Movie Review Monday #50: The Avengers

After an 11 month unintentional theater-fast, Manny and I got in front of the big screen today to see The Avengers to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Huge thanks to our friends, Laura, Mike, and Charlie for keeping Sofia entertained with some rainy day couch-tunnels and train sets so we could enjoy lots of crescendos on a big screen that would have otherwise been severely downplayed and practically ruined on our home TV, trying to keep Sofia asleep, several months from now. Netflix, you're great, but you can only do so much for us.

image borrowed from here

The Prerequisites:

A small glimpse of the upcoming Avengers long ago was enough to convince me to see both Captain America and Thor when I wouldn't have otherwise. Sadly, after seeing those movies, I lost a bit of steam and interest in seeing The Avengers. But having seen them all, I will say Thor provided a surprisingly foundational backdrop to The Avengers, so even though the movie experience was a bit disappointing, and in fact sleep inducing, I was glad to have the background. Captain America was a fine movie, but they give you sufficient hints about his back story within The Avengers that one would be fine without having seen it. Ironman is just great, so essential or not, I'd recommend it, but you've probably already seen it. 

The Experience:

When you get to a place in life where you get to see one, maybe two, movies in a theater (due to your budget, your schedule, your littles), you develop a pretty strict rubric about which movies make the cut. For me, that rubric includes: 

1) I have to feel pretty certain I'll enjoy the film 

2) Its strengths should include elements I can not enjoy at home. 

So for me, this mostly boils down to explosive action films that have promising character development. [as of today, the new Batman film has joined the list of must-see's, I'd welcome any baby-sitting volunteers now! :) ] Granted, I only just got home from watching it, and I'm inappropriately hopped up an indecent quantity of pop-corn, soda, and candy that are usually exempt from my diet, but I would say The Avengers fit the bill on this score. The booming crescendos that had me jumping and nearly shouting at someone to turn the volume down so as not to wake my child that I kept forgetting was miles away. On top of the great action and sound, the pleasant surprise was how much it made me laugh, which was perhaps what I needed most out of a movie going experience today. Robert Downey Jr. just cracks me up. He's come a long way since I developed a crush on him in Only You. [don't tell Manny ;) ]

I will say plenty of the dialogue was thoroughly predictable. But I felt like I could anticipate what characters would say because they were developed so clearly. And when they did execute expected lines, it wasn't dissatisfying, it was just a moment well completed. 

The Characters

I loved Gwyneth Paltrow's character here even more than I've been loving her in Ironman. Her appearance is unfortunately brief, but she seems appropriately aged and yet still strong, impressive, and elegant, all within a committed relationship. Such a respectable female portrayal felt like a rare treat. 

I read elsewhere that one of the strengths of this film was that the writers/directors did a good job of bringing several characters together for one flick while still developing their unique personalities sufficiently well so as not to lose the strong story. I would agree and add that I think this was accomplished by hitting on the Achilles' heel of each hero, not shortchanging the complexity of each character, but instead using their weaknesses to propel the story towards tapping into truth and giving them all (and thereby us) opportunity for transformation through the experience.

Perhaps one of the best portrayed weaknesses of the heroes was how suited they were to having their own spotlight, and therefore how difficult it was to "play well with others." They played this off through several character conflicts, but my favorite might have been between Ironman and Captain America. Captain America was trapped in ice for seventy years, so while he's decades the senior to Ironman, he looks much younger. I appreciated the wise elder role they allowed the Captain to play in the team, how they played off of Ironman's playboy contrast, and how they two ended up complimenting each other in the end: Ironman learning about sacrifice and following the Captain's leadership. We can certainly use more encouragement towards humility and respecting our elders. 

The Follow Up:

I would definitely watch another Avengers movie. But equally intriguing to me are the prospects of a movie with Black Widow and Hawk Eye so I can have a better sense of their back story. Interest piqued, Marvel, well done. 

To The Avengers, two claws up! 

To my husband, Happy 7th Anniversary. You're my hero. ;)