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The Avengers (2012)
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast overview: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans
Running time: 143 minutes
I'll start by saying that I'm not a fan of superhero movies at the best of times. This was no exception for me. I found it to be the typical half-baked Hollywood fare that seems to be so prevalent these days, with a thin, almost non-existent plot, weak characters, and completely predictable and uninteresting.
Firstly, the few positives. Well, it does look fantastic. CGI can often be overused/misused but in these sorts of films it comes into its own. The Avengers does look superb even if the rest of the film falls flat for much of its 143-minute running time. The rest of the film just feels like every superhero movie out there - there's neither light nor shade, nothing surprising or unpredictable. It's just crap. I can't understand how it's managed to attain an 8.5 score on IMDb, as well as some seemingly rave reviews. Then again, you look at many on there and they seem pretty scathing.
This feels like a kids film, in that there's very little of depth, of a thought-provoking nature to keep you entertained for what is a long film. Yes, there's plenty of action and nice-looking special effects, but where's the story that even a superhero film requires? Special effects and CGI alone cannot save a movie that's severely lacking in a story.
Anyway, not something I'll be watching again. Another cliched, regurgitated piece of tripe.
Quotes
Loki: Enough! You are, all of you are beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by...
[Hulk flattens Loki with repeated smashes into the floor]
The Hulk: Puny god.
Steve Rogers: Thor, what's his play?
Thor: He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.
Steve Rogers: An army. From outer space.
Bruce Banner: So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.
Thor: Selvig?
Bruce Banner: He's an astrophysicist.
Thor: He's a friend.
Natasha Romanoff: Loki has them under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours.
Steve Rogers: I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here.
Bruce Banner: I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.
Thor: Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!
Natasha Romanoff: He killed eighty people in two days.
Thor: He's adopted.
Steve Rogers: What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?
Loki: I'm not overly fond of what follows...
[Thor appears]
Trivia
Robert Downey Jr. kept food hidden all over the lab set and apparently nobody could find where it was, so they just let him continue doing it. In the movie, that's his actual food he's offering and when he was eating, it wasn't scripted. He was just hungry.
Reputedly a scene was filmed where during the final battle Captain America saves an old man trying to protect his grandchildren. He tells him to 'Get them to cover' but as he walks away the old man asks him "Cap, is that really you?'. He turns and, noting the man's World War II veteran lapel pin, trades salutes with him. As Captain America sprints away the children ask their grandfather 'Do you know him?' and he replies 'We ALL know him'.
After Thor takes Loki off the Quinjet down on the mountain side, two large ravens fly by them as they are talking. In Norse mythology, their father, Odin, had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who would bring Odin information from Midgard (Earth).
Trailer
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast overview: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans
Running time: 143 minutes
I'll start by saying that I'm not a fan of superhero movies at the best of times. This was no exception for me. I found it to be the typical half-baked Hollywood fare that seems to be so prevalent these days, with a thin, almost non-existent plot, weak characters, and completely predictable and uninteresting.
Firstly, the few positives. Well, it does look fantastic. CGI can often be overused/misused but in these sorts of films it comes into its own. The Avengers does look superb even if the rest of the film falls flat for much of its 143-minute running time. The rest of the film just feels like every superhero movie out there - there's neither light nor shade, nothing surprising or unpredictable. It's just crap. I can't understand how it's managed to attain an 8.5 score on IMDb, as well as some seemingly rave reviews. Then again, you look at many on there and they seem pretty scathing.
This feels like a kids film, in that there's very little of depth, of a thought-provoking nature to keep you entertained for what is a long film. Yes, there's plenty of action and nice-looking special effects, but where's the story that even a superhero film requires? Special effects and CGI alone cannot save a movie that's severely lacking in a story.
Anyway, not something I'll be watching again. Another cliched, regurgitated piece of tripe.
Quotes
Loki: Enough! You are, all of you are beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by...
[Hulk flattens Loki with repeated smashes into the floor]
The Hulk: Puny god.
Steve Rogers: Thor, what's his play?
Thor: He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.
Steve Rogers: An army. From outer space.
Bruce Banner: So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.
Thor: Selvig?
Bruce Banner: He's an astrophysicist.
Thor: He's a friend.
Natasha Romanoff: Loki has them under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours.
Steve Rogers: I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here.
Bruce Banner: I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.
Thor: Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!
Natasha Romanoff: He killed eighty people in two days.
Thor: He's adopted.
Steve Rogers: What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?
Loki: I'm not overly fond of what follows...
[Thor appears]
Trivia
Robert Downey Jr. kept food hidden all over the lab set and apparently nobody could find where it was, so they just let him continue doing it. In the movie, that's his actual food he's offering and when he was eating, it wasn't scripted. He was just hungry.
Reputedly a scene was filmed where during the final battle Captain America saves an old man trying to protect his grandchildren. He tells him to 'Get them to cover' but as he walks away the old man asks him "Cap, is that really you?'. He turns and, noting the man's World War II veteran lapel pin, trades salutes with him. As Captain America sprints away the children ask their grandfather 'Do you know him?' and he replies 'We ALL know him'.
After Thor takes Loki off the Quinjet down on the mountain side, two large ravens fly by them as they are talking. In Norse mythology, their father, Odin, had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who would bring Odin information from Midgard (Earth).
Trailer