus, try and stay till the end after the credits, and you'll watch a funny placid moment ;)

Lastly, you may ask: "So Mr. Dsng Artist, will there be a sequel, aka The Avengers 2?"
And In response I say: "Lets consider two things: the numbers and the relationship."

First of all, the Avengers made over 140 million dollars overseas, a week before it was released in the USA. And in 1 day, Friday the 4th of May,  in the US, the Avengers 2012 movie grossed over 80 million dollars.... that's just in 1 freakin' day, not the whole 3-day weekend.
Secondly, Walt Disney is in a passionate love affair with Marvel Entertainment right now; Disney owns Marvel, having bought them back on December 31st 2009 for $4 Billion Dollars..... and sorry to say it, but right now, Disney is the pimp, and Marvel studios is the.... beeyatch. And by that gritty paradigm, I mean that Marvel is going to do everything it can, just to please Disney.
Speaking in colloquial terms, Disney loves your goddamn money; therefore, they will do anything and everything disguised as "entertainment" through Marvel, in order to get your money.

Based on these two points above, you can bet $10 [just like Nick Fury did]  that there will be an Avengers 2 movie, sometime within the next 5 years.

Sci fi Armor & Costumes Part 3: HERE
Sexy Pics of the beautiful Coco, the wife of IceT: HERE