Avengers

[snick_backup]

So, only a few weeks behind the whole rest of the internet, I saw the Avengers.

Things That Are Clearly The Best:
* Natasha Romonov
* Robert Downey Jr.
* Samuel R. Jackson
* this incarnation of Bruce Banner
* the giant segmented worm things (flying biomechanical monsters ftw!)
* Enver!!! (There may have been flailing. I'd heard he had a bit part, but I forgot.)

Other observations:
* Captain America is very nicely shaped
* Why only one woman, Avengers?
* Thor would like to be Eomer, but he isn't cool enough. He's the shiny Halloween costume version of Eomer.

Edit: and two more observations I thought of later:
* I can kind of see why the fandom for this movie exploded the way it has: so many delightful people having such excellent chemistry with each other.
* And Joss Whedon finally hits the big time. Good on him.

Plotwise, I thought this was an unsurprisingly stupid movie. I generally couldn't figure out why people did the things they did, in terms of either tactics or strategy. But then, the plots in these things never make all that much sense. Nor was I impressed with the big explosions or the big music.

However, I went because I was promised character moments, and I did indeed enjoy those very much. I would happily watch half a movie of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner in a lab ragging each other and geeking out, with Steve Rogers, earnest and culturally obtuse, standing around as foil. And Scarlett Johansson was epic.

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

Comments

[mollyamory.livejournal.com]

I REALLY enjoyed Natasha too, and like you I could watch Bruce and Tony dance around each other pretty much forever, with or without Steve in attendance. =D I think I enjoyed it more overall than you did - but when it comes to superheroes and things blowing up and, well, anything at all with Tony Stark in it, my standards are suspect. <3

[snickfic]

Yeah, I think I've pretty much grown past this genre; 'splody things and spandex aren't doing much for me anymore. I wouldn't have seen this at all, at least not in theaters, but the Internet insisted. And hey, at least now I will have lots of fic to read.

[jacyevans.livejournal.com]

I looooved this movie. LOOOVE. I need a movie devoted solely to Natasha Romanov, like, yesterday.

[snickfic]

You said it. There were many best parts in this movie, but she was one of the best best parts.

[lettered.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had that exact same Thor-->Eomer thought just the other day. Well, it was in particular movie!Eomer. In fact, Urban became Thor so solidly in my mind for a while that I had trouble picturing Hemsworth!Thor, and then was disappointed when I was able to do it. It's not necessarily anything about the actors, but it might be; Thor lacks a gravitas he should have.

I thought Samuel L Jackson was awful, frankly. He's a badass when he gets to just play Samuel L, but imo he did not seem to be able to pull off Whedon's lines. This is a shame because I really like the idea of Fury.

Agree about plots and explosions. Didn't notice music, which is a plus. I would definitely prefer to watch Tony/Bruce forever with Steve Rogers forever especially with all of the Natasha with Bruce, forever.

I really do hope we get a Black Widow movie out of this. Especially one that doesn't suck; I thought SJ and the Natasha character in Ironman 2 were horrible and I was not in the least interested in seeing more. But hey that was how I felt about all of Ironman 2.

[snickfic]

Oh yes, I was definitely thinking of movie!Eomer. Thor is just so shiny. I don't believe him.

Didn't notice music, which is a plus. I would definitely prefer to watch Tony/Bruce forever with Steve Rogers forever especially with all of the Natasha with Bruce, forever.

Yup yup. And now I can go read your fic! I gotta say, about 80% of my motivation for seeing this movie was that I could go read all my friends' fic afterwards.

[lettered.livejournal.com]

I must say that it's nice to actually feel fannish about something that fandom has gone crazy for. My interests and fandom zeigeists rarely seem to coincide. Happy fic reading!

[downjune.livejournal.com]

I think the reason I loved Avengers so much was because it actually was a character-drive action movie. Natasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce, and Steve all had me wrapped around their fingers. Natasha especially was so awesome... and then reviewers were so blind as to say she was just the babe in leather and had nothing to do! Hello, were we watching the same movie?

Thor, though. I much prefer Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk. He's too Ken doll as Thor.

[snickfic]

I'm not sure I would argue that the plot was character-driven, but again, I wasn't sure why we were doing what we were doing most of the time. But definitely most of the individual moments were dependent on the characters, and yes, I appreciated that very much. Especially when we have so many fun characters with such charisma (and also Thor).

I find your Ken doll comment amusing, since Chris Evans as Steve Rogers is like the epitome of Ken doll. He makes it work for him, though; there's no room for that shininess in Thor.

It doesn't help that I find the whole Thor/Loki/Asgard 'mythology' silly in the extreme.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

We like all the same things! Yay! (ENVER!)

Thor would like to be Eomer, but he isn't cool enough. He's the shiny Halloween costume version of Eomer.

I can see why you'd think this. Have you seen the Thor movie, though? He's actually HILARIOUS.

Superhero movies always have stupid plots. I've learned to just go with it.

I would happily watch half a movie of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner in a lab ragging each other and geeking out, with Steve Rogers, earnest and culturally obtuse, standing around as foil. And Scarlett Johansson was epic.


DO WANT.

[snickfic]

I tried to watch the Thor movie and was overcome by the utter stupidity of Asgard. It was the stupidest faux-fantasy world I'd ever seen. By the time we got to earth, I just didn't care anymore, and I gave up.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I understand. The world-building is epically awful, it really is. Thor is very lovable once on earth, though--culture clash in a really delightful way. But you probably did the right thing turning it off.