I have just seen The Avengers for the second time. Okay, I’ve just seen Avengers Assemble for the second time, but I am wholly reluctant to embrace a name allocated solely to our country on the grounds that marketeers believe we are too stupid to recognise that The Avengers -a film, set in the modern day, about a team of superheroes- is totally different to a TV series (or even one crappy film based on the TV series, that nobody saw) made in the sixties involving a bloke in a bowler hat.
Okay, it also featured a sexy woman in a slinky catsuit but clearly that diminishes my argument a little.
I thought it was only the US that marketeers slighted in this way -see The Philosopher’s Stone become The Sorcerer’s Stone and License Revoked becoming License To Kill.
Anyway, I have digressed once again.
The main thing is that I have just seen the epic Avengers film for the second time. The first was all about 3D, excitement, giggles and only using the front quarter of my seat.
This second time I wanted to pay attention to the story beats and how it had been crafted. Mainly though, I was giggling and only using the front quarter of my seat.
It is a wonderfully balanced film. As a summer blockbuster it utterly fails in giving us flat, shallow characters. It has an ensemble cast in which all characters shine interestingly, take their turn in the spotlight, fight together (using both meanings) and exchange witty remarks.
It is, in summary, everything you expect of a witty, intelligent low-budget indie. It is however a blockbuster that took $235m to make and will most likely earn over a billion dollars.
It is a sad day that we can’t mock a blockbuster for not being beautifully, deftly written.
It is a wonderfully, epic day that we see a blockbuster deliver everything you always hoped they would.
Thank you Joss Whedon, for proving the smug writery-types wrong. Intelligent and interesting can also involve blowing shit up.
Hulk. Smash.
FILMTVGAMES 