The Avengers

• Title:  The Avengers
• Director:  Joss Whedon
• Date:  2012
• Studio:  Paramount, Marvel Studios
• Genre:  Action, Fantasy, SF
• Cast:  Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Alexis Denisoff, Clark Gregg
• Format:  Color, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"The cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?  Doors open from both sides." -- Clint Barton

"I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."  -- Dr. Bruce Banner

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"  -- Capt. Steve Rogers

"We are not soldiers!" -- Tony Stark

The Avengers takes several heroes from previous Marvel films and brings them together into a team-up movie, as a new super-hero group, The Avengers, is assembled to combat Loki's challenge, find the mysterious Tesseract cube Loki has stolen,  and ultimately to fight an army of creatures from another galaxy.

The film opens with an attack by Loki on a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility.  He uses his staff to take control of Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye) and succeeds in taking the Tesseract cube.  In the chaos, the facility is destroyed.  Recognising that the special circumstances call for a special team and a special response, Nick Fury calls for Agent Phil Coulson to assemble a team who will become The Avengers.  The beginning of the film introduces and assembles this team, all of whom are in the midst of their own problems, but they put them aside to combat Loki's threat.  The team is:  Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) an assassin, Dr. Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Tony Stark (Iron Man), Captain America (Capt. Steve Rogers), Thor, and S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.

Once the team is assembled, they begin to look for Loki and the Tesseract.  They easily find Loki in Stuttgart, Germany.  Captain America and Ironman fight and capture Loki, with some help from Black Widow, a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter, and Thor.  However, once they take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s heli-carrier (remember the Valiant from the Doctor Who episodes:  "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky"? - it looks like that.) it seems that Loki wanted to be taken.  He plays the team, attempting to get Dr. Bruce Banner so angry that he turns into the Hulk and smashes the carrier in flight.  Despite the Avengers figuring out this plan, it works.  Hawkeye, still under Loki's control, also attacks the carrier.  Stark and Rogers have to work together to prevent the entire carrier from crashing.  Agent Phil Coulson is killed by Loki.  Both Thor and Hulk fall out of the heli-carrier, but are un-hurt when they land.  Prior to his turning into the Hulk, Banner and Stark both got along very well.  Stark treated Banner well, complimented his scientific work and papers, and even inviting Banner to Stark Tower to work in R&D.  The same cannot be said of Stark and Rogers - who strongly dislike each other at first.  Loki successfully escape, though Stark and Rogers are able to prevent the carrier from crashing.

Recovering from their losses, and the death of  Agent Coulson, the Avengers plan their next move.  After a discussion with Rogers, Tony realises that Loki will use the new Arc Reactor self-perpetuating green power source at Stark Tower to accomplish his plans.

The film moves to New York, where Loki has already opened a portal to another galaxy.  Alien creatures go through the portal and start causing chaos - attacking everything, destroying buildings, and killing people.  Tony first challenges Loki, then co-ordinates the counter-attack.  Eventually all the Avengers join the fight. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shadowy cabinet decides to cut their losses and target a nuclear missile on the city.  Fury is, well, furious, at the very idea and refuses to comply with the order.  The cabinet sends out a fighter jet to send in the nuke anyway.  Fury informs Ironman, who informs the other Avengers.  Tony then takes the missile and carries it into the portal.  He sees it blow-up, cutting off  the alien's power, then falls to earth.  Stark barely makes it through the portal before Natasha closes it with Loki's staff.  Hulk catches the powerless, falling Stark.

Tony and Pepper are adorable and cute together at the beginning of the film, when Coulson comes to bring Ironman into the mission.  When he's heading for the portal and thinking he will probably die, Tony agrees, at Jarvis's suggestion, to call Pepper.  She, however, misses his call.

News clips round-up the story, with man-on-the-street type interviews with those saved by the Avengers, as well as political pundits who criticize the destruction of the city.  Thor takes Loki and the Tesseract; Tony and Banner ride off together, Steve leaves on his own motorcycle, and later Tony and Pepper are in his lab re-designing Stark Tower.  The Avengers have split apart but they will draw together again when  needed. 

The film is a great ensemble piece, with crackling, snappy dialogue.  I enjoyed it very much.  I really liked the "science bromance" of  Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner.  Stark is a genuine admirer of  the other man, and is not in fear of  the green "rage monster" as he calls it.  He's shocked when Banner admits he had once attempted to shoot himself, only to have "the other guy" spit out the bullet. Natasha and Clint also seemed to have a history, though Hawkeye spends most of the film in Loki's thrall, she is, eventually able to break that and he joins the Avengers for the final battle.  Overall, this was a great summer "popcorn" movie.  It's fun, the actors all did a great job, and the characters were very cool.  When I saw it last year, the only other Marvel films I'd seen were some of the X-men movies and the (Tobey McGuire) Spiderman films (which aren't connected at all), and Thor (which was).  This film got me to see the Ironman films, largely due to Robert Downey Jr.'s excellent performance, which I enjoyed (see reviews on this blog).  The Avengers shows that an ensemble piece with several characters with elaborate backstorys can still work as a film.  Warner Brothers are you listening?  Make Justice League!  Anyway, it's recommended.

Recommendation:  Go see it!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Next Film:  The Third Man