Director Josh Whedon manages to bring alive the rush of that 11 year old boy in everyone with this magnum opus of a superhero movie. Everybody knows what to expect from a superhero movie,its the fight of good versus evil. The hero's ability to fight through seemingly insurmountable odds. Which is why Josh Whedon's The Avengers works.
The film isn't about the bad guys, even though it has a strikingly evil villain, but it's about an assemblage of larger than life superhero icons. Men, in short with preposterous identities, egos and issues with authority. And it is by wittily amalgamating this strange dynamic that the director comes up with an absolute treat of a film.
The earth is under attack from spurned Norse God Loki (played slimily by Tom Hiddleston) and the eye-patch wearing Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) begins to put together a super squad of superheroes to save the Earth from the impending doom. A film throwing as many one-liners as it does punches, The Avengers consist of the drily snappy Bruce Banner aka Hulk (an excellent Mark Ruffalo),the hammer wielding demi-god Thor (a commanding Chris Hemsworth),the vintage Captain America (a brooding Chris Evans) and Tony Stark aka Iron Man (a deliciously funny Robert Downey Junior) who has some of the most funniest lines in the film which are often laced with sarcasm. Then there is Scarlett Johannson's redheaded Russian superspy Black Widow and Jeremy Renner's super marksman Hawkeye, but while they do have their moments but they aren't as super as the superheroes here.
There is a lot to admire in The Avengers, it is so well written and the dialogues are worth a hundred wolf whistles. Its Stark or rather Iron Man who takes the lead here, he directs the other superheroes, he is like the Jack Sparrows of the superhero world. At one point he literally pokes a stick at Bruce Banner so that he becomes angry and releases his alter ego Hulk, while also making Shakespearean jabs at Thor. But despite the immense sarcasm in Stark's dialogues the films main strength lies in the fact that it allows each superhero to get his rightful piece of the pie.
Captain America is electric, when he frozen from World War 2 catches on with the present day, Thor well the demi-god is quick to retract to sibling-love when he hears about his half-brother's homicidal madness. But the showstopper or rather masterstroke of this film has to be Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner as Hulk, Ruffalo's Hulk has an electrifying screen presence and seems to be actually proud of the beast within him.
Yet when the villain imperils the World, oneupmanship is instantly sacrificed as the Avengers indeed do assemble. Each member of the team finds a role and is ready for the big and the small villains. In one of the most eye catching scenes with every Avenger surrounded by Volcanic chaos and striking blows, Iron Man, the inevitable star of the piece, sees his task reduced to that of a wielding job.
When the action shifts to Manhattan, the town is being ravaged by gigantic alien vertebrae, skyline crumbling and engulfing the town. This is a cue for a long and immensely enjoyable action set piece keeps things cheeky as it oscillates from Avenger to Avenger, each getting their job done in their own uniquely awesome way.
The Avengers for me has been one of those rare movie going experiences when i wish for the end credits to never come. I was transformed to an era when i was an 11 year old boy playing with his action figurines and making them do stuff which weren't possible, only this time it actually seemed possible. Way to go marvel, this superhero mega movie has set the standards way high for this summer's other awaited superhero movies The Amazing Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises.
By: Prashant Pradhan
Ex-Grahamite, Currently doing his masters in Mass Communication from Calcutta University
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