The Avengers: Reaction
May. 14th, 2012 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsukinofaeriiSince all the cool kids are doing it, I feel like I ought to write an Avengers Reaction Post. I've seen the movie four times and plan to see it at least once more. It's been worth every over-priced ticket and pound of popcorn. If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and go do so. At the very least, it's a fun romp and a decent way to spend a couple of hours.
The movie opens with, IMO, a completely unnecessary introduction to the Chitauri and the Tesseract. The usual Villain Monologue Opening, if you will. This is, to me, the only really unnecessary piece of the film, and struck me as kind of corny. To people coming in with no prior knowledge of the franchise, it didn't help at all with the characters (which would have been the most confusing part). The Chitauri name-drop is obvious fan-fodder, since we don't see them and they're not anything but Scary Alien Race #136. The Tesseract and Loki get all the explanation they need in-film. If I'd been making the call, that bit would have been cut entirely to make room for character interaction.
Of course, if I'd been making the call, everyone would have spent a lot of the time naked and we would have had at least a couple more women on the team. Also, mud wrestling. Alas.
I was disappointed in the Chitauri. For those of you who don't read Ultimates, the Chitauri were a race of shape-shifting aliens who'd secretly been helping the Nazis in World War II. They took on their chosen form by eating the person who used to have it. (I've said it before, the Ultimates likes eating people.) In the Avengers movie, they were regulated to mooks, without any sort of context or background. A waste of a good alien race, IMO.
After the cheese, the movie jumps straight into the action, and it essentially stays there. We meet the characters, get introduced to all the conflicts, and then stuff starts exploding. Joss Whedon cleverly disguised changes in type of conflict for downtime, which keeps the tone light and fun without letting the plot lag. It jumps from character conflict to plot conflict back to characters and then to fight scene with absolute smoothness. A+ transition work. The stealing of the Tesseract (and Hawkeye) starts the roller coaster, and off we go.
On characters, we essentially meet each character as we're supposed to remember them. At least, it seemed that way to me. Which makes the choice of introduction absolutely striking for a couple of them. I can't remember exactly what order they come in, so please bear with me.
Our first set is Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill: competent, in charge and making thinge run. They're all bad ass in their own fashions. What's interesting in this group is Coulson. He's the one of the three who isn't introduced in a command situation. Fury is giving orders, Hill is arguing with Fury. Coulson takes his orders and goes off to hustle things along, essentially just being grease for the gears. The first real character moment for him is the shot of his face as the facility collapses, after the Tesseract takes it out. He's scared, and it shows.
Loki also gets his opening appearance in this scene, as fits a drama queen. In Bruce's words, "you can smell crazy on him". Whatever happened to Loki between worlds, it was very much not kind to him. He's pale, sweaty, unkempt, has bags under his eyes and seems to buy his own bullshit a little too well. When it's escape time, he all but collapses into the back of the truck. I hope that we get this expanded, because I'd really like to know what happened here.
Clint has the dubious distinction of being the first Avenger we meet. He proves his competence, shows some bad-assery and immediately gets brainwashed by Loki. Which is appropriate for the Avenger who gets the least amount of screen time and characterization. Seeing as he was obviously drawing a lot from Ultimates, what we saw of him was nice and solid. Hawkeye's a professional who knows his work and is damned good at it. This is bad news when he's not on your team.
Next up is Natasha, and I have to say I love her opening the best. She's tied to a chair, apparently helpless and being threatened in Russian. Of course, the situation is entirely in her control the entire time, which she shows when it comes ass-kicking time. What comes after the fight is interesting though. Phil tells her that she's going after "the big guy", to which she (fondly?) replies, "You know Stark trusts me as far as he can throw me." When Phil makes it clear she's going after Banner, her expression immediately goes to dismay and (maybe?) nervousness.
This is relevant to me, because there's been some debate about Natasha being the only one who gets shown as being really afraid. Which is problematic in a lot of ways, but what I read it as is an attempt to humanize her. She seems too perfect, too in control, and it's a problem for her character because people don't like perfect characters. The only other moments of vulnerability we get from her are at least partly staged, and without giving her a lot more screen time than they had to work with there was no way for us to know what was real and what was acting. Her reaction at the opening scene sets up her reaction later, when Hulk is rampaging. She knows her strengths are in fucking with people's minds and using their preconceptions against them. In fighting, she uses more speed and agility than brute force. Her main weapons are small arms and her stingers. None of this means a damned thing when dealing with the Hulk, and she knows it—and just like anyone who's used to being in control, she doesn't like having that taken from her. But she gets her shit together and keeps going in the end, and that's what makes the character.
Tony's first appearance seems out of place at first, but it's perfect for his character arc. In movie one, he was all about taking responsibility for his actions and life. In movie two, he was all about legacy (as he so generously told us) and what you leave behind. I'm not sure where movie three is going, but in the Avengers the Tony we're introduced to is beautifully domesticated. He's building a home with Pepper, making a mark on the world that's 1) weapons-free and 2) completely separate from his father. He appears to have settled down, and he's happy. When Phil shows up, he even starts to say no—to refuse the chance to be a "real" superhero, to stay settled down and safe. I think it's notable that he hands the decision over to Pepper—she's become his partner in life, so it's her choice too. The last shot of Tony reinforces this; he's with Pepper, they're planning and smiling and clearly in love. It's adorable.
All of this makes me worry desperately for Pepper. Tony's not allowed to be happy. :\ I'm afraid of what they're going to do to her in IM3. D:
Bruce. Bruce! I confess to being one of those people who didn't give a damn about Bruce Banner until Mark Ruffalo appeared on the screen. I still don't give a damn about Norton's Banner. With Bruce in the Avengers, we open off to him in Kolkata, lying low and apparently doing his best to help people in the process. What sticks with me here is that it's Bruce we're introduced to. Hulk is an accessory, a problem, a weapon—he's not really much of a character, even when he's "the superhero" off the two of them, and probably the one the fanboys wanted to see anyway. Ruffalo sells Bruce like whoa, and I desperately want the next Hulk movie to have him hiding out at Tony's place being all science-y and stuff.
Steve. Steeeeeeeve. Of all of them, Steve is the one with the most angst going on, and I desperately want to give him all the hugs. He's only been defrosted a short while, and hasn't really had time to cope. We first see him killing punching bags and not able to sleep. Whether the scenes we get from his movie are nightmares, flashbacks or just thoughts, it's pretty obvious that he's got a lot weighing on his soul. Then he goes on to show that he feels out of place in this modern world (worried about the uniform being old fashioned, being extra prickly when Tony picks on his age) and is still trying to find a place in it.
ETA: Thor. It's not that he was forgettable, really, so much as he was the only one who didn't change. He arrived in the middle of the movie, made for some interpersonal tension in the team, had aaaaangst with Loki, and then was tossed to the side until it was time for the big battle at the end. Of all the Avengers, he was the one who felt like he didn't get a chance to integrate with the team, which I suppose is appropriate seeing as he's the one to go off unreachable at the end. Thor was a catalyst: for Loki, for Fury, for the team. I liked what we got to see of him, but it wasn't much.
About Phil's death... I approve. Unpopular opinion, but the character's time had come. He'd been put in specifically to be the minor hinge that linked the films together, which was accomplished. The actor didn't want the part to start with, and only took it as a favor to Jon Favreau. He was an under-powered, middle aged man on a superpowered team facing (by necessity) enemies that stretch the superpowered ones to their limits. The kindest thing for the character was to die, and he died well. It was nice to see a guy get the fridge for once.
Pairings-wise, I walked into the movie shipping Steve/Tony, and that didn't change. They had some good interaction, good push-and-pull with friction, and they ended the movie on an open note that leaves a lot of room to maneuver. Pepper/Tony was fricking adorable, so threesomes would be a happy place, but slashers are used to dealing with canon love interests. (Maybe by pairing Pepper with Natasha? Anyone? :D? Please?) Tony/Bruce seem more like bros to me; less clashy than between Rhodey and Tony, but still with that puzzle-piece vibe. Clint/Natasha sort of had the same thing, but maybe with benefits. IDK, the relationships all have a lot to work with for the interested writer. What I'd really, really like to see is Avengers Poly. Just pile them all up into one big happy family.
So... TL;DR, the plot was tight, the characters well-done and balanced, the pairings a wide open field and the universe our playground. Not bad at all.
Now, off to find pictures of Steve's ass. For reasons.
The movie opens with, IMO, a completely unnecessary introduction to the Chitauri and the Tesseract. The usual Villain Monologue Opening, if you will. This is, to me, the only really unnecessary piece of the film, and struck me as kind of corny. To people coming in with no prior knowledge of the franchise, it didn't help at all with the characters (which would have been the most confusing part). The Chitauri name-drop is obvious fan-fodder, since we don't see them and they're not anything but Scary Alien Race #136. The Tesseract and Loki get all the explanation they need in-film. If I'd been making the call, that bit would have been cut entirely to make room for character interaction.
Of course, if I'd been making the call, everyone would have spent a lot of the time naked and we would have had at least a couple more women on the team. Also, mud wrestling. Alas.
I was disappointed in the Chitauri. For those of you who don't read Ultimates, the Chitauri were a race of shape-shifting aliens who'd secretly been helping the Nazis in World War II. They took on their chosen form by eating the person who used to have it. (I've said it before, the Ultimates likes eating people.) In the Avengers movie, they were regulated to mooks, without any sort of context or background. A waste of a good alien race, IMO.
After the cheese, the movie jumps straight into the action, and it essentially stays there. We meet the characters, get introduced to all the conflicts, and then stuff starts exploding. Joss Whedon cleverly disguised changes in type of conflict for downtime, which keeps the tone light and fun without letting the plot lag. It jumps from character conflict to plot conflict back to characters and then to fight scene with absolute smoothness. A+ transition work. The stealing of the Tesseract (and Hawkeye) starts the roller coaster, and off we go.
On characters, we essentially meet each character as we're supposed to remember them. At least, it seemed that way to me. Which makes the choice of introduction absolutely striking for a couple of them. I can't remember exactly what order they come in, so please bear with me.
Our first set is Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill: competent, in charge and making thinge run. They're all bad ass in their own fashions. What's interesting in this group is Coulson. He's the one of the three who isn't introduced in a command situation. Fury is giving orders, Hill is arguing with Fury. Coulson takes his orders and goes off to hustle things along, essentially just being grease for the gears. The first real character moment for him is the shot of his face as the facility collapses, after the Tesseract takes it out. He's scared, and it shows.
Loki also gets his opening appearance in this scene, as fits a drama queen. In Bruce's words, "you can smell crazy on him". Whatever happened to Loki between worlds, it was very much not kind to him. He's pale, sweaty, unkempt, has bags under his eyes and seems to buy his own bullshit a little too well. When it's escape time, he all but collapses into the back of the truck. I hope that we get this expanded, because I'd really like to know what happened here.
Clint has the dubious distinction of being the first Avenger we meet. He proves his competence, shows some bad-assery and immediately gets brainwashed by Loki. Which is appropriate for the Avenger who gets the least amount of screen time and characterization. Seeing as he was obviously drawing a lot from Ultimates, what we saw of him was nice and solid. Hawkeye's a professional who knows his work and is damned good at it. This is bad news when he's not on your team.
Next up is Natasha, and I have to say I love her opening the best. She's tied to a chair, apparently helpless and being threatened in Russian. Of course, the situation is entirely in her control the entire time, which she shows when it comes ass-kicking time. What comes after the fight is interesting though. Phil tells her that she's going after "the big guy", to which she (fondly?) replies, "You know Stark trusts me as far as he can throw me." When Phil makes it clear she's going after Banner, her expression immediately goes to dismay and (maybe?) nervousness.
This is relevant to me, because there's been some debate about Natasha being the only one who gets shown as being really afraid. Which is problematic in a lot of ways, but what I read it as is an attempt to humanize her. She seems too perfect, too in control, and it's a problem for her character because people don't like perfect characters. The only other moments of vulnerability we get from her are at least partly staged, and without giving her a lot more screen time than they had to work with there was no way for us to know what was real and what was acting. Her reaction at the opening scene sets up her reaction later, when Hulk is rampaging. She knows her strengths are in fucking with people's minds and using their preconceptions against them. In fighting, she uses more speed and agility than brute force. Her main weapons are small arms and her stingers. None of this means a damned thing when dealing with the Hulk, and she knows it—and just like anyone who's used to being in control, she doesn't like having that taken from her. But she gets her shit together and keeps going in the end, and that's what makes the character.
Tony's first appearance seems out of place at first, but it's perfect for his character arc. In movie one, he was all about taking responsibility for his actions and life. In movie two, he was all about legacy (as he so generously told us) and what you leave behind. I'm not sure where movie three is going, but in the Avengers the Tony we're introduced to is beautifully domesticated. He's building a home with Pepper, making a mark on the world that's 1) weapons-free and 2) completely separate from his father. He appears to have settled down, and he's happy. When Phil shows up, he even starts to say no—to refuse the chance to be a "real" superhero, to stay settled down and safe. I think it's notable that he hands the decision over to Pepper—she's become his partner in life, so it's her choice too. The last shot of Tony reinforces this; he's with Pepper, they're planning and smiling and clearly in love. It's adorable.
All of this makes me worry desperately for Pepper. Tony's not allowed to be happy. :\ I'm afraid of what they're going to do to her in IM3. D:
Bruce. Bruce! I confess to being one of those people who didn't give a damn about Bruce Banner until Mark Ruffalo appeared on the screen. I still don't give a damn about Norton's Banner. With Bruce in the Avengers, we open off to him in Kolkata, lying low and apparently doing his best to help people in the process. What sticks with me here is that it's Bruce we're introduced to. Hulk is an accessory, a problem, a weapon—he's not really much of a character, even when he's "the superhero" off the two of them, and probably the one the fanboys wanted to see anyway. Ruffalo sells Bruce like whoa, and I desperately want the next Hulk movie to have him hiding out at Tony's place being all science-y and stuff.
Steve. Steeeeeeeve. Of all of them, Steve is the one with the most angst going on, and I desperately want to give him all the hugs. He's only been defrosted a short while, and hasn't really had time to cope. We first see him killing punching bags and not able to sleep. Whether the scenes we get from his movie are nightmares, flashbacks or just thoughts, it's pretty obvious that he's got a lot weighing on his soul. Then he goes on to show that he feels out of place in this modern world (worried about the uniform being old fashioned, being extra prickly when Tony picks on his age) and is still trying to find a place in it.
ETA: Thor. It's not that he was forgettable, really, so much as he was the only one who didn't change. He arrived in the middle of the movie, made for some interpersonal tension in the team, had aaaaangst with Loki, and then was tossed to the side until it was time for the big battle at the end. Of all the Avengers, he was the one who felt like he didn't get a chance to integrate with the team, which I suppose is appropriate seeing as he's the one to go off unreachable at the end. Thor was a catalyst: for Loki, for Fury, for the team. I liked what we got to see of him, but it wasn't much.
About Phil's death... I approve. Unpopular opinion, but the character's time had come. He'd been put in specifically to be the minor hinge that linked the films together, which was accomplished. The actor didn't want the part to start with, and only took it as a favor to Jon Favreau. He was an under-powered, middle aged man on a superpowered team facing (by necessity) enemies that stretch the superpowered ones to their limits. The kindest thing for the character was to die, and he died well. It was nice to see a guy get the fridge for once.
Pairings-wise, I walked into the movie shipping Steve/Tony, and that didn't change. They had some good interaction, good push-and-pull with friction, and they ended the movie on an open note that leaves a lot of room to maneuver. Pepper/Tony was fricking adorable, so threesomes would be a happy place, but slashers are used to dealing with canon love interests. (Maybe by pairing Pepper with Natasha? Anyone? :D? Please?) Tony/Bruce seem more like bros to me; less clashy than between Rhodey and Tony, but still with that puzzle-piece vibe. Clint/Natasha sort of had the same thing, but maybe with benefits. IDK, the relationships all have a lot to work with for the interested writer. What I'd really, really like to see is Avengers Poly. Just pile them all up into one big happy family.
So... TL;DR, the plot was tight, the characters well-done and balanced, the pairings a wide open field and the universe our playground. Not bad at all.
Now, off to find pictures of Steve's ass. For reasons.
