When a movie lives up to its hype, it is called The Avengers!
The movie was, in a word, fantastic! While I am not a comic book girl, I do enjoy a good action movie, and this is a great action movie. Superheros uniting to save the world from evil, it’s classic plot line that delivers an awesome flick with action, suspense and (surprisingly) a hearty dose of humor.
Action is a given when the topic is superheros, but humor… I was quite surprised by just how funny the movie was. I’m not talking about inside jokes that only the die-hards understand. I am talking about laugh-out-loud one liners. While comical moments were laced throughout the movie, Iron Man, aka Tony Spark, aka Robert Downey Jr. was the center of many of the moments. Downey is downright funny in this role.
Having seen, and enjoyed, most of the individual movies (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America – I’ve never seen The Hulk), I was excited to see the characters assemble. I was confident I would enjoy the movie, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. That said even if you haven’t seen other movies in this series, I believe you can still enjoy The Avengers. While the movie does a great job at referencing its predecessors, the references do an excellent job at explaining themselves for those who don’t follow the comic books.
The addition of Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of Black Widow adds a touch of femininity in an otherwise male-centered genre. But she’s not so soft, in fact, she kicks serious butt. I was not familiar with the Black Widow character prior to the movie, but after seeing Johansson in this role I would totally go see a stand alone movie about Black Widow as I would love to see further development of this super spy.
Whether you are a Marvel fan yourself or you are planning to go with the hubby so you can pick the next movie (I’ve been there), I highly recommend this movie. (Shhhhh… It will be our secret, but if you go just so you can pick the next movie, I bet you will like this one too!)
The Avengers assemble Friday, May 4, 2012.
httpvh://youtu.be/OCYg4f77Eqo
Disclosure – I attended an advanced screening of this film to facilitate this review, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.