Tuesday, October 11, 2011

'Avengers' will be a fanboy's dream come true


Normally I don't talk about trailers here, but I have to take a moment to talk about this first look at The Avengers because of what this movie represents to me. Up until this point, the notion of a live-action Avengers movie - with legitimate, well-known movie stars, a reputable director (if not a Spielberg-level superstar) and a big budget - was still something of an abstract concept to me. Intellectually, I knew it was happening, but a part of me still didn't believe it was real. I'm not the type to pore over details of every aspect of movies like this.

This was the sort of thing I dreamed of as a kid as I read my Avengers comic books (most of which I still have). It's a similar feeling to when the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies dropped a decade or so ago. Because I grew up reading Marvel Comics, these characters meant a lot to me, so of course seeing them on the big screen was exciting. This, though, is a little different. From its inception, Avengers was a book that united successful characters from other comics under one banner, like Justice League over at DC. It was comparable to an All-Star baseball team, and from a reader's perspective, that kind of dynamic is different from a team book featuring new characters. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor - on their own they're terrific, but together... they're something greater.

That's why it's so remarkable that Marvel Studios has arranged this movie the way they have - creating individual solo movies featuring these heroes and then bringing them together in one big movie. Imagine if The Dirty Dozen or The Magnificent Seven had solo movies featuring their star characters and then brought them together. That's what this is like - though it remains to be seen if Avengers will stack up to those classic team movies.

Of course, there are things about this movie that I could still nitpick about, but the bottom line is that it's real and it's happening, and next summer can't come fast enough. Of course, whether we'll be able to see it in 3D is another story...

So how do you feel about the trailer?

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Avengers
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6 comments:

  1. Honestly I found it pretty lackluster.

    For the fans who grew up on Marvel, the wet dream aspect will blind them to the fact that trailer looks like a film that is actually weaker than Iron Man, Thor and Captain America combined.

    I know this is just a trailer, but actually look at the trailers for those three films and the trailer for this and it doesn't feel like a combined forces.

    The biggest glaring issue I have more than anything is the cinematography. Seamus McGarvey has proven to be an okay DP, but he is just all types of wrong The Avengers! Although four of the guys I think would've filmed this right were busy on stuff like World War Z, Hugo, Battleship, Cowboys & Aliens and Girl With The Dragon Tattoo while this was being filmed... so I don't know.

    Maybe it's all Zak Penn's fault. This movie just seems too much like a comedy with action instead of a Superhero movie. Better than Green Lantern with it's first trailer, but not by much.

    I want to be proven wrong, but these first trailers tend to be on the mark and my gut instinct seems to be very right, at least to my final assessment.

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  2. It's only a teaser but so far, it has raised my level of excitement for the movie which is all you can expect at this point. To be honest, I have grown a bit tired of all the Marvel's movies which have ranged from mediocre to blandly competent. I certainly hope The Avengers is more than the sum of the parts.

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  3. I know I was going to skip all promotional stuff for this film, BUT THIS TRAILER WAS JUST F-ING AHMAZING!! I need to see this…so much.

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  4. I think it looks more or less the way one would expect an Avengers movie to look.

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  5. I thought overall it's just ok, it's kinda like Iron 3 with friends, ahah, but hey Tony Stark is the most charismatic of the bunch and RDJ is obviously the biggest star. I'm anticipating this as well, let's hope Whedon delivers!

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  6. I wonder how Chris Evans' Captain America will become the inspiring team leader we expect him to be, especially since, as you say, RDJ casts a bigger shadow as an actor and as the character Iron Man.

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