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locker_monsterIt's been a long time since I saw a movie opening weekend. I usually don't care enough to bother, but I made an effort for The Avengers, though mostly because of Joss. From what I've been reading, the movie has broken a bunch of records, so good on Joss. Finally, some well deserved recognition!
I wasn't completely blown away, but here's this comic book movie starring a bunch of big stars. How can you have a plot that makes sense? But Joss does a good job within the limitations presented to him. You could totally see his influence in the movie, most notably in the script. His wit shines through and it's awesome, but there are also emotional beats that are so his style. When they inevitably make a sequel, I'd be very happy if they got Joss to write the script again.
The movie isn't perfect, but you have to balance all of these characters. Each hero has their own back story and you can't just assume that the audience knows what it is going on. And that's why you have the separate films, so you can focus and have some growth. I think future Avenger films will just be big movies without too much meat to them, though I wouldn't put it past Joss to make the next film more personal, more contained.
It was kind of personal, this movie. It wouldn't be a Joss Whedon project without him killing off someone. Who bites the bullet? Poor Agent Coulson, the long suffering agent of SHIELD. It had to be him, though. He's the connective tissue of the franchise and he's a nice guy. You do feel bad when Loki stabs him in the chest (Shades of Wash, anyone?). However, this is a comic book movie. Coulson could come back somehow. For all we know, Fury faked his death. Now that would really piss off the team if that does happen. But the weird thing about that moment? It's surprising, yes, but at the same time, not really, not if you're a Whedon fan. You go the whole movie waiting for someone to die. I wonder what a non-Whedon fan would think? But now a larger audience has been exposed to Joss' tendency to kill off well loved characters.
At two and a half hours, this is a long movie, but I think that if it was two hours, it'd be a very confusing movie. You need the time to introduce people and have the team slowly come together. They need to fail first before they come together and kick butt. I hear there are thirty minutes of deleted scenes, so yeah, totally buying the DVD when it comes out.
Just some random thoughts: It was nice to see Pepper Potts. She and Tony are still dating apparently. She doesn't add much to the plot, but she does add to Tony's character. He does have something worth fighting for in his life so when he goes through the portal, knowing he might not come back, you're kind of like, "Whoa." He's come some ways since the first Iron Man movie. Captain America was cute. Steve is totally clueless about the present and all of this technology, but he still gets by. He has that one scene and there's a reference to flying monkeys and he's so happy that he gets the reference. :-) The final battle is in New York and I kept expecting to see the Baxter Building or something. I guess in this movie universe, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and the X-Men don't exist since they belong to other movie studios. Maybe Marvel can get all of its characters under one roof in the future. The team needs another woman. They should work in Wasp for the next movie. Wasp and Ant Man. Nathan Fillion can play Ant Man and Morena Baccarin can play Wasp. Why not? ;-) Joss snuck in Alexis Denisof, well, his voice anyway. Not that you would recognize his voice since he's playing an alien. I only realized it was him during the credits.
Oh, and speaking of the credits. Two post-credit scenes! Well, one mid-credit scene and one post-credit scene. The mid one sets up the next movie. Not that I recognized the guy at the end. Who the heck is Thanos? Is he a bad ass? The post-credit scene was way better. It add nothing what so ever and that is what makes it so good. It's just the team at a shawarma restaurant, post battle once assumes but maybe not, just eating in silence. It's a very normal thing but most of the team are still in costume so it's kind of surreal, too. But it just reinforces that the Avengers are a dysfunctional family. And it's also very Joss, ending this big budget movie with a scene of the team eating sandwiches.
And I hate 3D. Stupid 3D glasses that don't fit over my own glasses. I would have gladly seen the movie in 2D but there weren't any showings this weekend. Lame. The 3D is so distracting. I don't care if the image has depth. If I need depth, it's call real life. I suffered through annoying glasses for Joss.
I kind of want to watch through the other Marvel movies now, at least the ones that tie into The Avengers. Something to think about since there's nothing to watch this summer.
I wasn't completely blown away, but here's this comic book movie starring a bunch of big stars. How can you have a plot that makes sense? But Joss does a good job within the limitations presented to him. You could totally see his influence in the movie, most notably in the script. His wit shines through and it's awesome, but there are also emotional beats that are so his style. When they inevitably make a sequel, I'd be very happy if they got Joss to write the script again.
The movie isn't perfect, but you have to balance all of these characters. Each hero has their own back story and you can't just assume that the audience knows what it is going on. And that's why you have the separate films, so you can focus and have some growth. I think future Avenger films will just be big movies without too much meat to them, though I wouldn't put it past Joss to make the next film more personal, more contained.
It was kind of personal, this movie. It wouldn't be a Joss Whedon project without him killing off someone. Who bites the bullet? Poor Agent Coulson, the long suffering agent of SHIELD. It had to be him, though. He's the connective tissue of the franchise and he's a nice guy. You do feel bad when Loki stabs him in the chest (Shades of Wash, anyone?). However, this is a comic book movie. Coulson could come back somehow. For all we know, Fury faked his death. Now that would really piss off the team if that does happen. But the weird thing about that moment? It's surprising, yes, but at the same time, not really, not if you're a Whedon fan. You go the whole movie waiting for someone to die. I wonder what a non-Whedon fan would think? But now a larger audience has been exposed to Joss' tendency to kill off well loved characters.
At two and a half hours, this is a long movie, but I think that if it was two hours, it'd be a very confusing movie. You need the time to introduce people and have the team slowly come together. They need to fail first before they come together and kick butt. I hear there are thirty minutes of deleted scenes, so yeah, totally buying the DVD when it comes out.
Just some random thoughts: It was nice to see Pepper Potts. She and Tony are still dating apparently. She doesn't add much to the plot, but she does add to Tony's character. He does have something worth fighting for in his life so when he goes through the portal, knowing he might not come back, you're kind of like, "Whoa." He's come some ways since the first Iron Man movie. Captain America was cute. Steve is totally clueless about the present and all of this technology, but he still gets by. He has that one scene and there's a reference to flying monkeys and he's so happy that he gets the reference. :-) The final battle is in New York and I kept expecting to see the Baxter Building or something. I guess in this movie universe, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and the X-Men don't exist since they belong to other movie studios. Maybe Marvel can get all of its characters under one roof in the future. The team needs another woman. They should work in Wasp for the next movie. Wasp and Ant Man. Nathan Fillion can play Ant Man and Morena Baccarin can play Wasp. Why not? ;-) Joss snuck in Alexis Denisof, well, his voice anyway. Not that you would recognize his voice since he's playing an alien. I only realized it was him during the credits.
Oh, and speaking of the credits. Two post-credit scenes! Well, one mid-credit scene and one post-credit scene. The mid one sets up the next movie. Not that I recognized the guy at the end. Who the heck is Thanos? Is he a bad ass? The post-credit scene was way better. It add nothing what so ever and that is what makes it so good. It's just the team at a shawarma restaurant, post battle once assumes but maybe not, just eating in silence. It's a very normal thing but most of the team are still in costume so it's kind of surreal, too. But it just reinforces that the Avengers are a dysfunctional family. And it's also very Joss, ending this big budget movie with a scene of the team eating sandwiches.
And I hate 3D. Stupid 3D glasses that don't fit over my own glasses. I would have gladly seen the movie in 2D but there weren't any showings this weekend. Lame. The 3D is so distracting. I don't care if the image has depth. If I need depth, it's call real life. I suffered through annoying glasses for Joss.
I kind of want to watch through the other Marvel movies now, at least the ones that tie into The Avengers. Something to think about since there's nothing to watch this summer.
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