Spotlight #08/09- Marvel's the Avengers/ AoU Official Trailer

I would have been posting something a bit more related to Hallowe'en today, but the first official teaser for the second "Avengers" movie was released last night. May I just be the first to say...
HOLY $&(#@^)%&*$#()^&($)@#&^%($*#@)&%^(^$&#(*@) AND MEATLOAF, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!
But I digress. In recognition of this event, I decided it was high time that I posted my review of the first "Avengers" movie, also called "Avengers Assemble" in Europe. It came out two years ago, when Th'Den Wheja started to become a little more well-circulated than the average ten views a month, and I hadn't started my weekly spotlights yet. If there's any better time to review the movie that changed superhero films forever, it's now.
By now, it's become the third highest-grossing film of all time, falling only under "Titanic" and "Avatar". If, by a random stroke of luck, my audience is comprised of the only twelve people on the planet who haven't heard of it, I'm sorry, and here's a recap. Following the events of "Thor", the Norse god of mischief Loki (Tom Hiddleston) arrives on Earth to harness the power of the most powerful artifact in the universe: the Tesseract. To stop him, and most likely an entire alien fleet from destroying the planet, Government agency S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Engagement, and Logistics Division) turns to the only six people who can do anything about it- Tony Stark, a.k.a Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.); Bruce Banner/ the Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton); Steve "Captain America" Rogers (Chris Evans); Norse god of thunder Thor (Chris Hemsworth); and two of their own agents, Black Widow (Scarlet Johannson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Throw in a few more Oscar-nominees like Samuel L. Jackson and you've got yourself a movie.
Now, right off the bat, you can tell director Joss Whedon has a borderline masterpiece on his hands. The movie is extremely character-driven, so it's a good thing everyone here does their job remarkably well. Even so, I wasn't prepared for how much chemistry there would be between all of the characters. The dialogue flows seamlessly, without any awkward lines or forced emotion. Every character gets their fair share of glory, especially Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. You could argue that it sacrifices a few major plot details for this, but even a full two years after you see the movie, you'll be quoting the pristine, often outright hilarious, dialogue.
You could also reenact the fantastic action scenes if you really want to. All of these heroes have faced their own movies with their own villain with varying levels of success. For the most part, they were really fun, but there's some special childish joy in seeing them on the same screen. The producers even managed to find a way to incorporate each of their powers to build the action and really make you think (Thor charging Iron Man's armor to 400% capacity, or Cap reflecting Tony's weapons come immediately to mind, and it's awesome.). Even so, it gets mind-bogglingly intense in the third act and final battle. Sure, the climax is a good forty-five minutes long, but I never once felt bored. It was depressing at first to hear that they were reaching for "a Transformers 3 level of ZOMG awesomeness", but it was impressive to see what that can do in hands that aren't Micheal Bay's.
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Eh, what the heck, we might as well talk about visual style on an Art blog. You'd think that all of these different characters from all these different backgrounds mixed in with the grey suits of a government agency would clash in some way. I can't say this enough, though; this movie defied all expectations. They put their budget of $220 million in all of the right places. Every frame is expertly crafted in terms of cinematography, pace, and blending. No goofy puppets or plastic computer graphics here- everything is taken care of in an immense amount of detail.
There really isn't much more to be said about this movie. It's a blast to see so many of these superheroes in the same room, and all these actors performing them so perfectly. If not THE flawless movie, it's pretty close. I'm going to say that everyone reading this has bought it on blu-ray already, but if not, go buy it now. Catch up with it and all the other Marvel movies. Before the next one comes out, I'm going to have to say something about it, and I might as well do it right now and say...

And now, for your enjoyment, here's the Official Trailer for the sequel and Tie-up for Phase Two- Marvel's "the Avengers: Age of Ultron

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