The Magnificence Of The Avengers Stems From Its Energetic Joy

PHASE ONE

Discovery

"The Avengers. That's what we call ourselves. Earth's mightiest heroes type thing."

There's a lot of different emotions that can be expressed through the storytelling medium of summer blockbusters, but perhaps the most pivotal is that emotion of wonder. It can certainly be felt during any kind of film (I know I felt it during recent dramatic masterpieces like Boyhood and Her), but the way summer blockbusters call up that emotion is quite notable. It's that feeling that creeps up your shoulder, as the visuals on that enormous movie theater screen seem to be a gateway to the kind of unbelievable images you've only dreamed of. The perfect example of this kind of phenomenon is that incredible moment in Jurassic Park where Alan Grant and Ellie Satler see the titular theme parks dinos for the first time.


The sequence is so perfectly paced, from the initial shock Alan feels upon seeing the beasts for the first time, to the John William score that plays as the brontosaurus eats the leaves off a tree. The swelling emotion takes a hold of the audience, and one hopes a scene of such tremendous beauty never lets go. In that moment, no matter if you watch the film in 1993 or 2015, you know this is something astonishing, something you won't ever forget. In 2012, Marvel Studios released a film that had an immense amount of scenes that captured that same sense of euphoria that countless summer blockbusters (like the aforementioned Jurassic Park, Jaws, Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl and the original Star Wars trilogy) had brought to moviegoers.

This time though, a movie brought that sort of emotional resonance with a Hulk.

Prior to the release of The Avengers, skepticism greeted the idea that a feature could successfully juggle a large number of characters while retaining a coherent story. But writer and director Joss Whedon seems to have just cracked his knuckles and said "Let's do this" in response to such claims, as he's crafted a  film that has the kind of rewatchability most movies can only dream of. It's got action, charm, inventiveness, laughs and an air tight script that doesn't waste a single scene in it's 144 minute running time.

Actually, the pacing of The Avengers is something I'm still stunned by three years later. Whedon has to reintroduce each of these six superheroes, set up why they're compelling personalities, what they can bring to the table as far as a team of super powered beings goes and make sure they each leave an impression on the audience. It's a tall order that could have resulted in a cluttered mess akin to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but each of the characters entrances are handled magnificently and economically.

Take the introduction of The Hulk for example. We see Bruce Banner (now played by Mark Ruffalo) hiding out, isolated from much of the world, when Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, whose character has been set up in the film prior to this, in a cleverly handled hand-to-hand combat sequence) meets up with him to try and get him onboard to help save the world. Whedon masterfully gets across the two distinct personalities in a subtle manner; the way Black Widow lures Bruce away from a heavily populated city (that way, in case he becomes The Hulk, he won't hurt anybody) shows off her cunning, while Banner's hand gestures and twitches during the characters exchanges demonstrate his nervous, constantly paranoid personality. It's a scene that not only delivers some memorable lines ("What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?"), but gets across the intricacies of the personalities of these two primary characters.

Tony Stark gets a similarly successful introduction that reveals a great cinematic truth: Joss Whedons snappy dialogue and Robert Downey Jr.'s quippy delivery are a match made in heaven. In this scene alone, his interactions with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) are mined for numerous utterances that make me chuckle just thinking about them ("Uh, his first name is Agent"). Besides adding some gags to the movie, these bits of humor help show the sharp contrast between Tony and his teammates like the stalwart Captain America. Whedon may enjoy, hell, he may love, writing these hilarious quips, but they're not just there for the sake of being there, they serve a notable purpose within the confines of the plot and the characters, which makes them all the more enjoyable.

Once the gang gets assembled, the enemy these heroes must face unveils himself to the world. The antagonist in question is Loki, who returns from Thor to cause more havoc on Midgard. Tom Hiddleston returns in the role and is obviously having a blast being the enemy this group of heroes must come together to vanquish, with segments of the film where he revels in the control his cruelty inspires (namely when he jabs a tool of some sort into a mans eye at a fancy gala, to the tune of fancy sounding instrumental music) being notably excellent in conveying his innermost desires.

If The Avengers are going to come together to stop this nefarious foe, they'll have to overcome their own individual differences, and it's through these conflicts that each separate member of the cast begins to have their own storyline and arc to grapple with. Giving all six members a distinctive plotline to handle is a tall order, but smartly, Whedon's script ensures that each characters arc can have consequences on the other members of the cast. For instance, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is brainwashed to be Loki's minion early on in the film, which not only gives him motivation to go after Loki once he escapes the Asgardians control, but his actions while in his brainwashed state (like blowing up an engine on the Hellicarrier) manage to affect each member of the group.

That's kind of the incredible aspect of this movie as a whole from a script perspective; each of the plotlines that the characters tackle work as their own entities, but they manage to bounce off of and enhance the other storylines occurring within the film. Notice how Thor and Hulk, each dealing with separate issues, manage to have a fight scene on the Hellicarrier that intertwines their internal conflicts, while later scenes with the duo during the Battle of New York manage to provide resolution to their quarrels, as well as provide some of the films best moments of humor.

Actually, now that I've brought him up, let's take a look at this movies interpretation of The Hulk. Mired in early controversy when Mark Ruffalo stepped in to replace Edward Norton in the role, he's actually one of the best elements of this motion picture, which is truly saying something! What's great about his portrayal in The Avengers is they managed to make both Bruce Banner and The Hulk compelling. Mark Ruffallo gave Bruce all these nervous quivers and other nuances that helped express his inner pain, while also giving him a fun dynamic with other characters, namely Black Widow and Tony Stark, that made him endearing and enjoyable to be around. 

As for The Hulk, this was the first time that visual effects had come far enough to make it possible for the facial expressions of Bruce to be effectively carried over to his Hulk persona. Having there be a resemblance between the green behemoth and his human counterpart allows for The Hulk to seem more like an extension of Bruce rather than just a CGI critter. It's also majorly helpful that, this time around, The Hulk is fun when he's smashing up his adversaries. He's roistering in his power and abilities, and it lends The Hulk some personality (which also come from him being able to have moments of levity in this story, namely with Thor), and the amount of exhilaration one feels when The Hulk romps around and causes his unique sort of mayhem in the finale is overwhelmingly wonderful.

Now that I've given the matter some thought, the phrase "overwhelmingly wonderful" would be a perfect way to describe the Battle of New York, a sequence in The Avengers in which the titular superhero group must face Lokis army of aliens that are descending on New York. Every second of this portion of the feature is a cavalcade of character beats that wrap up or enhance arcs in an entertaining style, particularly with Black Widow, a personality that's given a lot of depth within the feature (a sharp contrast to the way she was written in Iron Man 2), and it's great to see her, a normal human being with no magical hammer or iron suit, handling the various obstacles Loki tosses her way.

The route she takes in managing her extraterrestrial rivals is by engaging in some unbelievably thrilling combat, an approach her fellow Avengers also take. Every single punch, kick, one-liner, explosion, skirmish within this segment of the plot is so meticulously crafted to appeal to any human beings innate sense of awe, whether it be Bruce transforming into the Hulk just in time to handle a space eel or Hawkeye shooting a surprising arrow at Loki (which is made all the more entertaining thanks to Lokis "bitch, please" face when he catches the arrow).

Here's the best part though: the individual members of this team don't just get turned into chess pieces to be moved along a CGI explosion laden chess board. As I mentioned before, plenty of plot points centered around the characters and their specific challenges and personalities abound whilst this tremendous battle occurs, and they're the sort of subtle moments that could only be this satisfying if they'd been developed in a satisfactory manner prior to this gigantic set piece. Rest assured, each member of The Avengers have been given an enormous amount of development, which makes their separate roles in the epic finale all the more glorious to witness.

That sensation of awe I mentioned at the start of this piece is found in abundance during The Avengers, which may be one of the most well crafted summer blockbusters of all-time. There's a reason the Marvel Cinematic Universe is enduring in this generation like few films in history have, and it's because at it's apex (as seen during this 2012 effort), these movies can combine extraordinary towering spectacle with characters that are even more absorbing. Joss Whedons work here proves that he remembers how fundamental sharp writing and character work is to making any film, regardless of if it's a summer blockbuster or not, and thankfully for all of us moviegoers, the way he demonstrated that he's aware of how crucial that mixture is is by creating The Avengers. Perhaps the only word sufficient enough to fully capture the feeling of pure giddiness anyone will feel after watching this movie is by uttering a singular word that a quite notable human being is fond of saying: EXCELSIOR!!