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thedrin -> RE: The Avengers (2012) (30/4/2012 6:17:06 PM)
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I am really impressed by this film.
I'll get the negatives out of the way:
1) The fight between Ironman and Thor.
That's it*. The pacing of this film felt absolutely perfect with the exception of the above mentioned scene which was felt unnecessary and, therefore, was way too long. Everything up to that point had been great and, fortunately, it got right back into its stride in the very next scene.
In hindsight, the second act on board the invisible, flying aircraft carrier was very long, but I didn't notice this when I was watching the film. The interplay between the characters and the multiple complex relationships was superbly done, which made the resulting fight scenes superb.
I'll highlight a section from the second act that pretty much sums up how good this film is:
Banner transforms into the Hulk. There's a chase sequence with the Black Widow which is short, never becomes boring, and has some emotional heft due to the previous scenes between Banner and the Black Widow. Thor takes over. The fight is short and spectacle never gives way to boring. Meanwhile, the Black Widow encounters Renner (Hawk? Hawkeye? Hawkwing? I don't know that character's name). A fight scene elevated by the details we know of their relationship. Again the fight sequence is short and never becomes boring.
To sum up, the set pieces are nearly all spectacular but short enough that the spectacular doesn't become mundane (I view the last act as a large number of set pieces strung together). Many of the set pieces have some sort of emotional weight behind them (not huge amounts, but enought to increase the interesting) or humour or some kind of cleverness. They're also short. The only exception is the above mentioned Ironman vs. Thor throwdown. In a lesser film Captain America's rescue of the people from the building would have been a lot longer and would have taken up most of his time from the final act.
I really liked how Captain America and Renner felt like they belonged in the battle alongside the much more powerful Ironman, Thor, and Hulk (I'm not a comic book fan and my impression is that Captain America is a fair bit weaker than those three. If I'm wrong, I don't care. That's the impression the films have given me). Captain America clearly leads the Avengers in battle. Renner acts as the Avengers' eyes on the battlefield. Black Widow did seem a bit out of place in terms of strength and utility but that she came to be involved in the battle at all didn't seem forced, so I let that slide.
Comment on the acting. This is the most impressed I've been by Scarlett Johansson in a film since Lost in Translation. Since then she's seemed to be not much more that a pretty face acting as placeholder for [female lead]. She's appeared in lots of respectable films but never struck me as being anything more than adequate (e.g. The Prestige). Mark Ruffalo is superb in this film and I'm quite glad that he's replaced Edward Norton.
Edit: It's funny as well. But you all know that.
* Yeah, there are ridiculous things like the mere existence aircraft carrier and the invasion tactics that did make me go, "now, hang on", but these didn't spoil the film for me.
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