Smashing Entertainment, But More Character Assembly Required

The Avengers

*** out of ****

Directed by: Joss Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans

Running time: 142 minutes

The Avengers is a solid, old-fashioned piece of populist summer escapism, but not the rousing comic book extravaganza one would hope for.

Fan expectations were high, since the film’s journey to the big screen took five precursor films – two Iron Man installments, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger – and is the first film from fanboy favourite Joss Whedon since 2005’s Serenity.

The superhero team-up is not quite a smash (pun definitely intended), although it is one of the better films to emerge from the consistently average bunch of Marvel comic book adaptations.

Despite their aesthetics, comic books thrive as a medium when they externalize the interior plight or conflict within the protagonist and other significant characters.

Many comic book film adaptations simplify this internal struggle down to the bare necessities, in order to leave room for a story, the introduction of the story world and the frenetic action sequences that show off the hero’s superhuman abilities.

The best comic book and graphic novel adaptations of the last ten years – The Dark Knight, Sin City, A History of Violence – explored the damaged psyche of its characters, who were more anti-heroes than sweeping saviours. They emphasized interior action over exterior action sequences.

So, regardless of the terrific work offered by Whedon and his foolproof ensemble cast, The Avengers is unfortunately marred by a dearth of insightful character moments.

The film’s MacGuffin is an energy source called the Tesseract, which harnesses energy from space. At the opening, it opens up a portal that allows Loki (from Thor, played by Tom Hiddleston) entrance into covert espionage network S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), where scientists are experimenting with the new technology.

Loki extracts the Tesseract’s power, places it in his sceptre and uses it to gain control over others as he plans for galactic domination. The only response S.H.I.E.L.D. can muster is the one that five films have led up to: the “Avengers Initiative.”

The assembled team consists of smart-alec weapons specialist Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), tortured scientist Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), classy Russian spy Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), endearing patriot hero Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) straight shooter Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the burly God of Thunder, Thor (Chris Hemsworth).

The simple plot builds its conflict through the budding heads of our hot-tempered superheroes. Rogers’ old-fashioned idealism does not cut through Stark’s snippy ego, for instance, while the playboy billionaire also tries to tick off Banner (who you won’t like when he’s angry).

The playful banter and growing camaraderie from the characters ensure that The Avengers’ middle third is its best, smartly playing the dynamics of these pre-established parts off each other to form a stronger whole.

Less overall time is given to the backstories of Barton and Romanoff, who are the least identifiable players on this team.

Further, Ruffalo’s portrayal of Banner is a bit too casual for the usually off-kilter character, although he’s solid enough to make one forget Edward Norton and Eric Bana (both were good but in inferior Hulk variations). The special effects work going into The Hulk, meanwhile, is finally worthy of the word “incredible.”

Although writer/director Joss Whedon is best known for deconstructing genres like horror and science-fiction, he plays the story straight here. It’s an old-fashioned and wholesome action-adventure, just as Steve Rogers would like it: the story is light, the characters are larger than life and the action is filmed thrillingly.

The cast is uniformly excellent, even if their compressed individual screen time doesn’t give them as many outlets to demonstrate their acting range. While The Avengers is great entertainment, it is not an entirely resonant or emotionally cathartic film.