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ninety6tearsSoo, time to talk about how much I liked Avengers!
Where do I begin, oh, probably by explaining my ignorance as I almost always do with comic book movies. My childhood was not aware of the Avengers, or really of anything in the Marvel universe that didn't have an animated series. Somebody...not so recently but within the last several years of my life had to explain to me "Well, it's kinda like the Justice League but with the Marvel heroes" when I was like "Avengers wut?" Geek fail, whatever, but on top of that this movie is filled with characters who aren't the most iconic of the Marvel heroes or else have been made much bigger in recent years (with maybe the exception of the Hulk, who sadly seems to be one of those ubiquitous always-there-but-never-anyone's-favorite characters. Aw, I like you, Banner.) I'd be curious to know how the actual comics fans feel about the chosen line-up of characters, but I for one was a little concerned that since the Iron Man movies have been seemingly the most universal hit, that this movie was gonna be Robert Downey Jr. & the Avengers. It was not.
I was not a huge cynic about whether it would be good, but I couldn't help having doubts, because there are so, so many reasons a movie like this could/should fail, with its task of both establishing the new characters and continuing the stories of the established characters while still making it work for an audience that was new to any of the characters; it could have felt like a bad crossover fic. I figured it was going to feel a bit noisy, but it only did in a good way.
I doubt that most people who saw this film had seen all the preceding Marvel movies. I meant to see Captain America but never did; same with Incredible Hulk, though I'm confused as to whether this is supposed to be the same Hulk. Nobody doesn't like Iron Man as far as I've seen, but I was particularly excited about Thor and Loki being in this. I don't know if I ever said anything about Thor here when I first saw it, but I thought it was a really fun and pretty-looking movie, if not a great one, though my opinion of it has only improved on rewatches. Hiddleston and Hemsworth gave me much better acting than I was prepared for on tipsy movie night, that's for sure. The tension of having a protagonist whose brother is the villain is to me even angstier than the oft-used trope that the bad guy used to be the good guy's best friend, because it makes you a little more able to make the bad guy go way way into immoral territory without the protag quite losing a shred of loyalty for him. And it's even better that they're gods/demigods, for reasons I have a hard time articulating, I think it's just the fact that mythical feuds tend to be explosive and over-zealous but also more temporary to the gods than it is to humans, and if a human was doing the things Loki does it wouldn't be more evil or less evil but it would feel less like a tantrum. Oh, and the "He's adopted" line was hilarious and got the loudest response from the audience, though with me I thought nothing could top Tony's "Shakespeare in the park" joke, partly because it felt like such a shout-out to Kenneth Branagh.
I am gonna be bummed if there is never a Black Widow/Hawkeye origin movie. Who doesn't love a good "assassin gets a soft spot for their target" trope, only impressively enough it wasn't supposed to be a love story, at least not yet. I can ship it, but they make awesome spy bros.
Comparatively almost none of the fangirls were excited about Mark Ruffalo being in this movie, and I was excited about it but kinda kept forgetting about it because I don't remember him being in the trailers or anything. I enjoyed that officially he was only on board for his scientific knowledge and not for "the other guy," as it made his superpower seem like more of a Chekhov's Gun. He and Tony made awesome science buddies (Toschi and Avery together again!~) and I like to imagine he comes over for dinner and Pepper teases Tony by being like, "Why can't you be a genius but nice and humble like Bruce, see, Bruce is such a gentleman."
-I only recently realized that "SMH" is supposed to stand for Shaking My Head, not So Much Hate. I did think people had the tendency to use it a bit over-dramatically...
-I think I need to read up more on Prometheus, though it may be futile cause the writers/cast are so tight-lipped they've only barely admitted that it's, yes, a prequel to the Alien series (sort of, yes, no, yes). But for some reason I was so excited to learn that Fassbender's character is a robot. Like, stupidly thrilled about it.
Where do I begin, oh, probably by explaining my ignorance as I almost always do with comic book movies. My childhood was not aware of the Avengers, or really of anything in the Marvel universe that didn't have an animated series. Somebody...not so recently but within the last several years of my life had to explain to me "Well, it's kinda like the Justice League but with the Marvel heroes" when I was like "Avengers wut?" Geek fail, whatever, but on top of that this movie is filled with characters who aren't the most iconic of the Marvel heroes or else have been made much bigger in recent years (with maybe the exception of the Hulk, who sadly seems to be one of those ubiquitous always-there-but-never-anyone's-favorite characters. Aw, I like you, Banner.) I'd be curious to know how the actual comics fans feel about the chosen line-up of characters, but I for one was a little concerned that since the Iron Man movies have been seemingly the most universal hit, that this movie was gonna be Robert Downey Jr. & the Avengers. It was not.
I was not a huge cynic about whether it would be good, but I couldn't help having doubts, because there are so, so many reasons a movie like this could/should fail, with its task of both establishing the new characters and continuing the stories of the established characters while still making it work for an audience that was new to any of the characters; it could have felt like a bad crossover fic. I figured it was going to feel a bit noisy, but it only did in a good way.
I doubt that most people who saw this film had seen all the preceding Marvel movies. I meant to see Captain America but never did; same with Incredible Hulk, though I'm confused as to whether this is supposed to be the same Hulk. Nobody doesn't like Iron Man as far as I've seen, but I was particularly excited about Thor and Loki being in this. I don't know if I ever said anything about Thor here when I first saw it, but I thought it was a really fun and pretty-looking movie, if not a great one, though my opinion of it has only improved on rewatches. Hiddleston and Hemsworth gave me much better acting than I was prepared for on tipsy movie night, that's for sure. The tension of having a protagonist whose brother is the villain is to me even angstier than the oft-used trope that the bad guy used to be the good guy's best friend, because it makes you a little more able to make the bad guy go way way into immoral territory without the protag quite losing a shred of loyalty for him. And it's even better that they're gods/demigods, for reasons I have a hard time articulating, I think it's just the fact that mythical feuds tend to be explosive and over-zealous but also more temporary to the gods than it is to humans, and if a human was doing the things Loki does it wouldn't be more evil or less evil but it would feel less like a tantrum. Oh, and the "He's adopted" line was hilarious and got the loudest response from the audience, though with me I thought nothing could top Tony's "Shakespeare in the park" joke, partly because it felt like such a shout-out to Kenneth Branagh.
I am gonna be bummed if there is never a Black Widow/Hawkeye origin movie. Who doesn't love a good "assassin gets a soft spot for their target" trope, only impressively enough it wasn't supposed to be a love story, at least not yet. I can ship it, but they make awesome spy bros.
Comparatively almost none of the fangirls were excited about Mark Ruffalo being in this movie, and I was excited about it but kinda kept forgetting about it because I don't remember him being in the trailers or anything. I enjoyed that officially he was only on board for his scientific knowledge and not for "the other guy," as it made his superpower seem like more of a Chekhov's Gun. He and Tony made awesome science buddies (Toschi and Avery together again!~) and I like to imagine he comes over for dinner and Pepper teases Tony by being like, "Why can't you be a genius but nice and humble like Bruce, see, Bruce is such a gentleman."
-I only recently realized that "SMH" is supposed to stand for Shaking My Head, not So Much Hate. I did think people had the tendency to use it a bit over-dramatically...
-I think I need to read up more on Prometheus, though it may be futile cause the writers/cast are so tight-lipped they've only barely admitted that it's, yes, a prequel to the Alien series (sort of, yes, no, yes). But for some reason I was so excited to learn that Fassbender's character is a robot. Like, stupidly thrilled about it.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-12 02:35 am (UTC)I also was impressed at how many balls this thing successfully juggled. Watch Cap! It's not amazing, but quite good. Though I do have a weakness for pretty much any movie about WW2. But still, if you liked Steve Rogers in this, he got more to do in his own movie (..obviously). AND YES, MARK RUFFALO. Ever since The Brothers Bloom I am excited to watch him in anything and he kind of quietly stole this movie right out from under everybody else.
Fassbender is going to be an OUTSTANDING robot. Have you seen the David-8 viral ad for his prototype?
(if you have, sorry. But I am still stunned and a little bit creeped out by it and it only makes me MORE EXCITED for this thang)
no subject
Date: 2012-05-12 03:31 am (UTC)The fact that they started up Cap America in WWII was the main reason I wanted to see the movie, LOL, I just kinda forgot about it but I'll have to watch it soon.
And NO, I had only seen the Guy Pierce clip, and asdansjdnajsnjansj. You're right, there is definitely something creepy about it/him, goddamn, I am so fucking ready for this movie.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-12 11:36 pm (UTC)I hope Black Widow/Hawkeye get their own movie honestly. I don’t necessarily ship them (though I have half the flist squeeing over them and it’s becoming kinda contagious lol), but I liked their dynamic and I’d love to see more. So much potential there.
And I loved Ruffalo. He just seemed perfect as Banner to me.
Also, Prometheus? I am salivating in anticipation!!
no subject
Date: 2012-05-13 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-13 10:23 pm (UTC)well, as a comic book Avengers fan (though of the old ones, I've never read any of the more recent ones, as in, the past 10 years :P), I can tell you that for me, this was pretty much an awesome lineup. Though I might not be the best person to ask - the moment I heard that they were going to include Hawkeye (who was my favourite member, along with Thor and Iron Man) there was no way I'd not have liked this team. :P But all in all, it was good - and I think the Black Widow was a good choice too, out of all the female members they could have picked.
And yeah, it was a *good* story, pretty much evenly divided to all I should say. It even managed to get me to like Hulk, who has always been indifferent to me - at best - in comics (which just goes to show what a good job Ruffalo did, considering I was prepared to hate the fact that it wasn't Edward Norton who played Banner. And yes, it's the same Hulk)
I want to see a Black Widow/Hawkeye film too! Those two made *such* an awesome duo, I want mooooreeeee!! (whether or not they choose to pursue the romantic aspect. I missed that bit in the comics anyway, so I wouldn't know much about it, lol. Hawkeye was married to someone else when I was reading them. :P)
ps: Fassbender is a robot in Prometheus?? Sweet!! Though now I don't know whether I want to be a 'follow the company orders' robot like in Alien, or a self-sacrificing one like in Aliens.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-14 08:35 pm (UTC)