This morning I woke up at 6:45am to go see an advance screening of “The Avengers.” I arrived at the AMC 42nd Street just after 7:30am for a 10am screening and there were already 160 people in line ahead of me. (I counted.) God only knows what time they got there. There were a fair share of superhero shirts (but no costumes) and when the film began, the crowd pretty much went nuts. Every time one of their favorite characters first made an appearance the entire audience broke out into wild applause and cheers. These 500 people fricking adored these characters. No matter that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye had only been featured in about 3 minutes of previous screentime during “Thor,” he received equal acclaim here. Because the audience wasn’t just bringing those previous films into this, they were bringing their entire lifetime of reading and loving these characters. Whether this level of passionate devotion will be as palpable when the film opens on May 4, I can only imagine.
Marvel Studios deserves a lot of credit for even getting this far. With the rights to their two most popular titles (“Spider-Man,” and “X-Men”) currently tied up at other studios, the company had only their second string characters to adapt into films and outside of the comic-book reading set, expectations have been low for each. Skeptics may have looked at these films as just a necessary precursor to the eventual team-up, but had any one of them failed, it would have put a major creative speedbump in that plan. But with “Iron Man,” (2008) “Thor,” (2011) “Captain America” (2011) and to a lesser extent “The Incredible Hulk” (2008), the studio has exceeded expectations and introduced these characters in films that were far more satisfying than most people expected them to be. Now, finally comes “The Avengers,” the long awaited team-up of Marvel’s mightiest heroes. But can Marvel possibly pull off the balancing act of joining 4 previously established characters (and 2 lesser established ones) without the story seeming overstuffed or the characters underwritten? The short answer is: yes. And it’s practically a damn miracle.
Writer/director Joss Whedon takes the reigns on the superproject and manages to mostly deliver on a lifetime of promises to fanboys and girls. The basic story is that mankind is being threatened by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), a demigod who wants to harness a great source of unlimited power to bring about Earth’s destruction. Secret government agency S.H.E.I.L.D. led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) hopes to assemble an elite fighting force - Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow, (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) - to stop them. Having 6 major characters from completely different universes - usually tonally, sometimes actually - suddenly share the screen together could make for a disastrously overstuffed mismash of tones. How to balance Captain America’s earnestness, Iron Man’s snarkiness, Thor’s otherworldly-ness and distribute their screentime equally? Instead of using this as an obstacle, Whedon exploits their differences to the film’s advantage.
The filmmaker takes the fact that these heroes really don’t belong together and uses the conflicts to drive the first 2/3rds of the film. At some point nearly everyone clashes with everyone and never does it feel out of place or like a betrayal to their respective histories. And those worried that this might be weighted towards Downey Jr.’s mega-popular Iron Man shouldn’t. Each character gets his or her own share of big moments - even Johansson’s Black Widow who was basically unnecessary in “Iron Man 2” is given plenty to do here and The Hulk who’s never gotten a satisfying film steals the show - and introductions are doled out carefully. One major character doesn’t make an appearance until the 45 minute mark, another at 90 minutes, so by the time the team takes shape, it feels exciting and earned. The film’s biggest achievement is that it gets the characters right and that goes a long way but doesn’t quite erase its shortcomings. First of all, it’s very, very comic-booky, meaning that it embraces its silliness wholeheartedly though Marvel has always been aimed at a younger set.
For such a relatively simple premise - bad guy wants a macguffin to destroy the world, good guys have to stop him - there is a hell of a lot of exposition. Explaining the doomsday device and why everyone wants it takes up a lot more screentime than it has to. The villains here are also kind of a let down. In “Thor” Hiddleston brought an unusual edge to Loki but here is reduced to more of a sneering one-note baddie. The script also makes a tension deflating choice to have our heroes meet him early on so that the midsection leaves the characters without much to do. The action sequences are mostly thrilling (Hulk SMASH!) but the abundance of CGI means these sequences will date quickly. It’s hard to tell how much a passive audience member who hasn’t been schooled on the preceding films would enjoy “The Avengers.” I just know that - according to the room I saw it with this morning - for better and worse, it was built for the fans. While I may not have been quite as high on the film as my fellow geeks, there were a handful of moments that made me feel like a kid again playing with these action figures, reading the comics, watching the cartoons, wishing for a movie just like this.
film
review
the avengers
If 2011 was any indication, I am going to watch a lot of movies in 2012. And from the looks of it, this year has a potential to be an absolutely incredible year for cinema. It seems like nearly every one of my favorite directors has a film coming out in the next 12 months plus, like every year, there will be the surprises that come out of nowhere and become your new favorites. It’s always fun to look back a year later and wonder what the hell you were thinking putting “Cowboys & Aliens” and “Sucker Punch” on there? (In my defense I did have “Drive” at #11, before most people had ever heard of it, based on the cast alone, and that didn’t turn out too badly.) For now, each of the following films is an A+ until reality proves otherwise. It’s going to be a good year. Here are the films I’m most looking forward to in 2012.
1. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project (a.k.a. The Master)
dir: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights)
It’s been a nearly unendurable wait for my favorite filmmaker to produce a follow-up to his 2007 magnum opus “There Will Be Blood” (a.k.a. The Best Film Of The Decade) and the wait is almost over. Set just after WWII the film will reunite PTA once again with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the leader of a Scientology-type religion who takes in a drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) to be his right-hand man. It will also probably be the best movie of the year/decade/ever. Four years down, one to go. (Late 2012)
2. The Dark Knight Rises
dir: Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins)
After blowing minds with “Inception,” Nolan is back for the third and final film in his Bat-trilogy bringing along newcomers Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Marion Cotillard. I left the theatre after “The Dark Knight” saying, “That’s probably the best Batman film I’ll see during my lifetime,” thinking that not even Nolan would be able to top it. But nearly four years and one masterwork later, I’m starting to think he might just be able to pull it off. Watch the trailer. (July 20)
3. Django Unchained
dir: Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction)
Tarantino is back with his 5th consecutive revenge film(!), this time bringing retribution to the slavery-era South. Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a freed slave who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to track down his wife (Kerry Washington) and liberate her from a sadistic plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). They’ll be joined by Kurt Russell, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Sacha Baron Cohen, RZA, Don Johnson, James Remar, cool music, violence and presumably countless references to other films. (Dec 25)
4. Moonrise Kingdom
dir: Wes Anderson (The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore)
Set in the 1960’s, Anderson’s first live action film in nearly five years centers on two pre-teens who fall in love and run away, turning their New England town upside down in the process. Starry cast includes newcomers Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and Tilda Swinton along with Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. As much as I’ve been disappointed by his last few features, I’m still holding out hope for this one. (May 25)
5. This Is Forty
dir: Judd Apatow (Funny People, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin)
Though he’s only directed three features, he’s produced dozens and influenced countless more, making Apatow the king of modern comedy. His last film “Funny People” saw the filmmaker headed into darker, more dramatic territory while his latest is a spinoff of sorts, focusing on Paul Rudd and Lesley Mann’s married couple from “Knocked Up,” presumably dealing with a midlife crisis. They’ll be accompanied by Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks and Megan Fox and hopefully the perfect mix of comedy/drama. (Dec 21)
6. Gravity
dir: Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También, Great Expectations)
Ever since Kubrick went into the beyond with “2001: A Space Odyssey,” he influenced a generation of directors do the same. The latest helmer to reach for the stars is Alfonso Cuaron, whose dizzying dystopian “Children of Men” six years ago put him in the upper echelon of filmmakers by fusing smart sci-fi and seamless effects. His latest stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as stranded astronauts attempting to return to Earth and will reportedly be almost entirely CGI, 3D and feature a 20 minute opening shot. From any other filmmaker I’d be terrified, but from Cuaron I’m just excited. (Nov 21)
7. Prometheus
dir: Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator)
My second most anticipated sci-fi film next year is one that would’ve been unthinkable even just a few years ago. Scott - who has not done a science fiction film since “Blade Runner” 30 years ago - returns to the genre he helped shape with “Alien” for this quasi-prequel (which may or may not even involve aliens). Regardless, the film concerns a group of explorers - including Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba - who discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth and possibly it’s end. Though the director has had a patchy decade, just try not to be excited when you watch the trailer. (June 8)
8. Frank or Francis
dir: Charlie Kaufman (Synechdoche New York, writer Adaptation, Being John Malkovich)
Kaufman may be one of the most distinctive screenwriters of the past decade but has been very quiet since stepping into the directors chair in 2008. That film may have stretched the limits of how weird it could get from the idiosyncratic scribe but things may be about to get even weirder. Steve Carell, Jack Black and Nicolas Cage star in some configuration as vain filmmaker, failed comedian and frustrated film critic in this musical (yes, you read that right), comedy. Kaufman’s audacious scripts walk a fine line between brilliant and bewildering but I’m hoping this ends up as the former. (Late 2012)
9. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
dir: Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, The Frighteners)
After having a rough go of it with “The Lovely Bones,” Jackson returns to Middle Earth to adapt the J.R.R. Tolkien book that started it all. After the ‘LOTR’ trilogy took in nearly 3 billion dollars at the box office and countless awards, you would think adapting the early adventures of Bilbo Baggins would have been a no brainer but it took quite a bit of wrangling both legal and creative on it’s way to the screen. Expectations are sky high for this film (eyerollingly split into two installments) but honestly I was a lot more excited about it before I watched the trailer. (Dec 14)
10. Inside Llewyn Davis
dir: The Coen Bros. (No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Fargo)
Now in the fourth decade of their careers, the brothers Coen are still going strong and though for me their recent films have been hit-and-miss, that doesn’t make me any less interested in their next project. Set in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60’s, the film stars Oscar Isaac as the titular character, a folk singer who can’t seem to get it together. He’s supported by “Drive” co-star Carey Mulligan, F. Murray Abraham longtime Coen MVP John Goodman and (for the ladies) Justin Timberlake. (Late 2012)
Read More
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brave
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django unchained
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frank or francis
frankenweenie
gravity
inside llewyn davis
listomania
looper
moonrise kingdom
only god forgives
prometheus
the amazing spider-man
the avengers
the dark knight
the great gatsby
the hobbit
the master
this is forty
five year engagement
