Sorry, “Dark
Knight Rises.” (For now.)
The Avengers is an unlikely team of super heroes: Captain
America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow, joined by SHIELD
Agent Nick Fury in one massive film. (Classic B-side comic book characters such as Ant-Man
and Wasp must wait for a sequel I guess.) The plot follows the book’s lead: The
team fights intergalactic threats, a power-mad super villain, and/or more
likely each other or another Marvel hero, Iron Man vs. Thor, Wolverine vs.
Hulk, or everyone vs. Hulk. Those later
fights were more exciting than any run-of-the-mill story of hero against
villain, on the page. Who to root for?
Does the “Avengers” movie live up to the years of
hype? Never could. I dreamed about this movie all the childhood, and it’s a work of pop-art summer flick beauty for a boy who got himself
happily lost inside three-color panels and myriad crossover cliffhangers for
much of his childhood. It contains the single greatest
ripped-from-a-comic-book-scene ever on film: The Hulk smashes a villain around
as if he were a sock monkey, and drops a one-liner as he walks off, satisfied with
his big, green, angry self. Cheer!
But that comes at the end, and I need to start at
the beginning: We open in space – evil mumbling abound about the destruction
of Earth, by a freakish, hooded alien of some sort. Loki – the villainous
brother of Thor, both the hero and the namesake 2011 film, played by Tom
Hiddleston – is to lead the charge. He zaps to Earth through a portal that opens
at the headquarters of the super-secret spy group SHIELD, the latter tinkering
with a glowing blue Cosmic Cube thingy that promises unlimited energy.
(Confused? You have not watched the earlier films. Go back to start.) Loki
wreaks havoc, taking prisoners and under-mining the Mo-Fo that is Fury (Samuel
L. Jackson).
The first 20 minutes is all SHIELD, an odd introduction, but director/
screenwriter Joss Whedon (TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly”) is
easing us into this massive universe, bringing in his team one member at a time.
We hop from America to Germany then to a massive floating aircraft carrier
(straight out of the comic books) and then to New York City for a 40-odd minute
battle finale, complete with massive creatures reminiscent of the sandworms in
“Dune,” floating above the skyline.
So, yes, it’s a Michael Bay “Transformers”
finale with smashed buildings and fleeing extras, but Whedon whets our
appetites (mine anyway) with long shots of the heroes, standing in a circle,
backs to each other, ready to fight, and every hero -– even the relatively
unexplored Hawkeye and Black Widow – gets a shining moment. Captain America, in
the middle of the battle, takes charge of the team as the only man with
real-war experience. Iron Man blasts his way through canyons of skyscrapers.
Then
there’s that beaut scene with Hulk and sock monkey Loki. It’s everything you want
in a comic book, outlandish action with wit as Loki lays hyper-ventilating and
thinks, “What am I doing?” It’s a stellar Whedon moment, and one of many
surprises, including the strong touches of humor (Harry Dean Stanton as a
security guard) and sad (a major character dies, but he’s not that major).
The
real Whedon coup, though, is fitting all these heroes and actors into one film
and making it work – Chris Evans as Captain, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man,
Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as
Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk. Major names mixed in with minor
names, and of course Downey rules the roost with his Tony Stark strut and
outsize ego, but Ruffalo uses nerdy charm to win scene after scene. When minor-league Evans -- he can’t compete with Oscar nominees -– steps up to the plate
to take over the team, we’re cheering for the actor as much as we are the character.
I never thought a live-action film of the Avengers could be pulled off, but
Whedon has done it. It’s not perfect -- that plot is weak, in case you didn't notice, Loki’s lizard baddies are
faceless and void of personality, but Downey’s Stark can drop a shawarma
reference out of the blue, and make it sing. Comic book love. If “Dark Knight
Rises” threatens to lean too far to tragic importance, “Avengers” is bright,
bold fun, with the inner-fights of heroes, and their coming together against a world threat a reminder of the best of all humanity. So, in the sequel, Vision
please! Confused? Go back to the comic books. And as Stan Lee always said, “Exclsior!” A-
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