Iron Man + The Incredible Hulk + Iron Man 2 + Thor + Captain America: The First Avenger
Oops. Wrong one. Too late now.
Cast: I'm about to use the next few hundred words to say "this was really good", but to fill space, I'll pretend that anything I'm about to say is new to anyone.
So, the cast is pretty great. In the same way that it's hard to believe those characters would agree to work together, it's impressive how big the cast is of familiar faces without any feeling neglected. All the heroes handle the action sequences as well as they do the lighter-hearted stuff, as should be expected in a Whedon production. A quick summary: Downey Jr.was enjoyably smug. Evans was vintage heroic. Hemsworth was powerful and without irony. Ruffalo was sedated but menacing. Johansson really felt like more than just eye candy. Renner, well, he was good but more secondary. Jackson was badass. And, Hiddleston took a pretty broad role and maximized the effectiveness of it.
Plot: It fit a lot of story into a normal-sized action movie. That alone is impressive. No characters felt unintentionally neglected and the pacing was great. I'm normally pretty harsh on the Marvel movies in particular because they are grounded in such a weird reality, but this one didn't bother me as much. I haven't the time to examine why that is and I don't care to since the story is good enough no to.
The Journey: A little commentary here. Is anyone else floored by the way this came together? Disney/Marvel has been putting this together for over half a decade and invested so many hundreds of millions or dollars in to a Titanic-sized gamble. The Avengers are made up of B-superheroes. The cast is a bunch of actors bankable* only because of the efforts of the studio. Any one of these movies bombing could've tanked the movie or turned it into an Iron Man and Friends clusterfuck. This doesn't happen very often. It's basically, James Cameron projects, Lord of the Rings, and this movie. That's pretty cool.
* Bankable does not mean famous. Everyone knew Robert Downey Jr. but no one trusted a franchise to him until Iron Man.
Elephant in the Room: No, I didn't see it in 3-D and I couldn't be more proud of that.
Giraffe in the Room: I'm still looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises more. It's a matter of preference though.
To Sum Things Up:
This is why they show movies in theaters. It is big. It is loud. It creates a big world and doesn't get overwhelmed by it. I could nit-pick at some things, I guess, but this is such a treat that it would be petty to spoil things. This is a blockbuster in the best sense of the word.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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