CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE MAIN SEWER › Focused Film Discussion › REVIEW: THE AVENGERS (JOSH’S TAKE)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

REVIEW: THE AVENGERS (JOSH’S TAKE)

post #1 of 15
4/29/12 at 9:45pm
Thread Starter 
by Joshua Miller: link

Hulk smashed Josh's reservations.
Reply
post #2 of 15
4/29/12 at 9:57pm

No true spoilers FYI.

Reply
post #3 of 15
4/29/12 at 10:52pm

I'm seeing this tomorrow, so I'm holding off until then, spoilers or not!  Heheheh

Reply
post #4 of 15
4/29/12 at 10:55pm

Smart move. I fear the on-line critics' uberlove for the film is going to generate a backlash. Best if everyone goes in as cold as they can.

Reply
post #5 of 15
4/30/12 at 2:21am
Fantastic review Josh. One of the best I've read.

I'll need to give this a second go. On first viewing it took me a while to get over those first twenty minutes.
Reply
post #6 of 15
4/30/12 at 3:15am

Great review man. You managed to explain why Iove the movie in much better words than i could.

Reply
post #7 of 15
4/30/12 at 3:42am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshua Miller View Post

Smart move. I fear the on-line critics' uberlove for the film is going to generate a backlash. Best if everyone goes in as cold as they can.

 

Nah, I kinda doubt it, simply because the non-online critics generally seem to quite like it as well.  It's got genuinely good buzz, not just "Internet" buzz.  The backlash won't set in until a year or so down the road when it becomes fashionable to talk about how overrated it was/hate on the film, as happens with just about every well-received blockbuster.

 

As far as the post-credits stinger/teaser, haven't they all ultimately been for the comic geeks?  They pretty much all require above-the-norm knowledge of comic-book trivia to fully appreciate.  Especially when dealing with a general public that has multiple members wondering why Batman or Green Lantern aren't in this movie....


Edited by Jmacq1 - 4/30/12 at 4:02am
Reply
post #8 of 15
4/30/12 at 5:53am

 

Quote:

 On my deathbed I very well may look back on my life’s brightest moments and have to decide if the birth of my first child should be above or below watching Hulk go completely apeshit in The Avengers

 

Sums up the joy of this film, and Hulk's role in it,  perfectly.  

Reply
post #9 of 15
4/30/12 at 6:01am

Saw it on Saturday (I live in "sunny" Ireland), it was/is awesome, the superhero film we all dreamed of as kids. I found my eyes were sweating such was the joy I experienced seeing this movie. Brilliant! 

Reply
post #10 of 15
4/30/12 at 9:46am

Great review, Josh! I was going to see it on Friday, but family and work are preventing me from seeing it until Sunday. I already got the ticket, and judging from your review, I think I'm going to love the heck out of this movie.

Reply
post #11 of 15
4/30/12 at 10:05am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jmacq1 View Post

As far as the post-credits stinger/teaser, haven't they all ultimately been for the comic geeks?  They pretty much all require above-the-norm knowledge of comic-book trivia to fully appreciate. 

 

True. But also whereas Nick Fury showing up, even if you didn't know who Nick Fury was, or that they drew him in the Ultimate Avengers to look like Samuel L Jackson, you still had the feeling of - "Oo, there is some shit out there we don't know about!" Same with finding Thor's hammer. The teaser in AVENGERS is really just more of the same that we'd been seeing with that character (don't want to spoil anything here). So if you don't pick up on who he is now talking to, it doesn't add much more. Or maybe it does. Who knows. That's just how it struck me.

Reply
post #12 of 15
4/30/12 at 10:06am

 

Something that struck me about the film (and particularly the last act) was a similarity with Bay's Transformers films but the contrast between the two couldn't be greater. I don't even mean in terms of clarity of shooting style or what have you, it's something else.
 
Functionally speaking, the basic plot is the same (outmatched force try to stop loads of evil aliens, cue smashy stuff and huge scenes of destruction) but there's just such an endearing love and belief in the source material. No matter how cheesy or goofy it may be, it's not afraid of what it is, it embraces it, throws in all these mad, jarring elements of garishly OTT costumes, WWII heroes, super scientists, Norse gods, interdimensional portals, giant monsters, alien invaders and *that* end credits scene, and it just doesn't care that focus groups and joyless, chin-stroking types may be out there screaming "No, that's against 'the rules', you can't do that, it stretches plausibility to have Space Gods on Earth and spies fighting alien commandos, it's too unrealistic, it breaks MY IMMERSION" etc.
 
It's unashamed to be a true live action comic book, it doesn't try to hide it and it doesn't come across as cynical and calculating, despite the circumstances surrounding its long production, and it really helps sell you on it. In comparison, Transformers had so little faith and belief in itself and its source material it felt the need to jam in a shrill, unlikeable wanker and his insufferable family at every opportunity; embraced casual whole scale destruction with no thought at all spent on the hapless people caught in the middle of it; featured heroes almost as violent and psychotic as those they're battle against; and adopted a hideous, charmless aesthetic in some ludicrous attempt to be more grounded/believable and 'acceptable' when it's really not necessary because none of it was ever believable in the slightest anyway. It tried too hard and was all rather unpalatable for it.
 
The Avengers knows what it is and is absolutely content with itself, and I found that very refreshing. I say this as someone who's never really been a fan of the Avengers in any medium (I confess, Batman has always been much more my thing) yet this is just done so well and is so infectiously fun that it was the best time I've had in the cinema in ages. It really did just hit some primal 10yr old part of the brain and entertained the absolute hell out of it. Not just the HULK SMASH stuff either, the little things like Tony Stark and Pepper Potts playful little jibes at each other, or the ace Tony/Bruce bromance that leaves you wanting to see them do a road movie, or the way Thor keeps trying to reach out to his wayward brother every chance he gets...
 
It just works. It's far from perfect but it deserves all the praise and success it's getting.

 

Reply
post #13 of 15
4/30/12 at 10:12am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sentinel Red View Post

or the ace Tony/Bruce bromance that leaves you wanting to see them do a road movie, or the way Thor keeps trying to reach out to his wayward brother every chance he gets...

 

 

Funny you say that. I don't know that RDJ would want to do it, but I had been thinking that including Tony Start in a handful of scenes could help make a solo Hulk sequel actually work. Ruffalo and RDJ have such fabulous chemistry.

Reply
post #14 of 15
4/30/12 at 10:58am

The first 20 minutes are all right. It's just that most people can't wait to get to the meat that they forget the bread holds the sandwich together.

 

Hunger caused that tangent. Sorry.

Reply
post #15 of 15
4/30/12 at 10:06pm

"On my deathbed I very well may look back on my life’s brightest moments and have to decide if the birth of my first child should be above or below watching Hulk go completely apeshit in The Avengers."

 

 That was some damn fine writing!

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Focused Film Discussion
CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE MAIN SEWER › Focused Film Discussion › REVIEW: THE AVENGERS (JOSH’S TAKE)