THE AVENGERS Review

Marvel's "The Avengers" gives us much, much more of the same we've come to expect from all the Marvel movies of years past. It has basically become its own genre even outside of the superhero genre. What keeps this from becoming a clustered onslaught of big personalities all coming together into a bloated mess is the real hero of the party: writer/director Joss Whedon. He brings a fanboy enthusiasm to the massive blockbuster and gives audiences exactly what they want.

Much in the way he helped write "The Cabin in the Woods," which turned the horror genre on its head, here he does something similar. He thwarts our expectations while winking at us all the way with his tongue firmly placed in cheek. "The Avengers," believe it or not, is in many instances hilarious. The humor Whedon brings to the table is a quirky surprise and really makes the movie. The one-liners are countless with a unique self-knowing comic book brand of wit and snark. With this, Whedon very well may have given the Marvel movies their own new flavor. It's like the playful polar opposite of the wealth of emotional pathos Christopher Nolan achieves with his "Dark Knight" franchise.

With six superheros gracing the screen, it's never too much with each one getting his or her own time to shine. Remember, though, there is lots of homework before diving in. You'll have to have already seen "Thor," "Captain America" and "Iron Man 2" to get the idea of what's going on. There are the familiar faces: Chris Hemsworth as Thor from the mystical realm of Asgard swinging his mighty hammer; Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, who's a genius millionaire with an amazing suit of armor; and Chris Evans as the first avenger Captain America who was frozen over time and has recently thawed to join a new decade.

Then there are the less familiar faces -- those who either received only cameos or haven't even been introduced yet. First there's the new Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo. Simply forget Ang Lee's "Hulk" or that newer one with Edward Norton, "The Incredible Hulk," ever existed because this newest iteration from Ruffalo is the real deal. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents finish the team, including Natasha, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johannsson), and the powerful arrow-wielding Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). They  all report to the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). This is an organization whose purpose is vague -- perhaps just to protect the planet, or something.

The Avengers are assembled because of a new threat from Thor's villainous adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who controls the Tesseract, a cube of energy that can open a hole in the universe. With it, Loki plans on unleashing his horde of flying reptilian-machine monsters on Earth. The duration between the introduction of this evil plan and the Avengers actually going out to stop it is a lot within the two-and-a-half hour running time. Within this gap, though, is plenty of opportunities to watch as the six heroes banter, bicker and form camaraderie. These interactions between our Avengers is when Whedon works to surprise us. The only problem is that he goes for the heavier stuff, too, which falls flat. In between the jokes he gives his characters existential crises to chew on, but it feels like dramatic fodder for the sake of dramatic fodder. Do we honestly care about Loki's threat? Nah. We just want to watch the Hulk playfully sock Thor in the face again.

The twiddling of your thumbs becomes worth it, however, once the final climactic battle set in Manhattan gets set up. This 45-minute barrage of swift, thrilling, exuberant action and CGI is an absolute knockout. And it looks phenomenal, too. The colors are bright, the effects are big and brassy, and it's a concluding set piece that is worth the price of admission alone -- and perhaps even worth the 3D.

For all the hype and anticipation surrounding this whiz-bang superhero conglomerate, Joss Whedon delivers the goods. In a sense, this massive Marvel outing is the beginning all over again. Just when we thought this might be the big finish for Marvel, instead it acts as a kickstarter to a whole new strain of Marvel movies. And quite honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

THOR Review

"Thor" (2011)

It's almost impossible to watch "Thor" without taking into consideration its inevitable sequel as well as the inevitable Marvel collaboration that will soon be "The Avengers" movie next summer. It gives me a headache just thinking about the saturation of Marvel we've been experiencing because of it.

That being said, here we are at the next installment, "Thor," which is pretty good and self-aware enough where we can have some fun. Take for example the elusive government organization SHIELD led by actor Clark Gregg, the same organization from "Iron Man." When a hulking fire-shooting metal monster beams itself down to Earth, they even ask if this is the work of Tony Stark.

"Thor" doesn't have the "wow" factor the first "Iron Man" did, but director Kenneth Branagh does an admirable job of simply not screwing it up. It's clunky source material to work with anyway. Adapting from a character originally introduced in 1962, Thor is the hammer-wielding Norse god who lives in a realm called Asgard which resembles a gold-plated version of Viking living. The movie opens with a rather unfortunate prologue narrated by the King of Asgard (Anthony Hopkins) and is filled with mythology and special effects that'll have your eyes bugging out of your head. The gist is this: King Odin and his wife Queen Frigga (a haggard-looking Rene Russo) must choose an heir to the throne between their two sons, the hot-headed titular character Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his brother, the squirrelly Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

Thor's blood thirst for revenge takes him to a neighboring planet where the Frost Giants reside. After they breached security in Asgard, Thor goes with his posse against his father's orders to confront the Frost Giants and end the feud once and for all. Due to his reckless behavior, Thor gets banished by his father to the Earth realm where he lands in New Mexico in a swirling storm cloud. And from here the more engaging part of the movie unfolds.

The Norse god fish-out-of-water tale is the most engaging part because Branagh's sharpest tool is an apt sense of humor. Chris Hemsworth as Thor really hams it up speaking in formal King's English declaring he needs sustenance and shattering his cup on the ground when it's empty just for the sake of shattering his cup on the ground. Aussie actor Hemsworth--the blond hunk that he is with rippling muscles and a winning grin--is the perfect fit for Thor combining just the right amount of brawn and self-mockery to make his hero charismatic enough for us to care about.

Accompanying Hemsworth is Oscar winner Natalie Portman who's radiant and charming as an astrophysicist who comes across Thor--and actually hits him with her car...twice. She takes an interest in Thor because she's been studying natural phenomenon, and he was directly involved with one. If only she knew of Thor's true origins, but then comes the weird moment when all the characters on Earth go from flabbergasted and refusing to believe it into submissive acceptance. I guess what other choice did they have? The other members of her scientific team, Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings, are great and funny. There isn't much of a plot on Earth aside from Thor reclaiming his mighty hammer, but I found these sequences to have the most energetic wit and rollicking fun. Back in Asgard, it's about family coming-of-age drama and numbing action sequences in a world that is hardly fully realized. We have swooshing panning shots of the glorious Asgard but never really interact with it.

Taking into consideration Branagh's use of silliness and Hemsworth's effective performance, "Thor" works for what it is; that is, another entertaining stepping stone toward Marvel's plan to completely dominate Hollywood. And looking at this summer's line-up of movies, it looks like they're just about there.