Avengers, or Avengers Assemble for those in the UK, because, after all, Emma Peel and John Steed are the only Avengers the UK needs. While not really a comic fanboy, I have read more than my share during my youth, though never really venturing into the Avengers or X-Men or any of the other superhero “teams”.
So as a slightly interested observer, what’s my one word synopsis for this newest comic offering? How about “fun”. Well actually it’s a bit more than that. It’s definitely better than some of the Marvel films of recent years, maybe even one of the best. I think the folks at Neonpunch are not that far off when calling this “awesome” though they are far bigger fanboys than I.
The stage has been set for this movie for the last couple of years, with S.H.I.E.L.D and Sgt. Fury being introduced in sort of a cameo way across a multitude of Marvel films over the last few years. Over the past five years we’ve had:
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In between this and the finale you have a few internal squabbles with Avengers battling one another as they come to grips with the fact they need to fight together against a far bigger threat. You also have some cool scenes of the S.H.I.E.L.D. flying aircraft carrier, which was probably the coolest of the tech in the film. There were also quite a few “glass”-based computer monitors, kind of like the Corning / Microsoft “visions of tomorrow” monitors we’ve seen in futuristic viral videos. While for some watching this movie made them want to go home and suit up in their own superhero costumes, for me it had me going home wondering “how many monitors could I fit on my desk, really“.
The story was actually pretty tight, but I do wonder how it would gel with someone who hasn’t seen some of the other films. The cosmic cube of Tesseract which was in Captain America and Thor plays a vital role in this films, and characters like Agent Coulson, who we’ve seen through the last several films are also quite important. Not sure if a non-comic book fan, non-movie goer would get this, but then again, if you have’t seen the previous five movies and are going to this one ‘cold’ what are you thinking?
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As far as the acting goes, basically the first half of the movie was Iron Man, and the second half was the Hulk. While the story is being set up you find yourself basically waiting for the next Tony Stark quip and witty sayings while everyone else does their superhero bits, some of which came across as a bit wooden. But the second half, or more appropriately, the finale, is really all Hulk. The Hulk’s simple comic touches outdoes the cracking witticisms of Robert Downey Junior, and when the Hulk meets Loki “monologuing” it was definitely the high point of the film. From taking out the giant armored turtlefish (yea, you’ll see) to simply wiping the floor with Loki, the Hulk simply stole the show.
If I had to nitpick, I guess I would quote Loki when he talks about people being ants and he the boot. In all too many alien invasion movies we see the aliens come down and due combat with the Earth “one on one”. If you are a superior civilization with advanced technology, the last thing you are going to do is go around trying to kill each and every person in each and every corner of the planet. No, you’re going to nuke the place from above and then clean up after the smell is gone (i.e. just like you do with bug spray and bugs). I’d also have to say the 3D is pointless. I found myself barely noticing it when it was taking place, and wishing it was more prevelant in other scenes. I mean, if you are going to show Scarlett Johansson’s curves in spandex, why can’t that be in 3D?
Anyway, this isn’t going to have you talking to your friends about the meaning of life, but if you are sitting around this weekend and want a good “fun” movie that your geek friends think is “awesome” and that you’ll probably enjoy while eating some popcorn, you won’t go wrong this film.
p.s. Thanks to the folks at Norton Hong Kong for the passes.
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I’d like to say that I “discovered” 
to 
which even won an Oscar a few years back. But like the first drops of rain that has you questioning “is it raining” my experience with their films has been on the periphery, rather than a torrential soaking.
But now that I have kids the excuses have come to an end.
About a month ago I made the kids sit through “Arrietty” or 
as it was called in the US. We followed that up this week with 
which has been on basically daily rotation with the boys. Watching the giant forest spirit Totoro bounce and pounce and smile has the kids humming along the theme song, even though the lyrics are in Japanese. We followed up with 
and I watched “Spirited Away” the other night while nursing them through some colds (thank god for the iPhone). The kids watched a bit of 
but it was in Japanese so they tired quickly from the subtitles.
Ghibli is called the “Disney of Japan” but that’s really a misnomer. The cartoons are far more complex than your standard good vs. evil with an odd speaking sidekick that passes for Disney animation today. Often told from the perspective of a young female lead (as compared to the more 
There is also quite a bit about a casual, rural lifestyle that comes out in several of these films. The sounds of the crickets and grasshoppers and the rainbow of fresh flowers and plants are common elements in many of these films, harkening to perhaps a more simple way of living through the more complex reality that we now face. I think one regret about Hong Kong is that my boys have not played in the mud frequently enough, worried as we are about the polluted air or dengue-fever dripping mosquitoes.
You’d think PIXAR and Ghibli would be almost opposed to each other, but apparently there is a great deal of mutual respect between the two. Miyazaki has visited the PIXAR offices where he found all sorts of stuffed animals and other hints of Ghibli merchandise strewn about, and Pixar employees would often get together to watch these films, even giving Totoro a small cameo appearance in Toy Story 3 (I guess I should mention that Disney has the rights to distribute Studio Ghibli movies in the USA).
But as I sat googling more information about the films and whatnot, I found myself frequently pulled back to Youtube for musical clips from the different films. The soundtracks of some of these films has been all I’ve listened to this week, and got me to realize that I’ve been away from classical (even the neoclassical music) a bit too long. Such is the life of an uncultured slob.
Most of the works are done by a Japanese composer named 
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