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| The seven superhero guardians amass in a New York under heavy attack on this dramatic poster for Joss Wheedon's The Avengers |
A kind of energy-cube called The Tesseract is stolen by Loki of Asgaard, who then tricks the Falcon and Dr. Selgin to join him, while he plans to subdue humanity in a big way. - The superhero collective, The Avengers, will have to assemble!
With the quite goofy premise; to assemble a bunch of superhero myths and universes of fantastic origins without compromising any of them, The Avengers does a terrific job with careful character work, radiant action and funny scenes.
Tom Hiddleston (The Deep Blue Sea (2011)), - a lean, British TV actor who was catapulted into the international stardom with Thor (2011), - is arguably the crown on the impressive ensemble that the film brings together.
Avengers is overlong with especially the loud smash-bang climax dragging out.
But it has an impressive cast who all seem ideally suited to their parts, an appropriately grandiose theme and effective score by Alan Silvestri (Serendipity (2001)) and all-around luxurious production values of which especially the digital effects are superb, - which, since so much of the film is essentially animated, is key to its wow-effect success.
Previously mostly a TV maverick, co-writer/director Joss Whedon (Serenity (2005)) was clearly the right man for this job, as he manages to keep several characters working in a central narrative in an comprehendible way here, a tricky exercise that had undoubtedly fallen apart in less sure hands. Zak Penn (Behind Enemy Lines (2001)) contributed story elements. Whedon, placed in front of film journalists, tickled my ribs when he recently stated in giant press conferences that he believes capitalism is coming to an end, - being himself one of the top tier most successful capitalists of the movie business today. Hypocrisy never dies.
The Avengers seems like every superhero nerd's wet dream come true; several Marvel heroes packed into the same mega-budgeted film. It marks a peak for the new superhero wave of action adventures begun with X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002). This reviewer is by the time of Avengers now ready for a new turn in the major action spectacles, but the film's amazing popularity ensures that this is regrettably not about to happen.
Related posts:
Joss Whedon: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) - Whedon disappoints with less fun, huge, ugly sequel
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre! (writer)
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 220 mil. $
Box office: 1,518.8 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.90 times its cost)
[The Avengers premiered 11 April (Los Angeles) and runs 143 minutes. Development began in 2005. Shooting took place in Ohio, including Cleveland and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Albuquerque, New Mexico, New York and California, including Los Angeles, from April - September 2011. The film was converted into 3D in post production. 4 mil. $ was spent on a 30 second Super Bowl spot. Disney reportedly secured 100 mil. $ in support from promotional partners. The film opened #1 to a 207.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, a new record, where it stayed #1 the following 2 weekends and stayed in the top 5 for another 4 weeks (#2-#2-#3-#5), grossing 623.3 mil. $ (41 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 86.3 mil. $ (5.7 %) and the UK with 80.5 mil. $ (5.3 %). The film became the 3rd highest-grossing of all time in North America at the time, the highest-grossing film worldwide of the year as well as Disney's highest-grossing title ever (et the time again), as well as setting countless other box office records. It was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Life of Pi. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, in line with this one. The-Numbers' estimation says that it made another 250.8 mil. $ on the home video market, which wouldn't change the film's gross status if figured into the equation. The Avengers returned together in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), also by Whedon. Whedon returned first with Much Ado About Nothing (2012). Robert Downey Jr. (Restoration (1995)) returned in Iron Man 3 (2013); Scarlett Johansson (Lucy (2014)) in Hitchcock (2012); and Hiddleston in 5 TV and short projects before his theatrical return in Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). The Avengers is certified fresh at 92 % with an 8.06/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Avengers?
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