TEN THINGS THAT ARE GREAT ABOUT THE AVENGERS
The Avengers shifted enough Happy Meals and Iron Man masks meant even greater freedom for the next batch of films now they were all household names. It wasn't quite a straight line but it meant the confidence really began to kick in, leading to the verve of Iron Man 3, Captain America - The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man. The Avengers signified the start of a Golden Age; it just started after the end credits.
Both Banner and the Hulk are sadly scripted really, really badly. The former spends most of the film ominously going on about the dangers of releasing the Hulk and then when the Hulk is finally properly unleashed in New York he just kind of does exactly what everyone wants him to do, only beating up bad guys and trashing things that have been abandoned, which isn't bad for a dangerous superpowered creature. It would take seven long years before Ruffalo got to work with a decent director and really get to show his stuff but the journey starts here.
Joss Whedon operates in this weird end-of-the-century time warp where it's still a surprise when a woman in a catsuit beating someone up and displaying competence, even if the last time she was seen she beat up loads of people up and was highly competent, or where people are incapable of opening their mouth without some half-clever pop-culture reference farting out, or where slow motion is a technical marvel. If you grew up as a disaffected teenager writing fanfic about Dark Willow and have never really moved on this is the film for you.
Do you like Scarlett Johansson's bum? I kind of do, it's nice. It's not in my top ten bums but your mileage may vary. I'll tell you who does like Scarlett Johansson's bum, though - professional feminist Joss Whedon. Never afraid to use strong female characters as an excuse to pack something to the rafters with hot totty, he goes to remarkable lengths to make sure Ms. Johansson's derriere is front and centre in as many scenes as possible, even composing shots where two other characters are talking and the thing is taking up half the screen.
When he's finally unshackled Hawkeye is one of the film's few positives, especially his beautifully designed quiver of high-tech arrows. Some of them are a bit suspect (no-one can fire an arrow into a USB connection without it destroying the electronics behind it) but the prop is superbly designed, giving the character just the right mix of tech and skill to convincingly mix it with the big boys.
The film does very little to work on the characters of either Hulk or Loki, the latter especially relegated to general dumb arrogant world conqueror to fit the script, incapable of just moving his people-controlling staff slightly to one side when it turns out his target very very famously has a large metal device in the centre of his chest. But the Hulk finally battering the guy into the ground is, to the credit of all involved, a superbly timed moment.
Very few of the jokes hit home due to poor timing, the interchangeability of dialogue and a quality-not-quantity ethos. But Steve's line while attempting to repair part of the Helicarrier is actually pretty good, one of the better attempts to flag up his newness in the modern day and starting a mini-trope about the character's complete inability to understand technology.
The Avengers is hugely child-friendly. Never has so much devastation been wrought on a major city with so little harm done; the Chitauri are capable of raining fire down on abandoned café furniture and empty cars, with the majority of the damage seems to be making people really dusty. If you're after a Marvel film to watch with a toddler that won't have any upsetting moments of reality or any consequences, this is the one.
Okay, so he looks weird and he's in it for about three seconds but it's a real statement of intent for how much bigger the MCU is going to get, with more space and aliens who are a threat to something other than public transport infrastructure. It's a tantalising glimpse of a future that doesn't involve Nick Fury shooting at everything ineffectually with a pistol, which is a glimpse you need after this dreck.
Presumably so many of those appearing being already cast prevented the drearily familiar site of Gina Torres or Summer Glau incongruously showing up but Alexis Denisoff gets a wage as faceless nobody The Other, who exists entirely to keep the Thanos reveal until the very end. But I always liked Wesley and wouldn't want to wish any ill on the actor so it's nice to think he enjoyed the money.
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