‘Flix Flick: Marvel’s “The Avengers”

Summer 2012 came to me in the Fall. I finally saw Marvel’s The Avengers and it was definitely worth the wait. As with most Summer blockbusters, it’s easy to discount them as “popcorn movies” with their obligatory bigger-than-real-life special effects. Yet what happens when those action effects are combined with really good actors and a fairly decent script? You get this film.

A number of months ago I tried to gear up for this movie by watching Captain America, starring Chris Evans as 1940s military hero and science project, Steve Rogers. (Evans looks the part, especially in the punching-bag scene in The Avengers.) Not quite the satisfying film, I persevered and watched Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding blond demi-god in a major Cain and Abel-battle with his brunette brother, Loki, played by the terrific Tom Hiddleston. (Hiddleston recently played F. Scott Fitzgerald in Woody Allen’s brilliant Midnight in Paris.)

Better than the Captain, still both were definitely not as engaging as Robert Downey Jr.’s charming unlikely-hero Tony Stark in Iron Man. And with The Avengers, it’s once again Downey Jr.’s fast-talking, self-obsessed Stark that utters most of the best lines.

Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) compiles the above-mentioned three, plus Dr. Bruce "I'm always angry" Banner/The Hulk (played with believable below-the-surface anxiety by Mark Ruffalo), Clint Barton/Hawkeye the archer (Jeremy Renner) and Natasha Romanov/Agent and pilot Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). Together this desperate, reluctant "timebomb" of dysfunctional "lost creatures" must put aside ego and grievance to capture a blue energy cube, stolen by Loki, who looks pretty kick-ass when he dons his gold horn helmet, cape and spear.

And as with any Summer blockbuster, there’s the finale, culminating in six good versus hundreds of evil. It's a chance to become thoroughly excited by the sound of Iron Man's palm rays, followed by a supersonic propulsion blast. And if that isn't enough to get you fired up, there’s a scene that has the Avengers team in a protective circle... finally together! The camera pans around all six as they scan their surroundings before taking to the city skyline: The Hulk enraged; Iron Man hovering; Hawkeye grabbing an arrow; Thor spinning his mallet; Black Widow changing out a firearm magazine; Captain America bringing forward his indestructible shield. That’s the stuff that makes a viewer, whether a teenager or a grownup, eat this entire movie up with a huge spoon. Second’s anyone? I’m sure Marvel is serving up a healthy bowl as you read this. BSo