The Avengers Movie Review

The Avengers

Garde: A+

I've been off my movie reviewing game for a bit now.  Might have overdone it leading up to the Academy Awards and worn myself out.  Or it could be that the early part of the year is usually a little on the slow side as movies go.

Anyway, the season is surely heating up with the highly anticipated release of The Avengers.  The movie unites Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye,  Black Widow and The Hulk under the guidance and direction of Nick Fury.

This movie is exciting, intelligent and visually spectacular.  The story is great focusing on Lokey's (Thor's brother) and his plan to destroy earth.  Despite a plethora of characters, each is well defined and each plays a significant role in the movie.

The special effects are some of the best I've seen.  The Hulk no longer looks like a cartoon character.  He looks real and even  a bit like Mark Ruffalo, who plays Dr. Banner.

Some of the best moments are the subtle comedic ones.  I wish I could remember them all.  The $10 scene between Captain America and Nick Fury is brilliant and the scene between The Hulk and Lokey echos the Indiana Jones scene where he pulls out a gun to shoot the big huge guy with the big huge sword.

You can also tell that Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark/Iron Man.  He's just great and having so much fun with this character.

I would recommend going to see this with a big audience.  The exuberance of the audience only adds to the overall effect of the movie.  So many people are so excited about this movie.  You can just feel it pulsing through the theater.  It's a real feel good movie, reminiscent of days past when we could just let our little kid out.

And...even though I'm not a 3D fan and we did not see the 3D version, the big conflict scenes would have been enhanced by this special effect.

I have to be honest, I am not a Marvel Comics person.  In fact my only exposure to these Super Heroes is through each of their movies.  That said, prior to this movie I did not know anything about Hawkeye and Black Widow.  I plan to sit down soon with my SIL to get the lowdown on each of these characters, but you don't need to really understand these two to enjoy the movie.

That doesn't mean you don't have to do your homework.  I would highly recommend that you see Iron Man (just the first one), Captain America and Thor prior to seeing The Avengers.  There is a lot of background that will add to the storyline and your enjoyment of the movie.  

Get your summer started right and go see this movie.  Maybe with a group so you can talk about it after and hopefully remember all the comedic zinger moments.