The Avengers
Cast and crew
| Director: | Jeremiah Chechik |
|---|---|
| Screenwriter: | Don Macpherson |
| Cast: | Sean Connery Eddie Izzard Uma Thurman Fiona Shaw Jim Broadbent Ralph Fiennes |
At long last, and with trumpets blaring, the Marvel Comics universe
comes together in a big-screen fighting force replete with WWII- and
Cold War–era icons, all of them united in the common purpose of
defeating evil alien snake monsters. In humanspeak, that means you’ve
got a bunch of superheroes in a single movie. (Why not call it what it
really is—the economy value pack?) The Avengers has burned, like the
sweatiest geek’s fantasy, for years now. If you have to ask why it was
so crucially important to get all of this spandex on camera at the same
time, you probably don’t belong here and should immediately find a safe
location in a bunker somewhere. Clearly, you haven’t been waiting
breathlessly through the credits of Iron Man or Thor, desperate for a
glimpse of an eye-patched Samuel L. Jackson, the almost-mystical Nick
Fury, and his team to come.
Honestly, I haven’t been one of the anticipators either. Still, a
certain cape-wearing savior—director Joss Whedon—should be thanked for
making a summer tentpole that remembers to be fun, flip and broadly
entertaining. Whedon, the pop savant responsible for TV’s Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, straddles the line between sarcastic gab and pulp
solemnity like Eli Manning on a fourth-down, go-it-alone jag. Entrusted
with his most expensive project to date, he’s made irreverent room for
jokes about collectible playing cards, flying monkeys from The Wizard of
Oz, the embarrassing behavior of Asgardian siblings and belated
requests for stiff drinks, blissfully ignorant that millions of
why-so-serious fans are depending on him. It’s a ballsy move you can’t
help but love.The action scenes—blissfully easy to follow—are where Whedon makes the giant leap into the big leagues. A naval battleship takes to the air on massive propellers (a beautiful sequence of pure wonderment), only to get firebombed by Loki’s infiltrators. Later, Manhattan fares awfully as downtown suffers the rage of floating metal serpents, sort of like Chinese dragons but less happy.
It could be contended that The Avengers is subtly bookending itself
with the two most traumatic attacks in American history and countering
them with the fictional response we secretly yearned for. (Maybe the
film’s title is apt.) If that’s the case, then these displays of
superheroic teamwork are as valid an expression of wish-fulfillment as
the movies have offered in a while. “People just might need a
little…old-fashioned,” a nostalgic voice says—a moment of sentiment in a
blockbuster beating with a proud, undefeated heart. Yes, Hulk will
smash, but he’ll also feel. Don’t struggle if you do too.
Follow Joshua Rothkopf on Twitter: @joshrothkopf
Follow Joshua Rothkopf on Twitter: @joshrothkopf
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