‘The Avengers’: A Fabulously Entertaining Thrill Ride

With “Avengers: Endgame” coming out next week, now is a better time than most to rewatch some of the old Avengers installments. I’ve seen them all a thousand times, but not for a long time. Perhaps they will be fresher than I remember, or even staler than before. The rest I’ve yet to see, but for 2012’s “The Avengers”, the former prevailed.

Probably the most iconic movie in the entire MCU, with an iconic score and one iconic circling shot, Joss Whedon’s first Avengers film really made people pick up their heads and listen to Kevin Feige. It showed that a cinematic universe, with interconnected films, could be possible, and it launched, much for the worse, a whole slate of unnecessary and plodding cinematic universes.

Aside from its groundbreaking conception, “The Avengers” is a worthwhile movie on its own merit. While most modern day MCU movies are dull and tedious affairs, that only exist to set up the next movie, Whedon’s extravaganza is the “next” movie. It was the result of the previous Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America movies. There is a sense of finality at the end, at long last in a Marvel movie. Of course it continued, but this movie leaves you wanting more, not telling you want more when you might not.

Of course, as everybody knows already, these movies thrive on their characters. And a character portrait, “The Avengers” works magnificently. Its depictions of Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man are near perfect. Iron Man, or Tony Stark, in particular, easily grows the most over the course of the film, going from pretentious pain in the ass to self-sacrificing super hero.

Everyone, too, has applauded the character interactions in the Marvel movies, and in this movie, they are at their finest. Whedon gets all of his characters together in one astounding shot towards the middle of the movie, and has them argue with each other. Each line of dialogue is perfect, and delivered perfectly. The intense tension is palpable, and each character has a worthy side. Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, in addition to Downey Jr. and Evans, is a standout.

Where more recent Marvel movies seem formulaic and cliche in their character set-ups (let’s put these characters together, so that this can happen, you can feel the screenwriters as puppeteers), this movie feels authentic. You understand why everything is happening and where each character comes from. And you can keep track of everyone, too.

Another thing this movie does far better than its descendants is the camerawork. Whedon’s camera is constantly moving, roving through one room on its way to the next. It spins and weaves its way around each character. There are a lot of single shot camera moves, especially involving action that are spectacular to behold. The iconic shot of the camera circling the heroes, is iconic for a reason.

But one factor in its iconography is the musical score by Alan Silvestri. Most of the music here is dull and dapper, but the main Avengers theme is delectably heroic. It is triumphant, resounding, and catchy. Everything necessary in a good theme song. You can’t envision the Avengers without that tune.

What would, from the outside, without the right actors, seem a misfire, is the script. The lines are hokey, cartoonish, and, yes, childish. Evans’ Steve Rogers says at one point to Stark, “We need a plan of attack.” Stark replies, in full swagger, “I have a plan: attack.” It’s ridiculous, but in a good way. Whedon knows how to make a comic book come to life, and it is evident in the written lines. They are cheap, but they work because the whole movie, the actors, writers, and director, buy into it. And so do we.

If there’s one complaint I have, it would be the dialogue that involves the movie’s “science”. All of the tesseracts, computers, chips, cards, and keys are simply boring. They explain things to us in a dumbed-down way, which might be necessary on a first viewing, but doesn’t hold up well on rewatching it.

Alas, we have come to a time in our superhero stories where everything we watch is either self-aware, super dark, or so overdone that it’s beat to a pulp. “The Avengers” was the movie that started it all, but in a way much more vibrant, exuberant, upbeat, and, most importantly, fun, than our current movies.

“The Avengers” might not be peak cinema, but it is an enormously fun rollercoaster ride, and much more proficient and less droll than any movie with “infinity” or “endgame” in the title.

{★★★½}