Marvel’s Avengers lives up to the hype, and then some.

· by · in movie reviews/opinions, Television & Cinema. ·

This past weekend my family and I joined millions of other families the world over in the viewing of the long awaited (and ballyhooed) Marvel‘s “ The Avengers” movie and I must say it was well worth the wait. The Avengers gets a lot of things right and in my opinion, lays the ground work for the legitimatizing of other key 80’s and 90’s toy and comic franchises as well as videogames, books and other forms of media.

When I was kid back in the 80’s it was a very big deal when “Masters of the Universe” starring Dolph Lundgren came out. Here’s a sample in case you are wondering

I could not believe that someone was making a serious effort to bring someone like He-Man–one of my favorite franchises as a kid–to the big screen. The “Avengers” is like a justification for all those times I wanted to see movies based off my childhood favorites, but never saw it come to fruition.

For years on end comic book, videogame and famous cartoon characters from my youth got halfhearted attempts at movie and television stardom, but they were doomed to fail from the get go. For a while now we’ve been getting solid comic book based movies, noticeably the Batman films and a slew of other Marvel films including the “Spiderman” series, “Thor” and “Captain America,” let alone all the “X-Men” films. The “Avengers” takes it to another level though. Every aspect of this movie is fan service but it is done in a way that is mostly subtle and never blatant to the point of stupidity. For example, there is an action scene (one of a trillion in the film) where everything is going nuts, Capt. America is holding down a once crowded New York street against an onslaught of oncoming foes when out of no where, Iron-Man swoops in, lands in a fighting stance and starts blasting photon beams out of his hands. You may be thinking, “yeah, so what?” but it is the way that he did it that counted; the subtleties in his animations. The way he stood there was the same stance he takes in Marvel vs. Capcom–it’s a fighting genre videogame for those uninitiated–right when he pulls out his photon cannon to perform one of his specials. Not only that but it just looked like a scene straight out of an “Avengers” comic. Enemies diving in and out trying to take down our battle hardened heroes, laser blasts flying, Cap bashing people with his shield…it was eye meltingly epic and I didn’t want it to end. It is a long movie (about 2 and half hours) but it goes by so fast you can’t tell.

There are other things like that as well, like the humor. Hulk and Loki have an exchange that had me crying I laughed so hard and that’s all I’m going to say. The second secret ending (don’t worry, no spoilers here) is something you would totally see at the end of a Marvel comic and to me, it was a nod to the old-schoolers out there that the people interpreting these beloved franchises “get us.” Between the “Dark Knight” movies and the recent batch of Marvel films, other super heroes film projects are really going to have to step it up to compete. Marvel is playing for keeps and they aim to bring the fans what they want.

This brings me to my next point, videogames. If I were Microsoft, I would get a big budget Halo film out as quickly as possible. Imagine the implications if a Halo movie paved the way for high quality, game based movies? There are some that are good, I really liked “Silent Hill” and most of the “Resident Evil” films are decent. However, there isn’t anything like the “Avengers” big budget good and that is what needs to happen next. Once studios see just what kind of money can be made from quality productions, the floodgates could be opened.

I for one don’t want anymore “Double Dragons.”

Even if you are not a comic book fan, you should go see the “Avengers.” Besides being an excellent action film and a special effects showcase, this film is loaded with good messages for kids and adults alike dealing with sacrifice, friendship and a host of other human interactions that we have all struggle(d) with. It also clearly shows that there are valuable properties in nerd-dom that should and need to be explored. People who like comics tend to like games, sci-fi, fantasy and the like and we are very loyal. If you build it–and you build it right–, we will come…and we’ll bring our friends. The “Avengers” is well worth every penny, I cannot tell you what a thrill it was to share something like that with my son. As long as they keep going in this direction, they’ll have a customer for life.