Avengers movie analysis

Avengers

Movie Analysis – 4/5

Zulfi

            The main reason to be liked about avengers and also the main reason it worked was the way Joss Whedon pits one superhero against the other. The heroes fight among themselves. Because it is not easy to just form a team and go along. To form a group, you need to solve your differences. Hulk and Thor do, Thor and Ironman do, Ironman and Captain America do (verbally). The first half of the movie is busy with these setups. The inter-superhero relationship draws a lot of interest and also establishes a firm structure to lay the plot on.

Joss whedon, a self declared fanboy and an evident one too is an apt director for Avengers. When Coulson talks with Cap like a small boy and even mentions about the cards he had, we know it is Whedon talking. Because he understands each of his character so well. He highlights IronMan’s wit and careless nature, Captain America’s laidback and strict attitude, Thor’s nonchalance, black widow’s daring acrobatics, Hawkeye’s bull’s eye hitting obsession and Hulk’s temper and havoc inclined disposition. All the characters are strong in their own way, but we have some favorites of our own.

The story begins when tesseract, which we had last seen in Thor finds its way into SHIELD (don’t remember how it got there)and from there into the hands of Loki, as he steals it. SHIELD has its quarters destroyed by the same mischievous Asgardian God and fearing a large scale war of the worlds, director Nick Fury decides to initiate his Avengers programme. Now you know, who they are. But how they can be recruited? You can’t buy aristocratic IronMan, nor patriotic captain America. And taming Hulk is like passing a thread through a needle-hole, blindfolded, in a storm. But the main thing which bothered me when I watched it the first time was about Thor. Thor was in another world. How are they going to get to him? Whedon makes it easy by Thor himself visiting the earth for his brother. When at last they are assembled to catch hold of Loki, they try to find out his nefarious plan with that most dangerous energy cube, Tesseract. But Loki succeeds in his mission in opening a portal and inviting an army of ginormous beasts/carriers and arm laden chitauri for fighting an intergalactic war for him. The six avengers are pitted against them. And as the movie expectedly proves they become too much to handle for the intruders.

Much has been said about Mark Ruffalo’s portrayal of Hulk and everything has been in the positive way. And it is. He had given that next stage for Hulk giving that brooding, self criticizing character to that green, rage monster. But one should be fair. Eric Bana’s and Edward Norton’s depictions have been masked by the serious presentations of their respective directors. Though they might have had best fight sequences for Hulk, they were devoid of the engaging and crowd pulling entertainment of Whedon’s talents. He infuses pun-filled dialogue during Bruce Banner’s scenes and even after he gets transformed into his alter-ego. That is what adds to the EQ level.

But one should bow down to Robert Downey Jr’s magnetic presence in the presence of his relatively young cast. Though Cap may be the official leader, we easily see that Ironman conducts the operations during the final showdown. And the way he engages in crosstalk with others is indisputably intriguing. He calls the Cap that whatever he is, has come out of a bottle. He offhandedly mentions Thor while flicking on his triceps, ‘point break’. He even mock pokes the sides of Banner as a joke. He looked nonchalant in ‘Ironman’, but in contrast with his fellow mates, he wins the competition by soaring high and talking spry. In his scene with Loki, he threatens the outsider without his suit, well that’s something Whedon only could do.

Then of course there is Loki. The first draw in his being the best villain is in the way he enunciates each word with precision and with vehemence. Black widow goes wide eyed over his monologue, but then she covers up by telling she got what she hoped from him. Hawkeye, the least interesting character in the lot (no insult to Renner), is drawn into the story as he goes under the influence of the villain owing to the energy inside that controlling staff. Same is with Black Widow (Scarlette Johannson), because she doesn’t match to Gods and supermachines, but Whedon’s action scenes highlight her fighting skills. Captain America (Chris Evans) is that funnyless, staid man in a funny outfit, but he gains in his strict disciplinary attitude. But does he, it would be a point of debate. And then there is Thor (personal favorite). Despite Kenneth Branaugh’s lukewarm appreciated movie of the Asgardian God, Hemsworth has that personality, which drew his own set of fans. Mjolnir adds to that weight. He has that royal look when he confronts his brother, other than that he is generally usurped behind the VFX of the lightning bolts.

Stan Lee’s comic books’ creations are actually a source of fun and awe, but Joss Whedon’s movie goes a step further in making them memorable. His movie embodies many concepts like a God among men, threat of an alien invasion, a green Hulk tearing through the cities in his rage, science coming across with Gods and many more. These ideas make the script of the movie embedded with non-stop action and which allows a full freedom to explore and explore.

Stan Lee’s comics had fifty years of history with countless collaborators adding their touch to the comic. Marvel Cinematic universe had taken the best step since Iron Man as they added their own innovation into the paperback comics. The little steps like making Jarvis into an A.I. OS rather than a flesh character gave a completely different theme to Avengers. There has always been that turning-the-corners approach in the points of technology, plot and characters. Joss Whedon provides yet another new turn for comics to take that cinematic new next step. And the new generation, they just love it.