The Avengers (2012)

[TordelBack]

I saw Jenny.  I pointed out her out loudly to my son, who said, and I quote: "shhhhhhh!".  He's still fixated on the Yellow Ranger.  Kids!

Nice self-conducted interview from Joss on Whedonesque:

RDA: What do you feel is the greatest achievement of "the Avoiders"?

JW: Getting "mewling quim" out there to the masses. Also, Hulk.

...

RDA: What's next for Joss "finally got it right for a change" Whedon?

JW: Can we not call me that?

http://whedonesque.com/comments/28797

[James Stacey]

does this make it the first film she doesn't get her kit off in then?

[TordelBack]

She mightn't be wearing any bottoms under that desk.  In fact, I'm sure of it.

[Judo]

[spoiler]'everyone go to important places and kick serious ass. hawkeye you just go on that building and pick off strays.'
'can you help me get up there cos i cant fly or jump or anything?'
*2 mins later* 'im out of arrows'[/spoiler]

god i hate you hawkeye.

[Hoagy]

You know what? I saw her and went to myself " Ah Jenny Agutter," as if this was er expected. And this is not with the knowledge beforehand, of her being in. She's a gawdamned natural man!

[Eric Plumrose]

Hmm. I'm thinking I was probably too old for the Agutter woman to leave any real impression by the time she was . . . ah. 'On my radar', so to speak.

[Dandontdare]

I did spot the lovely Jenny, but I was convinced the guy on the screen next to her was Martin "Commander Koenig" Landau - it wasn't.

Not much to add to other reviews except to pioint another bit that made me laugh - when Cap [spoiler]is so excited to finally 'get' a movie reference[/spoiler]

This film is so good I went to see it twice, which is something I NEVER do.

[Bat King]

Went for second viewing.

Was brilliant again, funny that, didn't spot much extra detail.

Since first viewing & second my son has read something with Agent Hill (I already had...) seems lots of people don't seem to know her. In my opinion it is a good portrayal.

And I can't possibly like Robert Downey Junior's Ironman/Tony Stark more!  Well probably not till the next film.

Joss really has made a great film.  OK not Joss on his own, but you know what I mean.  He understands the source material and he understands screens big and small.

[Trout]

I finally saw this film and here is my review:

Yes. Oh yes.

Yes.

That's it.

[DeFuzzed]

I thought Black Widow was absolutely badass, so competent it blew my competency kink buttons - so there was this huge disconnect with what a lot of others were saying, that she was mere eye candy. Complete opposite to what I saw.

I mean, there's always argument over favourites, but this time round, the sheer difference between what I saw on screen and what some saw was so stark that I have been a wee bit confuzzled.

Just read this article by Ian Grey on it - http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/grey-matters-black-widow-spins-a-web-around-the-avengers  - and it's interesting stuff.

[TordelBack]

Good article there.  I'm with you and Mr. Grey here, DeFuzzed. 

Despite suffering long-term besottment with SJ, to the point of buying her music projects, I wasn't very impressed with the idea of her as Black Widow: the stills made her look like pouty posey eye-candy wedged in between the actual supes as part of a marketing execs demands.  How wrong can you be.  Loki is by far the best character in the film (again addressing the issue of villain-void that has crippled so many superhero/SF flicks), but Black Widow is a close second, with the most complete story and, as you say, truly breathtaking competence. [spoiler] It is, after all, BW (and Selvig) that actual stops the invasion, while her beefier pals are brawling and directing traffic. [/spoiler]

It's kind of worrying, if predictable, to see those kinds of reviews. 

[TordelBack]

SHITE!!  Would some generous Mod please spoiler-tag that latter part of my previous post, I was half asleep typing that and now I really don't want to spoil a film that good.

[dracula1]

I'm going to sue you by getting the spoiler police involved as I haven't seen Avengers yet!

;-)

[DeFuzzed]

Good article there.  I'm with you and Mr. Grey here, DeFuzzed. 

Despite suffering long-term besottment with SJ, to the point of buying her music projects, I wasn't very impressed with the idea of her as Black Widow: the stills made her look like pouty posey eye-candy wedged in between the actual supes as part of a marketing execs demands.  How wrong can you be.  Loki is by far the best character in the film (again addressing the issue of villain-void that has crippled so many superhero/SF flicks), but Black Widow is a close second, with the most complete story and, as you say, truly breathtaking competence.

I was the opposite on SJ, didn't like her, didn't think much of Black Widow either - came out of the movie total 180'd on both counts. I can understand fans concentrating on their faves and missing some of it, but when you miss it to the point of calling her useless eye candy? Huh. And then there was this guy calling for more racial equality in the movie and how did he suggest accomplishing that? Replace her with a black guy. Her, not another guy.

As for villains, never understood that black hole either. The villain has to be powerful and interesting, even better if their point of view could be sympathised with, make you think, but just satisfy the first two at least! Heroes always look better when they have to work for it, not to mention it's more entertaining. You would think this wasn't all that hard to understand for people in the entertainment industry.

[HdE]

I've said it elsewhere, but I think Black Widow's role in The Avengers is one of the strongest beats of the movie.

Now, I'll be up front about a couple of things:

First up, Black Widow is one of my favourite Marvel characters. I absolutely love the whole premise of her. So I went to the movie hoping she'd get some screen time to demonstrate why she's so great.

Secondly - not a fan of Scarlett Johanssen. At all. But she works as Black Widow, unbelievably well. She's always going to be a tough character to put an actress's face to - like a LOT of female superhero types, to be honest - but after this movie, I can't imagine anyone else playing the part.

What's great about her in The Avengers is that she 100% lives up to the claim that she would be in the mix, getting her hands well and truly dirty, and wasn't just there for eye candy. That part [spoiler]where she leaps off of Captain America's shield and grabs on to the passing Chitauri aircraft, and all that ensues, had me bouncing up and down with glee.[/spoiler] THIS is how you do female action heroes.

Also, she worked REALLY well alongside Hawkeye on screen.

Double thumbs up!