Avengers

So, finally caught the Avengers. An interesting movie to say the least, but one that has a huge amount of set-up. They couldn't just go straight into BEING the Avengers, they had to have a large amount of time setting up why they needed the Avengers, showing the threat, slowly introducing the team members, showing the friction between team members, how they played off each other etc etc. Well, BS. The Avengers ARE the Avengers, we don't need to watch their every move like we're watching Survivor or Big Brother. We need them to be larger than life, to go in, team up despite insurmountable odds, kick its face in and then walk away. Preferably with a healthy dose of Punching out Cthulhu. 

Instead, what we got was a huge interplay of plot lines that revealed what each  hero was thinking of or fighting for. Although it was nice that they sorta made references to each characters individual films, the interplay of plots at times seemed too contrived. Unlike their individual films; which managed to set up the plot very nicely without being a drag, Avengers seem lesser than the sum of its parts put together. It suffers from AVP syndrome, in the sense that people came to watch the Avengers BEING the Avengers and not going through emotional drama (the same way people who went to AVP expected ALIENS VS PREDATORS and not humans vs aliens vs predators).


However, the action and comedy parts it does get right, it does very well. The film is full of snarky humor as well as some moments of comedic gold. Like Hulk blindsiding Thor. Those who watched it know what I'm talking about. However, the star of the show has to be Iron Man. Not only does he spout the best one liners, he also ends up being the one to save New York.  Most of the other cast pale in comparison to the man in the machine, even Captain America who I felt the writers didn't know what to do with. Here is a man without SUPER superpowers and he's on the same team as Thor, Hulk and Iron Man. So what will they have him do? Fight on the ground aimlessly. Although to be fair, he did do more than Black Widow and Hawkeye -_-


I found the final battle to be somewhat ho-hum in terms of plotting. It's YET another mindless invasion of New York. Seriously, why New York? Why can't aliens ever invade Washington D.C? Why can't they ever invade like an army does instead of running in randomly and then shooting random stuff. I mean, the aliens were invading office buildings. Was this part of their secret alien plan to take over the world? Conquer all the office buildings? Just once, I'd like to see aliens come in proper waves, with clear targets in mind.


Because of the lack of plot, it felt like the final fight was a bit lackluster. We see Captain America fighting on the ground, but we never really find out why. Presumably it's to protect civilians but whats his overall goal? Is he trying to reach someplace to defend it or is he just randomly beating up alien mooks that he finds on the streets? If so, that's a horrible tactical plan and not something I would expect Captain America to come up with.


Overall, the movie was fun but it could have been so much better. Here's hoping Avengers 2 will be.