Thoughts On: The Avengers

In the closing moments of The Avengers, Samuel L. Jackson, clothed in eye patch and black trench coat as the ridiculously named Nick Fury, stands in front of a panel of video screens with imposing faceless hand-wringing decision makers. One of them asks, "Was that the point of all this? A statement?", Fury corrects him, "A promise."

The council's question echoes the thoughts of the audience, who having endured the visual effects equivalent of blunt force trauma, is left wondering what the takeaway from this film is. The response "A promise" feels hollow, hackneyed even. Within the framework of the plot it implies that whenever the world is in peril, The Avengers will be there, to the audience it is a pact that sequels will follow, but the purpose of this film, or of its inevitable sequel is left unclear. Perhaps the question should have never been asked, because all I can think of as the appropriate response is, "We like money."

The Avengers is a super-hero team-up movie. Super-powered and super-skilled heroes The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow trade screen time and blows in an effort to find their identity as a team. The characters themselves however don't get the time or room to be very interesting. Their internal conflicts are simplified and become simple beats meant to serve the greater machinery of the team. And it is the team that is the real character of the film, first formless, then rag-tag, and by the film's climax coming into its own, full of power and identity. But team's consist of people, and people are where the real drama always lies. And as the audience probes one layer down past the team-as-character to discover its individual components, we are left wanting. A good sports team movie builds up the team-as-character by starting with the individuals, each player's internal struggles and victories enmeshed into the team as a whole. But aside from The Hulk, whose subplot sees him learn to control the ferocity of "the other guy", there's no real sense of character development going on here. At the film's conclusion each character goes their separate way, and aside from Dr. Banner (aka The Hulk), it would seem it is back to "business-as-usual".  And The Hulk's conquering of his inner demon is neither explained nor particularly interesting. So we have a film where a bunch of heroes get together, learn how to be a team in time to save the world, and one of them figures out how to control his powers. What was the point of all this?

Much of the film takes place aboard international security organization S.H.I.E.L.D.'s preposterous flying aircraft carrier, whose exterior impresses with its scale and detail, but whose interior feels clinical, uninspired, and by-the-numbers. That such criticism could equally be leveled at the film as a whole is unfortunate, but should come as no surprise to followers of the Marvel films leading up to this one. Without strong characters, we are left without strong motivation, and must settle for enjoying a handful of moments that alternate between fan-service (nods to prior films and the comics) and crowd-service (explosions and downtown destruction). With so many special effects, many of them are bound to fall flat, but on the whole the film puts on a good display that manages to just about strike a balance between realism and comic book absurdity.

My disappointment with The Avengers is not because I wanted it to be a film that it wasn't, but because even as a comic book movie it felt lacking compared to predecessors in the genre. In Ang Lee's The Hulk there was memorable cinematography combined with editing in an attempt to capture the visual essence of turning pages in a comic come to life. Blade II in its best moments managed a kinetic energy and sense of fun that came awfully close to the heart of why superhero comics can be enjoyable to read, Hellboy took ridiculous characters and made them feel relatable by saddling them with very human problems and foibles, and The Incredibles, easily the best superhero team-up movie to date, seamlessly combined campy fun with humor, spectacle, and human drama in a way that The Avengers could certainly learn from.

Perhaps my expectations were lifted by the fact that director Joss Whedon's run writing Astonishing X-Men issues #1 - #24 did an excellent job of developing a team from a cast of characters that I grew to care about, so much so that I followed them through the implausible plot. But Whedon developed those characters over several issues, and he seems to have been unable to use the compressed storytelling nature of film to the same effect. And he left the story hanging in X-Men, while in The Avengers he doesn't deliver the kind of emotional closure that an ensemble character film requires.

References:

The Avengers. (2012) Directed by Joss Whedon [Film]. Burbank, Calif.: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The Hulk. (2003) Directed by Ang Lee [Film]. Universal City, Calif.: Universal Pictures.

Blade II. (2002) Directed by Guillermo del Toro [Film]. Burbank, Calif.: New Line Cinema.

Hellboy. (2004) Directed by Guillermo del Toro [Film]. Culver City, Calif.: Columbia Pictures.

The Incredibles. (2004) Directed by Brad Bird [Film]. Burbank, Calif.: Buena Vista Pictures.

Astonishing X-Men #1-24. (2004-2008) Written by Joss Whedon, Art by John Cassaday [Comic]. Marvel Comics.