This past weekend, I had a movie-going experience that I would call transcendental, which rarely happens to me. The Avengers is a film I have been waiting for since the age of 9 and to say that I was nervous about it being a disappointment is an understatement. When it comes to comic book movies, even a superb creative team cannot guarantee an entertaining and involving final product that stays true to the source material while engaging a wide audience. Superman Returns immediately comes to mind, as Bryan Singer captured the X-Men mythos so well that it was a given he would do the same with The Man of Steel. He did not and hasn’t touched a classic comic book property since. Leave it to Joss Whedon to finally bring “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” to the big screen in a way that no other filmmaker could.
Since it is the month of May, I’ve had another film on my mind that was the first to capture my imagination and leave me shaken to my nerd foundations. Star Wars took me on a journey that made me forget that I was sitting in a movie theater and wishing it would never end. Of course, I was just a little kid at the time but that feeling has stayed with me ever since and has never been duplicated. The Avengers, to my utter delight and amazement, gave me a similar feeling and made me envious of all the children sitting around me. They cheered and laughed and shuddered throughout and you could tell they were riveted because the squirming and chatter that often infects small children was nowhere to be seen. (Seriously, if you can make a kid sit still for over two hours, you have performed a feat of magic that would have David Copperfield scratching his head!) And what scenes seemed to affect them the most? Well, they involved a guy who lit up the screen even when not green…
Mark Ruffalo’s performance as Bruce Banner/The Hulk is a tour de force of acting and characterization that goes above and beyond any portrayal I have ever seen. He isn’t a man attempting to contain his gamma-radiation-induced rage; he is rage personified. The character I know from the comics was right in front of me and the eventual transformation to the Green Goliath was perfect. While all of the actors in the film did excellent work in their respective roles, Ruffalo smashed my expectations, no pun intended. And while Robert Downey, Jr. is his usual, brilliant self as Tony Stark/Iron Man, I also have to give due credit to the man who provided the Norse god of mischief with a level of depth, dimension and darkness that any good villain requires.
A lesser actor would have bellowed and snarled his way through this film with all the subtlety of a runaway freight train but not Tom Hiddleston. He gives Loki a humanity that almost makes you feel sorry for him, especially during his exchange with Thor early on. In his mind, he is an outcast in his own family and his brother’s love cannot conquer the envy that burns within him. He is a tragic character, in the Shakespearean sense, and Hiddleston delivers a performance that is nuanced and powerful, in equal measure.
I have read many of the reviews and reactions to The Avengers, since seeing it, and am truly taken aback by the snarkiness of many. Some mention that the beginning is too slow or there’s not enough action or the dialogue is cheesy and I wonder if those people watched the same film I did. Did you expect each character to meet, shake hands and be off to the alien-battling races? That would be not only disappointing but also unrealistic. (If I want that, I’ll watch a Michael Bay film. Just kidding…I avoid his movies like the plague!) Anyone with an IQ higher than a banana slug had to love how this movie took its time to get going and once that fuse was lit? I am the most cynical person you could ever meet but I was swept away. Afterward, I wondered what anxious studio execs might have said in their notes to Joss Whedon after screening the film. “Hawkeye and Black Widow need to hook-up” or “That GreenHulk guy needs to show up in Act I” would be about right but I think Whedon had enough control over the project to wave those dummies in suits off and go about his business, praise to Odin!
When Star Wars was in theaters, I saw it seven times, a feat I haven’t repeated since. In fact, I haven’t even given any film a second viewing until its video release. That is all about to change. I already have plans to see The Avengers again and maybe, just maybe, a third time. Perhaps I have no reason to envy those kids I spoke of earlier. Unlike Loki, I understand that I am one of them. At times during the movie it would have taken a shoulder harness to keep me in my seat! I was clapping and gasping and cheering and my fiancé looked at me several times like I had lost my mind. (She does that a lot but this was the first time in a theater.) My abundance of body hair aside, I am still just a kid wanting to feel the joy that existed before wonder and innocence was replaced by grown-up responsibilities. Those costumed crusaders that I have loved so much on ink and paper were finally brought to life on film and for 155 minutes I was that 9-year-old boy once again. So, thank you, Joss Whedon, for getting it right and restoring my faith in movies. I sure hope it lasts…
