The Avengers

I'm much too old to be going to midnight showings of fanboy movies like The Avengers.  But there I was anyway, at a 12:30 showing of a movie about people in funny costumes on a flying aircraft carrier chasing a blue energy cube before it destroys the world.  And I loved every minute of it.



The main reason I did is that Joss Whedon wrote and directed it.  Serenity remains his best movie (that he directed--the best movie he's written is Toy Story, but that's true for every person who had anything to do with that film), but maybe only because its story is easier to tell.  In The Avengers, the story has to start by bringing six main characters who've never met together in a way that makes sense, or doesn't.

Besides the blue energy cube and flying aircraft carrier, there's also portals to other worlds with gods who dress funny, giant lizard robot spaceship thingies, and a sword that controls people when you touch their chest.  And why did the bad guys go to the German cocktail party and make one guy join the Nick Fury fashion club?  I don't remember if I even understood that when I was watching it.

And it doesn't matter. Through the whole movie the characters and dialogue drive the picture.  The effects are first-rate, but not the star--the characters are.

That's Whedon's real accomplishment.  Each hero has his or her own voice, sense of humor, and role--all first among equals, all with at least one hero moment.  And the awkwardish opening half hour when our heroes are all introduced and brought together actually plays like four shorter movies.  Whedon understands each character and backstory, and the writing, lighting, and direction of each Avenger's intro plays like it was from his original movie.  I thought I could live my whole life without seeing another Hulk movie, but now I really want Mark Ruffalo to carry one.

I mentioned humor in passing earlier, but didn't give it its just props.  The movie is very funny.  The humor works even better because every laugh is so true to the character that delivers it.  The Hulk got the biggest laugh in our screening in one of the funniest moments I can remember.

The Avengers is the rare money-grubbing sequel that is more than the sum of its parts.  It is better than any of the movies that led up to it.  So go see it.  And then reward yourself by watching Serenity.  It streams on Netflix.



And then have some Shawarma.