The Avengers has witty dialogue, slam bam action scenes, and pretty girls. And so, it’s a very fun movie to watch. But it fails in the area that so many action films fail today: Lack of suspense. Why? Because the bad guys are uninspired.
How many times do we have to watch incompetent bad guys try take over the Earth, or the universe? At what point does this formula become stale? How many times are we going to be introduced to bad guys who look menacing at first, but ultimately can’t shoot straight, have no hand-to-hand combat skills, and end up being punching bags for the heroes?
Storm Troopers, Orcs, and now the Chitauri!! Honestly, at this point, I feel more threatened by the Goonch Catfish from River Monsters.
Remember the aliens from Independence Day? They were super tough...until Will Smith decided to get saucy with them. And remember the main battle droids from Phantom Menace? (“Roger, Roger”)? Boy, they were scary, huh??
The “Chitauri” are bargain basement bad guys. I was waiting for one of them to say “Roger, Roger.” Even the superheroes without superpowers, Hawkeye and Black Widow, take them down like bull sharks taking down sea trout. An arrow here, a kick there, hey, no problem. And what about Loki and those flying dinosaur fish things? Well, once Hulk is on the scene it’s lights out. They put up no resistance to him whatsoever. As I said, zero suspense.
Hey, I understand this is a comic book movie, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an intriguing, fresh story with bad guys that have some substance to them. For example, I remember reading Hulk comics as a kid, and there were plenty of times when he was knocked around.
Anyway, are the Skrulls going to be in the next movie? If so, let’s hope Hawkeye doesn’t take them all down within the first few minutes of the film.
Criticism aside, the Avengers is an entertaining popcorn movie. It’s a fun two and a half hour diversion from reality. As long as you keep your expectations low, you’ll probably enjoy it.
2 and 1/2 stars out of 4.
P.S. Did anyone else think that the Hulk sounded like a T. Rex when he roared sometimes?
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