Captain America (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On a scale from regret-paying to pay-again, I place all the prequels to Marvel’s The Avengers just so: Captain America, regret-paying; Iron Man 1 and 2, wouldn’t-pay-a-second time; and Thor, pay-again. The Hulk was far off the scale – in the no man’s land of I-refuse-to-pay. Marvel’s The Avengers requires a scale all of its own: From Walked-out through Kept-looking-at-my-watch to Swept-away. That film, the Holy Grail of the Marvel Films Crusade, falls two points past Kept-looking-at-my-watch.
The top 5 reasons for my disappointment:
- Plot holes – big, nuclear-blast size, plot holes.
- Bringing together Captain America, Ironman, Thor, The Hulk et al required an hour of exposition, making the film an hour too long.
- The limitations of 3D.
- When it was good, it was very, very good, so when it was bad, you noticed!
- Blatant jingoism.
SPOILER ALERT: Marvel movies are known for slipping a little something extra for those folk who wait out the credits. The Avengers has credits – miles and miles of credits. The little extra when it finally spooled was like being given the finger by the studio, the cast and the director. I wanted to kick myself for buying into the schtick and being had. Mea culpa!
Every Coming Attraction that preceded the film was dark and gloomy, depicting Earth’s apocalypse. The funk that elicited was perfect for the first 3 incomprehensible minutes of The Avengers. I hate 3D when it depicts gloom, it is like watching a film blind.
What did I enjoy? Because I did enjoy some of the movie. The witty banter between our superheroes and some wonderful delivery by Samuel L Jackson. There just wasn’t enough to sustain a film nearly 3 hours long.
