The following review is spoiler free and is
meant to be read BEFORE seeing the movie.
The
Avengers is the kind of movie that is made for people who like movies. It has
drama, comedy, action, suspense, and spectacle. It has good characterization,
good visuals, good effects, and good dialogue. And at two hours and twenty
minutes, it never once feels like it is too slow or it has gone on for too
long; the pacing is fantastically perfect.
This
ensemble cast is treated as if each one of them is the lead at all points
during the movie. I couldn’t even fathom how difficult it must have been to not
given anybody short shrift in this one. There are six Avengers and they all
feel as if they could be the lead of this movie. Nobody outshines anybody else,
and that’s even considering the not-so-super-superheroes such as Black Widow or
Hawkeye.
One of
my favorite things about The Avengers is how each of the Avengers needs to face
off against each other at certain points during the movie, thus proving how
evenly matched they are against each other throughout the runtime. By the time
the movie gets to the point where they are all fighting, together, against a
threat, you know their prowess in battle. This helps for anybody who hasn’t
seen ALL of the previous Marvel movies such as Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The
Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger.
I saw
this movie with three of my friends, and one of the things that I didn’t notice
but was pointed out to me was that The Avengers did not tell us things as an
audience; it showed us things. It’s easy to realize when a movie is insulting
your intelligence (Christopher Nolan has a habit of explaining exactly what the
themes in his movies are), but I have a habit of taking for granted movies that
have faith in me to figure things out for myself. I need to make it a point to
realize when a movie doesn’t treat me like I can’t understand it without its
help. I love it when a movie doesn’t feel the need to hold my hand.
So, The
Avengers is not an important movie with big ideas and a big message. It is
merely a tightly edited, near-perfectly crafted piece of entertainment. I’m not
giving The Avengers my highest score because it’s on par with The Godfather (it’s
not), but because at a certain point all movies above a certain tier aren’t
worth measuring any higher. There is a lot range of qualities in movies I give with
the highest star ratings, because after a movie reaches a certain level of
greatness, it isn’t worth it to try rank it any higher. The Avengers is just
great. It is a great movie.
Rating:
««««
(4/4)
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