Geek Syndicate August 2012 | Page 34

Geek Syndicate FILM REVIEW - Avengers Assemble This film has been hyped as one of the most anticipated movies of the year, no scratch that, of the decade (so far). The hype started back in 2005, when Marvel decided to start producing movies of their own characters set in a single, cohesive universe. Iron Man, and it’s post-credit scene including S.H.I.E.L.D’s Nick Fury created the foundations of what would become The Avengers movie. The first thing to note here is that we really do not get any major character building of any one character, either because they have all been done in their own solo movies or because it is just not needed. In fact this is by far the dumbest Marvel movie we have had so far. This is an Avengers movie not a Thor/Captain America/Hulk/Iron Man movie - and that means that it is all about the team. Director Joss Whedon knows this better than anyone and uses conflict and humour to move the characters from one place to another. This no bad thing as we really want to see them fight and have fun. Writers: Joss Whedon & Zak Penn Director: Joss Whedon Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston & Clark Gregg The Blurb: When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort b egins. First some background. For the record, I loved Iron Man and consider it one of the best comic book movies ever. Yes I am biased when it comes to Marvel and yes The Dark Knight is a great film but for me Iron Man was perfect in all areas and truly embraced its comic book roots. Next, we got The Incredible Hulk which was fun but just off in some ways; and for me, Iron Man 2 somehow missed the whole point of what made the first one so great. Last year held the double punch of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Both proved that Marvel knows how to handle its properties and were the last pieces of the puzzle to be put in place for Avengers Assemble (aka The Avengers in the US) to work. “Enough!” I hear you cry. “What about the film?” The Review: Marvel’s master gamble has finally arrived but does it live up to all the hype? Do all the characters work well together? Has Joss Whedon done the impossible? Let’s find out! The characters who develop the most is actually Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and the double team of Black Widow and Hawkeye. Ruffalo is by far the best Banner we have seen and I truly hope we see more of him in the future but I do have my doubts if another solo Hulk film would actually work. In this film, he’s perfect and the tit for tat between him and Stark is brilliant. Also the Hulk looks great and is even funny in this film. We have seen Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow before but we get a better understanding of her past and her rela- 34