Review: The Avengers

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If you'd asked me what I thought of superheroes about a year-and-a-half ago, I would have told you that I wasn't interested in them. Why waste my time with modern fiction, in which big strong men beat villains to a pulp, when I could be reading High Fantasy? Pfftt.... who needs superheroes?

Then I started watching Iron Man: Armored Adventures. The animation style interested me... and soon, the show itself interested me. After that, I became addicted to superheroes. I started reading about the original MARVEL comics, all the old superheroes. I found that I especially liked Captain America.

Lately, I've been busy catching up on the newly-released superhero films, including the Spider Man Trilogy, Captain America, Thor, and, most recently, The Avengers.

For those of you who don't know, The Avengers is about how Loki, the 'god of Mischief', invades Earth with an army of aliens known as Chitauri. Nick Fury, director of the global protection agency S.H.I.E.L.D, calls all of Earth's mightiest heroes together in order to defend the innocents from Loki's wrath. The only thing that stands between the power-crazed warlord and his goals is this rag-tag team of diverse personalities. Can they overcome their differences in time to save the world?

The Avengers has a large cast to deal with. A total of seven main characters, as well as a number of supporting characters, plus an amazing villain. As a writer, I know how difficult it is to juggle so many characters around, giving each of them the appropriate amount of time- especially when you have a limited amount of time to get your story across to the audience. However, Josh Whedon, the director of The Avengers, did a fantastic job of it. Not only does the movie devote excellent time to the characters, but he keeps the plot moving, and manages to throw in quite a bit of humor throughout the film, despite its dark nature. I truly enjoyed the movie, and hope to see more in the near future.

Negative elements are language and violence. There are no F-bombs, but the other, lesser words are used every once in a while. Loki uses a British gender insult, and there are one or two inappropriate references made.

This is a superhero movies, so you can expect quite a bit of action-adventure violence. Characters are thrown across rooms, smashed into walls, floors, and the like, buildings are destroyed, and a man's eye is removed. (This part is not shown directly, but you can see as he squirms what pain he is in.) Of all the superhero movies I've seen, this is probably the most violent.

Two characters, Thor and Loki, are referred to as 'gods', however, it is clearly shown that this term is applied simply because of their superior strength and durability. The Asgardians themselves admit that the mortals only worshiped them as gods because they misunderstood their power. Captain America confidently states that “There is only one God, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that.”

Overall, I thought the movie was great, but definitely not for children under the age of eleven. I say eleven because my parents let my eleven-year-old brother watch it, and he seems to be fine. Honestly, I think that he perceives it as a Looney-Toons kind of show. However, some parents' standards may not my the same as mine, so I leave it up to them to decide what is right for their children.

If you are a devoted superhero fan like me, this movie is a must-see. I highly suggest that you find a copy of the DVD, or Blu-ray edition, if possible, and watch it immediately. :D

If you are not a devoted superhero fan, you will probably still enjoy it, as the director made sure that it would be a fun film for everyone, not just comic book lovers.

I hope you enjoy it!

-Rayne Speryll