The Call to Assemble is Finally Out

If you have been following my blog, then you know how I have been looking forward to release of The Avengers. It finally opened this weekend to record breaking numbers and I got to see it on Saturday. My response? GAHHH…OH MY GOD….SOOOO AMAZING!!!!!! I had very high expectations for this film and it surpassed them all.

One of the biggest surprises for me was how funny this movie was. It was freaking hilarious. I was expecting snarky one-liners from Tony Stark/Iron Man based on his earlier movies, but he was not the only one delivering the humor, not by a long shot. All of them were funny. They had my entire theater cracking up throughout. Well, except for one time. I don’t know if the rest of the theater didn’t hear the joke, didn’t think it was funny, or are unfamiliar with The Lord of the Rings and didn’t get it, but Stark makes a joke where he refers to Hawkeye as Legolas. I was the only one in the theater to laugh. Loudly. My husband just looked at me and shook his head.

As I anticipated, getting to see the various heroes interact with each other was fascinating. I have to say, each and every one of the actors did an incredible job. They bickered and bantered with each other, but when the  time came to act they were able to pull it together and do what needed to be done. I loved the dynamic between Captain America and Tony Stark. They did a really good job showing the friction between the two characters when they first came together and their gradual shift to respect for each other. I was also pleasantly surprised by the depth of development that was given to Hawkeye and Black Widow. I did not think that there would be time to develop much of a connection with these two, but I ended up caring about them and their relationship with each other.

I think the stand out performance, for me at least, came from Bruce Banner/Hulk. Mark Ruffalo was perfect as this character. He was able to infuse him with humanity and strength while still keeping the reserved scientist in tact. Whether he was in the scene as Banner or Hulk, this character demanded your attention. I am very curious to see if the magic Ruffalo brought to this character would transfer over to a Hulk film or if the reason the character worked so much better here was because the weight of the film did not rest solely on his very large shoulders.

Speaking of Ruffalo, this seems like a good time to talk to the ladies. Any men reading this feel free to jump to the next paragraph if you do not want to read a bunch of gushing. Oh my yum! The amount of gorgeous male in this movie was astounding. No matter what your personal type is there was a guy in this film to match it. I have never seen so many beautiful, muscular arms in one place. Whenever Thor, Captain America, and Hawkeye were together I had to wipe the drool from my face due to those arms. Then of course, there were all the tight pants and, well, tights. For me though, nothing beats the dreaminess of Robert Downey, Jr. and Mark Ruffalo. They are the two least buff of the group, but holy cow are they still nice to look at (and I prefer the less buff type anyway). I have never been so angry at strategically placed rubble as I was in that one scene with Ruffalo. If you have seen the movie, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Alright, the gush fest is over. Don’t worry men, there were plenty of exciting action sequences to make up for all the female drool. The special effects and CGI in this movie were incredible. I saw it in 3D on the giant XD screen and it looked out of this world. Everything looked real. The fights were all choreographed really well with none of them feeling the same. There were tons of explosions and all kinds of other cool effects. It was definitely quite the rush.

So what’s the bottom line? Go see this movie! I fully intend on seeing it at least one more time in the theater and I will most certainly be purchasing it when it goes on sale. The rest of the comic book movies coming out this summer have some very large shoes to fill.

Have you been able to see The Avengers yet? What did you think about it? Did you want that rubble to move, too? If you haven’t seen it, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments.

Avengers Assemble: Iron Man

For the past several weeks I have been looking at the characters that make up the Avengers. So far I have looked at Thor, the Hulk, and Captain America. Today brings me to the final post of my series and the most well known character of the bunch (at least for people who only know these guys from the movies).

Iron Man

Tony Stark is an insanely wealthy genius who has a very high opinion of himself. When he was captured and injured by terrorists he came up with the first prototype of the Iron Man suit in order to escape. He returned home greatly shaken and changed from the months he spent in captivity. He decided that he wanted to erect change in the world around him, so he took the time to perfect his idea and came up with the suit that would dub him Iron Man.

Before I get into the psyche of Tony Stark and how he will interact with the others, there are several other important components to the Avengers that were introduced in his movies, especially Iron Man 2. Between the two movies we are introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, and Black Widow. I gotta be honest, I am not a Scarlett Johansson fan. I don’t know what it is about her, but I just don’t care for her. It’s not like a film is ruined for me just because she is in it, but I will certainly never go see anything just because of her name. Having said that, Black Widow is pretty kick ass. She did not have a very big role in Iron Man 2 (which suited me just fine), but whenever we got to see her in action my jaw dropped. My hope is that her character will have a similar supporting role in The Avengers.

Okay, back to Tony Stark. I think it is pretty clear that Tony is going to be the biggest wild card of the group (Thor comes in at a close second). He is extremely narcissistic and does not like to be told what to do by others at all. I do believe that the events of the two previous films have taught him a lot and stretched him, but they have not changed the fundamental core of who he is. There is really no predicting what he will do. He acts on whim and emotion.

We have already seen from trailers that there will be friction between Tony and the other members of the Avengers team, particularly Captain America. I imagine that he is going to arrive at S.H.I.E.L.D. and instantly try to take over the planning of everything. He will think that his ideas and plans are better than everyone else’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point in time he tries to go off and execute something on his own only to have it blow up in his face and force him to acknowledge his need to work with the others.

The only thing I can think of that might cause Tony to be somewhat calmer this time around is that his health issues are now resolved. A large majority of his erratic and immature behavior in Iron Man 2 was due to his belief that he would soon be dead. That belief was a huge driving force behind his behavior. With the discovery and synthesization of the new element that would solve the blood poisoning issues caused by the element previously keeping him alive, he was able to stop moping and focus on what needed to be done. With that motivator gone he should, hopefully, be better able to focus from the get go.

With Tony Stark’s character in The Avengers only one thing is certain – he will be an agent of conflict as well as a vital component in the fight. I am interested to see how he even manages to manipulate Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. into letting him be a part of the team. Where things stand at the end of Iron Man 2, he was told that he was not considered a suitable candidate for the Avengers initiative due to all of the very things that I have discussed. He was instead asked to only join the team as a consultant, which he agreed to do. It appears he is going to figure out a way to assert his ability to get what he wants from early on.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series looking into the characters of The Avengers. I have certainly enjoyed writing it while I eagerly await the call that will go out on May 4: Avengers assemble.

Have you seen either of the Iron Man films? What did you think about them and the character of Tony Stark? How do you think his character will interact with the other members of the Avengers team? Let me know in the comments.