And so, rather predictably, I went to see Avengers Assemble yesterday. While I'm not sure I'm going to eat my words wholly, the film turned out to be much better than I'd expected.
The problem with any and all Superhero movies based on a comic book property is that film-makers always feel the need to introduce the characters. The rationale is simple: make a movie for the fans, and you limit your audience. Make a movie that introduces the character not only to the fans, but to the wider cinema-going public, and you increase your box-office takings. As a side effect, this approach can occasionally generate new fans not just for the movie franchise, but for the original comic books too.
The problem with this approach is that existing fans will revolt at any significant (which is to say, whatever they perceive to be significant) changes to the character, their personality, their relationships, their origins... even their costumes. It is, perhaps, for this very reason that Marvel have grabbed back the movie rights to most, if not all, of their comic book properties, and housed them with Marvel Studios. Keeping it in the family, so to speak.
Of course, even this hasn't been 100% successful. Origin movies, by their very nature, have to spend a good chunk of the running time introducing the audience to the character, their world, their motivations, etc. Then they have to add a purpose - a conflict - to the story, which can be resolved adequately. Then, somehow, it all has to get tied together in a neat, interesting and, above all, entertaining package that must ensure that the origin movie is not the only movie that character ever gets.
And because many of these comic book characters have a rogues gallery of antagonists, many movie studios have felt the need to pit the hero against more than one adversary in each film. For a masterclass in how not to do a superhero movie, just look at the progressively more outlandish Batman movies that started with Tim Burton's Batman (and I make no apologies for that prefix - it and Batman Returns are more Tim Burton movies than they are Batman movies) back in 1989. Sure, it started with just the Joker (overplayed by Jack Nicholson, possibly the dopiest casting choice in the history of superhero movies), but Batman Returns (1992) brought us Catwoman and the Penguin. Batman Forever introduced Robin, and the Dynamic Duo went up against the Riddler and Two-Face. Finally, Batman & Robin added Batgirl, and the trio were up against Mr Freeze, Poison Ivy and something resembling Bane. The stories were all over the place, while the scripts and characterisations moved steadily closer to the 60s TV series.
Sam Raimi's Spiderman movies suffered a similar fate eventually. The first two featured only one major antagonist, and the rest of the story was taken up with Peter Parker's angst. The third, however, tried to balance the Sandman with the alien symbiote - as both black Spidey and Venom - and Harry Osborne's vengence and Peter Parker's angst revolving around Mary Jane, Gwen and the changes he was going through as a result of the symbiote. One can only hope that the newly rebooted franchise will work better, now Spidey is fully back in the hands of the company that created him.
Consider now that the first Avengers movie - because you know that's going to be a franchise too - has come along after an origin movie (at the very least) for each of its main characters. Captain America and Thor have had their intros, Iron Man and Hulk have had a couple of movies each (though Hulk seemed to create a subtly different continuity each time). Black Widow and Hawkeye have turned up in supplemental roles, Nick Fury has turned up briefly... As has Agent Coulson. Safe to say, then, we know who we're dealing with... The question is how they all come together as the Avengers.
Suffice it to say, it ain't smooth. Egos clash. Fists fly. The seeds of distrust are sown... And that's just with the good guys.
But to say the villains take a back seat would be unfair. Loki (Thor's not-brother) is orchestrating events, threatening the world with an alien armada, and generally being evil... but what sets this apart from most superhero movies, and any previous attempt at bringing superheroes together, is that Loki himself is just a pawn in a longer game. That might be a spoiler, so I won't elaborate.
Having the name 'Joss Whedon' in the credits seems to be a good thing at the moment, and Whedon directed, wrote the screenplay and co-wrote the story. It bears all his trademark humour and understanding of the human side of these superhuman characters. It's an adventure that doesn't slow down and, at just under two and a half hours, manages to find more than adequate screen time for every component of the ensemble. Even Black Widow and Hawkeye have enough implied history that they come across as perfectly rounded characters, despite only having had small roles in previous films. While much of it was framed in the style of the big summer blockbuster, there were enough 'small moments' and quirky angles to remind you that the guy pulling the strings knows his shit.
I will say that the big battle sequence that's so prominent in the trailer does only occupy a small portion of the movie, towards the end. It's still a cliché, but at least this movie used it for a purpose. On the downside, it does get a bit choppy in IMAX 3D.
And, as has become 'the thing' with Marvel Superhero movies, there's a post-credits teaser sequence (actually before the main credits - they've obviously had complaints from people who wanted to see the teaser, but didn't want to have to sit through that tedious list of names... I mean, honestly, how can you call yourself a movie fan if you can't occasionally wait for the names of all the people involved in the production of a movie to scroll past?) hinting at things to come.
But not for a while... There's another Iron Man in the works, another Captain America, another Thor... Hulk might be spared, since it seems to be such a difficult property to do justice to (though the one featuring Ed Norton wasn't too bad... it just misjudged some of the humour).
There was going to be more here... More movies and other stuff... but it's silly o'clock, and I should be getting some sleep...
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