I’ve never seen The Avengers before.
After five character-centric films, it’s finally time we got the Avengers all together in one room. Unfortunately, when you do that, a lot of destruction happens.
That’s where we find ourselves with 2012’s “The Avengers.” The Joss Whedon-directed film teams up Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, Thor and Hawkeye to stop Loki from destroying the planet. Doing that, even for these superheroes, proves to be quite a challenge.
Here’s what I thought.
1. Alright, let’s buckle in for 2 1/2 hours of Avengers madness.
2. I know that the later films get into Tesseract madness, so it’s pretty cool that they laid down the foundation so early on.
3. There’s my favorite SHIELD agent: Agent Coulson.
4. The Tesseract randomly turned on and is misbehaving. Have you tried turning it off and on again?
5. It’s nice to see Nick Fury for more than an after-credits scene!
6. Oh wait, they did try to turn it off. That’s hilarious!
7. Hawkeye doesn’t believe in stairs. He just shimmies down ropes.
8. Thanks to that Tesseract explosion, all these people just got crazy levels of radiation thrown their way!
9. Of course bad boy Loki is up to no good.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston)
Ph: Film Frame
© 2011 MVLFFLLC. TM & © 2011 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.
10. Well, this group of agents didn’t put up much of a fight with Loki.
11. Nick Fury is like I’m outta here, peace!
12. I know it’s bad that Hawkeye and all these other people are under Loki’s spell, but you can’t deny they have really pretty blue eyes.
13. Can these cars drive ANY SLOWER now that the ground is literally collapsing??
14. We’re going to need more than just these SHIELD agents to stop Loki. Cue the Avengers!
15. Hello again, Natasha. By the looks of this Russian interrogation, you’ve seen better days.
16. Agent Coulson is on hold while Natasha kicks everyone’s ass. A scene most pleasing to me.
17. Already Mark Ruffalo seems like a better fit for Bruce Banner/Hulk than Edward Norton.
18. Yet again Steve Rogers is punching the hell out of this poor punching bag just like at the end of “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
19. You know what sounds amazing? A nap that lasts 70 years. Although I bet I’d still be tired.
20. Nice to see Iron Man made his suit waterproof.
21. Wow so many high tech upgrades with his suit/home! He doesn’t even have to take it off himself anymore.
22. All these home upgrades and Agent Coulson walks out that elevator without any problem. Legend.
23. Tony and Pepper remain top-tier couple goals!
24. I think we might need a “While You Were Sleeping” remake starring Agent Coulson and Steve Rogers/Captain America.
25. All the Avengers are meeting, how cute!!
26. Oh my, a flying boat?!
27. The $10 that Steve hands over to Nick lol
28. I’m just going to pretend that I understood every scientific word that Bruce said.
29. The most dramatic arrow opening goes to Hawkeye.
30. I’m obsessed with how obsessed Agent Coulson is with Steve Rogers. But, I mean, after seeing his body in that last movie, how could you not be?
31. THAT’S how they got an “eyeball” to open up the doors??? You couldn’t just punch someone and drag them to a security door?
32. Captain America to save the day!
33. Well, actually, he might be a little rusty with his fighting skills.
34. There’s our AC/DC lover!
35. And another lightning hero joins the chat!
36. Except he just helped Loki escape??? Huh?
37. Oh, no, the brothers are fighting! Where’s Papa Anthony Hopkins to put an end to this?
38. And now Thor and Iron Man are fighting. These men all need to go stop and focus!
39. Finally someone — Captain America — comes to break this macho fest! You guys have other fish to fry right now!
40. That’s quite an impressive cage that Loki has found himself in. But I can’t help but think he’ll be able to wiggle his way out of there somehow.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)
Ph: Film Frame
© 2011 MVLFFLLC. TM & © 2011 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.
41. This was really funny: Thor defending Loki because he’s his brother, Natasha pointing out that Loki killed 80 people in two days, Thor saying “he’s adopted.” Ha!
42. Scenes are so much better when Tony is in them. The power of Robert Downey Jr.
43. Tony is hilarious for poking and prodding Bruce to turn him into the Hulk.
44. Hmmm, where is Steve off to? He’s got a sneaky look on his face.
45. Yep, there he goes lurking around in some storage room.
46. My girl Natalie Portman/Jane on screen! Thor is still not over her and I’m sobbing again.
47. This conversation between Loki and Natasha is sooooo intense.
48. OOOOOOH SHE GOT HIM!!! Loki just played himself!
49. If you’re still reading: SHIELD wants to use the Tesseract to build weapons. Loki wants to use Bruce/the Hulk for destruction. I’m thinking about ice cream again. That’s where we’re at in the movie.
50. Everyone is yelling at each other!! Stop!!
51. Uh, guys, the scepter is glowing. Does anyone else see this?
52. There’s our dramatic arrow opener.
53. Iron Man vs Captain America is a testosterone fight to the death just waiting to happen.
54. I hope this flying boat has insurance! Thanks, Hawkeye.
55. Put on the damn suit, Tony!
56. Oh no, a compromised flying boat is the last spot we need a Hulk transformation.
57. Days since a Hulk incident: 0.
58. Loki is so pleased with himself.
59. So even after all this time the Hulk still doesn’t know how to distinguish between friend vs foe?
60. This is just a disaster for SHIELD. You’ve got the Hulk and Thor battling it out and destroying everything in sight, SHIELD agents under attack, the whole aircraft falling apart and Hawkeye being the root cause of all of this. Yikes!
61. And now Thor played himself by letting Loki trick him! I knew that trickster would wiggle his way out of that cage.
62. Even in all this chaos, Agent Coulson knows how to use “please.”
63. NOOOO!!!!! F!#$ YOU, LOKI!!!!!
64. Iron Man in the engine = hamster in a wheel.
65. I will never forgive Loki for killing off my favorite character. RIP Agent Coulson.
66. Omg Coulson’s trading cards with Captain America on them. I CAN’T HANDLE THIS!!!!
67. This old man bringing Bruce new clothes is so cute.
68. Good to have you back to normal, Hawkeye. Just don’t look at the destruction you caused along the way.
69. Loki being labeled as a “dive” is something I never expected but works perfectly.
70. Ooooooh Nick Fury totally lying to the Avengers to get them to band together. The lesson here? Lying is good!
71. New Iron Man suit, who dis?
72. And those people on the street were just going to keep standing there as Iron Man hurtled toward them??? MOVE!!!
73. More fighting between the brothers. Seriously, where is Anthony Hopkins to stop this?
74. This plane with Hawkeye, Black Widow and Captain America in it pretty much turned out to be totally worthless.
75. Every non-Avenger person watching this madness unfold is going to need soooo much therapy.
76. I actually just gasped so loudly when Loki stabbed Thor. But why did I think a tiny stab wound would kill a literal god?
77. The National Guard is not going to help you at all in this situation.
78. This police officer is really going to question orders from Captain America?
79. Yeah that’s more like it, sir.
80. Bruce showing up on his little bike: “Hey, how y’all doin’?”
81. Bruce’s secret is that he’s always angry. Same!
82. Oh yeah, cinematic group shot!
83. Hulk. Smash!
84. OK, so now Bruce somehow knows who his friends and foes are? How did that happen?
85. Natasha is such a badass. That queen got on one of those space bikes without a second thought. The boys could never!
86. Ha! Hulk punching Thor made me chuckle.
87. Yet again, a Stark property gets absolutely destroyed and I’m apparently the only one who cares.
88. Hulk just said “SHUT THE F—- UP, LOKI!” by throwing him around. Funniest scene in the movie.
89. GET THE SCEPTER!! CLOSE THE HOLE IN THE SKY!!
90. Tony Stark here to save the day once again!
91. Someone go catch Tony!
92. Yeah Hulk!!!!
93. 1. Save the day. 2. Get some shawarma.
94. Yet again, the public seems too OK about all of the things that just happened.
95. Ahhh Stan Lee sighting!!
96. Nick Fury just dropped the mic after that intense council meeting.
97. Don’t bother rebuilding your Stark building, Tony. We all know it’s just going to get destroyed in the next movie.
98. Omg the first Thanos sighting! We know where this all leads to.
99. They did get shawarma after! LOL!
Overall Thoughts on The Avengers
It’s a good thing these Avengers know how to work together because there are certainly a lot more fights that will come their way. The Avengers was fairly entertaining, mostly thanks to the last hour.
Before then, there were so many non-action scenes where these characters were talking among themselves, using big scientific words that no one understands and getting in each other’s faces. There were some funny bits of dialogue here and there, but the movie as a whole was getting a little stale.
Thankfully the action picked up with the last hour of this film and never really let up.
The CGI work was clean and impressive as those other worldly creatures invaded New York and the Avengers got to work trying to stop them. I also liked that each character got a moment to shine.
It may be cheesy, but I enjoyed seeing them all flex their strengths a bit. The story as a whole was super easy to follow and didn’t really have any big surprises, which was a shame, but not entirely unexpected. The Thanos sighting in the post-credit scenes was a good tease, however.
Overall, The Avengers is a pretty solid action film and can still pack a punch a decade later.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
NEXT: I’ve Never Seen Captain America: The First Avenger Before
About The Avengers
When Thor’s evil brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), gains access to the unlimited power of the energy cube called the Tesseract, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D., initiates a superhero recruitment effort to defeat the unprecedented threat to Earth.
Joining Fury’s “dream team” are Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
