3 Short Paragraphs: The Avengers

2012, Joss Whedon (writer on Roseanne, screenplays of Titan A.E. and Toy Story) -- cinema

So, you have already seen Marvel's The Avengers so I am not going to write as if you didn't.  You are really just perusing my "review" to see what I thought.  So, let's talk about my love of superheroes and Joss Whedon.  If you haven't seen the movie yet, there is a good chance you are not interested in movies about people in costumes, with superpowers fighting aliens no matter how well written and directed and popular it is.  But you obviously know I care about these things, so thanks.  And please, tell me why you have not seen it, rather than let me assume.

OK, a lot has already been said how they brought the director/creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse and Firefly onboard to direct the movie Marvel and Paramount have been building towards for years.  Whedon is known as a good guy for an ensemble cast, one of the few who can effectively make a group of people into a single character, the star of his vehicles, while still allowing singular voices to ring out.  Whedon is also great with world-building and continuity.  Whedon loves, and has written comic books.  But Whedon is also known for not playing well with the big boys of Hollywood, not a child of temper tantrums but in staying true to his vision.  So, it was with this in mind, I went in pretty damn excited but also tempered, perhaps expecting Whedon himself to be tempered by bucket loads of offered money.

No worries.  It was spectacular.  You can probably choose one or two of the other movies that you actually loved.  Iron Man was great, Captain America was fun but disjointed. Thor was painful. And The Hulk was almost not part of the cast entirely given the star didn't come along.  But Whedon does really take the best from all the others and fits them into this summer blockbuster machine so incredibly well.   Superheroes are not used to working together, not interested in sharing limelight or responsibility or tempering their egos.  The story plays on that and well. They fight, they argue, they bump egos and they all try not to piss of the Hulk.  In the end, they put the differences aside to fight something that is beyond what the normal world can take care of, and then it is the best thing to piss off the Hulk.

And Kent's view.