The Avengers have assembled!

MARVEL Comics - The Avengers

A month ago, my husband and I went for a short trip to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and have decided to watch a movie - The Avengers in 3D. I wouldn't consider myself as a huge fan of The Avengers although I have seen Iron Man 2 on cable channel a year ago. I am more of an X-Men fanatic, being able to follow religiously the cartoon TV series in the early 90's which they stopped airing for unknown reasons, and so I have no idea what the storyline would be. This movie was shown (worldwide I guess) a month before our holiday trip. I have read the reviews and have seen the trailers online and I got curious so I was the one who insisted we watch the film although not intentionally on 3D. The film was a huge hit in the Philippines. I'm pretty sure it topped every box office in every part of the globe as well.

Some facts that I have learned about The Avengers - both movie and the comics:
* Edward Norton was supposed to reprise his role as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. There were some problems with negotiations and so on so he was replaced by Mark Ruffalo. - I was taken aback at casting him not because he isn't fit for the part but because I've always watched him in Romcom films like 13 going 30 and Just Like Heaven.

* There were a number of other Avengers who were not included due to legal (copyright) issues. Marvel is hoping to get the rights to the licensed properties in the future. - Hopefully they would as I have learned that there are X-Men characters who joined the Avengers in the comics.

* To prepare for his role as Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner was trained by Olympic archers. - How cool is that? It paid off eventually and he played the part very well too.

* Dr Selvig refers to Clint Barton as the Hawk. In the comics, Clint Barton's superhero alias is Hawkeye. - Probably more fitting to call him Hawkeye than Hawk in my opinion.

(source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/)

The Avengers movie has made everyone, comic book fan or not, ecstatic when they released the teaser trailer of the film which is what it did to me. They are a little bit different from the X-Men because their powers didn't come from their genes (in short they didn't have powers when they were born) hence why the X-Men are called mutants, their genes were a product of mutation. And some of the members of the Avengers - Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury are ordinary people who have been trained well in combat. What I loved about this film is that they started off as being "recruited" in a way that they don't know why they had to be working together. This was the bulk of the first 30-45 minutes of the film I guess. Although I must say it was a bit of the boring part to wait for the action scenes to come up. I did understand that this helps introduce the members of the team to the viewers one by one. I admire the scriptwriter for that. Also, the costumes were not tacky looking (or costume-y) as they were "modernized" to fit the 21st century. Take Hawkeye for example, his "suit" in the film is plain all black and his bow and arrow are "high-tech" as compared to his comic book outfit. Another praise goes to the creative group who did the Hulk. They actually used the actor (Mark Ruffalo) to portray the Hulk in virtual-camera motion-capture not as CGI so the Hulk is actually him. The whole movie would be too serious if not for the comedy punchlines of Iron Man/Tony Stark. I like how Robert Downey Jr. portrayed Iron Man as a funny guy. I think he was the one who left a striking mark on me among all the characters and the actors.

Speaking of actors, Chris Evans as Capt. America was okay although I can still remember him as the Human Torch in the two previous Fantastic Four franchise. I was wondering who will play that part now he is Captain America? Scarlett Johansson's portrayal of Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff was flawless. She spoke as if she is actually a German spy! Good job girl! I'm starting to like Jeremy Renner. Although his name is not that familiar to me, he did play the part very well. Robert Downey Jr., he already IS Iron Man. I don't think I'd be able to think of anyone who could play that part better than him. Chris Hemsworth reinvented Thor. He looks exactly like him. I can still picture out the cartoon series way back in the late 80's I think or early 90's and it does look like him in the flesh. Last but definitely not the least was Mark Ruffalo who gave me mixed feelings whether he can "be" the Hulk or he'd be an epic fail. Good job he gave a different take on Bruce Banner. A lot of actors have portrayed this comic book character and sadly none of them measured up to the actual person in the comics (in my opinion). I almost forgot, Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. I am not familiar with this comic book character but I can tell from how Mr Jackson played this bit, he is awesome. He acted as if he is just in the same age range with the other Avengers. They couldn't have chosen anyone better than him. I am hoping the next sequel to the Avengers would surpass the first one and I'm hoping to see Wolverine (Hugh Jackman please!) and Spiderman (Tobey Maguire perhaps?) and other villains as well.

IMHO, this movie is best watched on the big screen (not to mention in 3D too!). The special effects are great. The story makes perfect sense in introducing everyone before the big battle scene although my husband was a bit bored in the first part because he said there was not a lot of action going on.  Choosing the actors for their roles were superb. I am definitely watching the next one. Over all, I'd give this movie a 9/10.