Hello all! I know the movie has been out for quite some time but now that I’m on Tumblr and I’m looking to find common ground with people of the same interests, I’ve decided one of my first posts is going to be my personal opinion of Marvel’s The Avengers. This review does contain SPOILERS so consider yourself warned! :) 

In an overall summary of the movie I have to say that I absolutely loved it. There is just so much about this movie that is good from a film/comic book/writing standpoint. The fact that Joss Whedon managed to create such great development with such a large cast without having to entirely neglect certain characters is a testament to the man’s talent. I am not a Whedonite and I am not intimately familiar with any of his work, save for his run on Astonishing X-Men. I’ve heard from many sources that the man is a wizard with handling ensemble stories and I can certainly see why he has earned that reputation. The writing is witty and clever and its great how the film is injected with so much humor without turning cheesy or campy. The pacing is also terrific. The quiet moments and the action really compliment each other and I never got stuck waiting for the talking to get done so that the fighting could start. The finale is absolutely epic and left me leaving the theatre with such a high. The reveal of Thanos mid-credits really got me pumped as a comic fan. I haven’t read virtually any stories featuring Thanos but I know that he is a very big deal and its just so exciting to see that Marvel is not afraid to delve into some of the more fantastical reaches of their universe for film now. This could mean big things for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a collection films unafraid of being comic book movies. And who didn’t love the schwarma scene? I had no idea what shwarma even was before this movie. I read an article stating that schwarma sales have skyrocketed thanks to Tony Stark. XD

The only gripe that I really had with the movie is the beginning exposition about Loki and his army. I didn’t mind the subject matter or the development of that in the least. Something its execution just seemed too cable-tv-ish to me. It might as well have been “Last time on Dragon Ball Z!”. You’d figure Whedon could have integrated that reveal within the plot a little more, like have Loki explain it all to Nick Fury in the beginning, or Thor out in the Woods, or Black Widow when he’s imprisoned on the Helicarrier. But as I’ve said, minor grip. Hardly ruined the movie for me. :)

With all of that said, I am not a film critic or major, but I am an actor and I would now like to share my analysis on each of the major character’s performances and developments! 

Samuel L. Jackon/Nick Fury - Perfectly serviceable. The character nor his performance never exactly blew me away, but I think its a good thing that he’s rather understated. This is an Avengers movie and Nick Fury should be stealing the show from the Avengers. He is the functional force that brings the big deals together and gives them direction and I can live with that. Being a big fan Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, I’m more than happy with the use of the Ultimate version of Nick. I do enjoy the gritty, badassness of mainstream Nick Fury, but I think his personality would be too much with all of these other larger-than-life characters.

Cobie Smulders/Maria Hill - Another serviceable performance. That said, Hill didn’t remind me too too much of her comic counterpart. The character is super bitchy with control issues and an inferiority complex and none of that really translated to the big screen. That said, since the film ends with Fury on thin ice with the World Security Council, there’s certainly room for development in the sequel, especially if they decide to go with something based on the Civil War arc. 

Clark Gregg/Phil Coulson - Gotta love this guy! He’s just such an enjoyable, everyman character and he’s been one of the building blocks of this whole operation. He has some truly great exchanges with the rest of the characters, his idolization of Cap being the best. I have to say though, I was absolutely surprised that he was the one to die in the movie! Before the film came out, I heard rumors that a major character was going to die. I thought it would be Hawkeye, since Jeremy Renner has spoken up about wanting to do less big budgets films. I also thought it made sense for his character arc. Being under Loki’s control and doing terrible things, Hawkeye could have redeemed himself by going out in a blaze of glory! When Coulson was confirmed dead, I just didn’t believe it right away. How could he die? How could someone kill him? But then it kicks in and I realized that the guy was stabbed through and he was only human. This death was the real deal and left a profound sense of lost. And because of that it was great. I’ll miss ya Phil. It will be strange to see the MCU develop without you.

Chris Evans/Captain America - I find both the Captain America character and Chris Evans highly underrated. A lot of my friends don’t pay mind to him because he’s just so low key compared to Iron Man and Thor. He’s not especially hilarious and his limited power set doesn’t allow him to pull of the visual feats that his companions can. But that’s what I love about this character. He is an ordinary joe with a good heart that somehow manages to survive amongst and against powers much greater than himself. And I give Chris Evans a lot of credit for playing him. Its easy to not give him much acting credit since Cap is just such a simple, straight forward guy but if you see Evans in other movies or in his personal life, the guy is a wisecracking smart ass. He truly transforms himself for this role. And the character has so many good moments, facing off against Loki, pimp smacking a grenade, assembling and commanding the Avengers and protecting innocent people from the Chitauri. I think the man served his purpose exceptionally. I’d like to have seen a little more of his struggle with the modern world and the loss of his loved ones from his era, but that’s ground that can be treaded on in his own movie.

Chris Hemsworth/Thor - Love this dude as Thor. Whereas I’m still on the fence about how much I liked his solo movie, mostly due to directing and writing, I think he’s a terrific and natural fit for the character. However, I was surprised to see how functional he was in this movie rather than exceptional. Whereas all of his fellow Avengers have numerous cool and defining moments, Thor just seems kind of there. You’d think with him being tied so closely to Loki he would have played a bigger part in the plot’s developement. I mean, yeah, the guy has a cool fight with Ironman and Hulk and he definitely does some badass stuff in the finale, but the film never seemed to really zone in on him doing any of that. Oh, I hear a lot of people hating on how he “inexplicably returned to earth” without the Bifrost. Loki says almost right away that Odin focused a great deal of power and sent Thor back. The guy is the freakin’ All Father. It’s a good enough explanation to me. XD

Roberty Downey Jr./Iron Man - What is there not to love about this guy and what is there for me to say that everyone else hasn’t already? The dude is just so entertaining in this role and in my opinion, he makes Tony Stark a much better character. In the comics and television shows before it, Stark has always been kind of a dull, serious character. RDJ injects a sense of cynical humor into him that gives him much needed life. He did it in his last two movies and he did the same here in Avengers. I’m happy to see that the guy didn’t completely overshadow the other characters. It’s also nice to see he’s developed some, now in a serious relationship with Pepper and often putting himself in dangerous situations for the greater good. The guy gets a lot of shit done! He fixes the Helicarrier and he nearly kills himself in a very touching scene in order to save Manhattan and defeat the bad guy. Some hardcore fans bitch about him being in a committed relationship since he’s supposed to be something of a player. To that I say, this is movie and character needs development. As much as I love comics, it does certainly get aggravating to see that some characters haven’t grown out of certain behaviors in literally decades of stories. 

Mark Ruffalo/The Hulk - What a pleasant surprise this guy was! I didn’t mind Ed Norton as the Hulk. In fact, when I first learned about him playing the role in The Incredible Hulk I was very excited cause the guy is great actor. That said, the movie itself was rather mediocre and Norton’s acting was not the greatest. I just didn’t care about him. I’m glad things fell through with him and Marvel though, cause Ruffalo is the Banner we’ve always wanted. He’s so awkward and charming, yet you can sense a great darkness and depravity in him. I also have to give mucho credit to the depiction of his cgi “other guy”. Hulk is finally the badass brute he’s always meant to be and he looks terrific. He’s also very funny, which I’ve always argued that the character had a great capacity for humor with his violence and brutishness. And when he whooped Loki’s ass at the end, the audience was laughing so hard that I actually didn’t hear his “Puny God.” line. Mark Ruffalo has apparently been contracted for three individual Hulk movies and boy am I glad to heard that. I hope whoever directs his movie respects what Joss Whedon did for the character and works off of it. I’m very excited at the possibilities of what his movies could have in store. I really wanna see The Leader, Red Hulk and maybe even a version of Planet Hulk brought to life. :P

Scarlett Johansson/Black Widow - Man, I was surprised by how much I liked this character. Scarlett was serviceable as Widow in Iron Man 2, but not particularly interesting or deep, though certainly bad ass. She has some great exchanges with the rest of the cast and really holds her own amongst the other Avengers. What I loved most is that she had a personality dynamic and experienced growth throughout the movie. She starts off as a simple spy but then yearns to rescue the one that offered her a second chance, experiences real fear and humanity as she struggles to survive the Hulk and then decides to become a real hero and make up for the wrongs she committed in the past. I really haven’t seen much of Scarlett’s work in other movies but I truly enjoyed her here. I’ve heard whispers of a possible Black Widow solo film. I initially would not be very interested, as the character has never been on my radar much, but her depiction here would make me at least curious to see how well a solo film would work. Joss Whedon is popular for creating strong female characters and he does that very well here. The world needs badass chicks who can get stuff done while still being human and not being over sexualized. :) 

Jeremy Renner/Hawkeye - I liked him. Hawkeye is another character I just don’t care much about so it didn’t matter to me how much or little he was featured in this movie. I hate to use the word serviceable again but he was quite so as a pawn of Loki. The guy has a real sense of sarcasm and cynicism and I like it. He definitely got the short straw in terms of screen time and development, but I can live with that. I am aware that the character has a strong following and many are not happy with his portrayal in the movie. The character is supposed to be a wise cracking smart ass but he is actually very toned down. This is definitely, in part, because of Tony Stark now being the wise cracking smart ass of the team. There simply isn’t a whole lot of room for two. He didn’t strike me the way that Black Widow did in this movie but maybe he’ll have that chance in the sequel. Hopefully he won’t be mind controlled again and we can really see him interact and grow with the team. XD

Tom Hiddleston/Loki - Man oh man! Let me start off by saying I didn’t exactly love this guy in Thor. Whereas I really liked Chris Hemsworth as Thor even though I’m kinda mixed about the movie, Hiddleston just struck me as a little too campy and over-the-top. I think a lot of this had to do with the director, Kenneth Branagh. The man is a theatre actor and director and that carries over into his film work. Theatre is naturally very over-the-top and dramatic, which is fine on stage, but on film it comes across as just too much. Now that I got that out of the way, I loved this dude in this movie. Man, I guess it just goes to show just how much a director and a good script can affect a performance but Hiddleston was just so devious, vile and witty. He carries such presence and he does so with so much coolness. He’s just always one step ahead of the other guys, which is exactly how the character should be. I love the scene where Hawkeye shoots the arrow at him while he’s flying the Chitauri ship and he catches it. He just looks like such a smug bastard! XD Major props to Tom. I hope he does great work in future Thor movies.

And I think that’s it for now folks! I wrote this entire thing in one sitting and I am tired! If anyone is aggravated or insulted by any of my observations, don’t be. I’m just a simple guy offering my view on a great movie and I’d love to generate some conversation about it. Good night all. I hope you enjoy!