Friday, May 18, 2012

Why Avengers Rocked




The Avengers has been out in the U.S. for two weeks now, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The film is expected to remain number one at the box office this weekend, and has recently broken yet record -- it's now the film to make it to the $400 million domestic mark quickest. It did that in just 14 days (previous champ was The Dark Knight at 18 days). Additionally, it's now the sixth-highest worldwide grossing film ever at $1.07 billion, and has a strong 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.


So clearly, people like the first combined adventure of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and the rest. After seeing the film, everyone seems to leave the theater with a bunch of "Wasn't it awesome when…" favorite bits -- and that includes the IGN staff. So let's talk about some of favorite parts from The Avengers, and then why don't you guys chime in below with your own most memorable lines/scenes/explosions/characters/whatevers?


Beware of spoilers if for some unfathomable reason you haven't seen the film yet!






Jim Vejvoda: The thing that rocked most about Avengers is that it simply worked at all. Everyone had a moment or two to shine, a standout line or fight, and the dynamic between all these disparate personalities was spot-on. The global scale of the threat, the final battle, all of the climactic elements that many felt were missing in the Marvel films leading up to this was addressed here to glorious effect.












Scott Collura: As Jim said above, every character gets their moment to shine, and the dynamic between them all is just perfect. A few of my favorite interactions:


Cap to Black Widow, about Thor and Loki: “There’s only one God, ma’am. And I don’t think he dresses like that.”


Iron Man to Thor: "Shakespeare in the Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"


Tony Stark to Pepper Potts: "Phil? His first name is Agent."


Bruce Banner to Tony Stark: "Are you saying that the other guy saved my life?"


Black Widow to Loki, abruptly dropping her facade: "Banner... that's your play."


Agent Coulson to Loki: "You lack conviction."


Cap to Hulk: "And Hulk… smash!"












Max Nicholson: Teamwork! There’s a particular shot during the Manhattan finale when we see all the Avengers sweeping through the city streets as they tag-team the Chitauri in one seemingly “single take.” (Blink and you’ll miss it, but there’s even one part where Iron Man fires his repulsor at Cap’s shield and it deflects into an alien soldier.) All stitched together, it’s perhaps one of the most technically impressive shots in the entire flick. Plus, it all builds up to the subsequent shot which provides the fan-favorite “Hulk punches Thor” moment.


And of course, there is perhaps no better example of “Whedonesque” than the final, final tag of The Avengers. It’s simple, sweet and downright hilarious. If you still haven’t stuck around until after the credits, do yourself a favor next time and kick back for a few more minutes. You won’t be disappointed. (And to think, this almost didn’t make the final cut!)












R.L. Shaffer: Shawarma. It's what the Avengers needed, and it's what we needed -- the icing on an already very tasty cake. Who would have thought such a quick last minute shoot, done after the film's premiere, would have such an impact... but it has. Shawarma sales have shot through the roof. Fans across the entire planet are discovering the tasty Mediterranean dish. If only Marvel could sell it in stores, they'd make billions. I even found myself firing up the grill to cook up some shawarma after seeing the movie. But beyond that, the scene was just a wonderful little moment, a quick glimpse of superheroes in their downtime, which is something we don't often see. And I thank Joss Whedon for providing the tastiest post-credit cookie of them all.












Jesse Schedeen: I was extremely excited to see the Thanos reveal during the mid-credits sequence. It wasn't necessarily a huge surprise to learn he was the villain pulling the strings given the character's usual motivations and penchant for sitting on floating space rocks. But it did cement the idea that Marvel isn't afraid to go full-on cosmic with these movies and celebrate the more fantastical characters in their lineup. Telling Thanos that to battle the Avengers is “to court death” is practically like handing the villain a hand-written invitation to crush the planet between his giant, purple fingers. I'm eagerly waiting to see how he responds in the sequel, and hoping that we'll see more of Marvel's cosmic characters in the interim.












Dan Iverson: If I had to pick just one single moment of the movie which I considered to be better than the rest I would have to say Bruce Banner joining the final fight in Manhattan. Sure, "Puny God" was shocking and one of the very best moments in comic-book movie history, but Banner stating that he's "always angry" and then taking the armored leviathan out of the sky with ease had the character come off as the most interesting and fun to watch in the film. Plus, this bit of mayhem confirmed that there is still a future for Hulk in cinema... we just want to watch more of Hulk smashing indescribably large targets.












Matt Fowler: In accordance with the brand new natural order of the universe, there is no other discernible time other than "time to watch The Avengers."






Right. Now go see Avengers. Again.




Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/why-avengers-rocked

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