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Shawn Robbins

May 4, 2012 Weekend (AVENGERS Opening Discussion): ACTUAL 207.4 mill!!!!

By Shawn Robbins, in Numbers and Data

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ZattMurdock Global Phenomenon

ZattMurdock

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What the first 10 minutes sucked, thats when

Loki attacks the base and the base implodes. HOW DID THAT SUCK?

Typical action sequence to me, plus the Skeletor-type guy and Loki just don't interest me. I prefer my superheroes and villains to be humans from this planet. The fact that the movie starts off with a bunch of shit in outer space is an immediate way to get me checking my watch. Having said that, I did enjoy Hiddleston's acting in this movie even though the Thor/Loki story itself is not my cup of tea. What saved this movie is RDJ, Hulk, Ruffalo, Evans, and Whedon's dialogue/humor.

Action does not necessarily make a beginning good. I thought the whole

start in space with Mr. random Evil Dude wasn't a great choice and the ensuing fight at SHIELD was fine but nothing special. Almost by definition you're going to have a movie that moves in fits and starts while it gets all the characters together; I actually thought Whedon did a good job with the pace as he introduced everyone, but once they got to the ship it started bogging down. We really don't need so much exposition or scenes comprised of people explaining what needs to happen or what they're going to do. I thought at times it got perilously close to Phantom Menace-style council scenes (though fortunately it never got that bad). But pacing-wise it was definitely clunky in areas; even when things became dire --Loki escapes the ship -- you never felt the urgency.

Hey this is my first post around these parts, I've been lurking the boards for quite some time now, I just want to chime in and say that I'm beyond excited for The Avengers doing this kind of numbers at the box office, it's a movie that's really deserving all the accolades, cash, critical and public acclaim that it's getting, I've been waiting my whole life to see all these characters on the big screen and it's finally here.It's late, but after watching this movie 4th times here in Brazil and seeing the crow going wild each and every time, I think I've finally seen this movie enough to say that The Avengers is not only my favorite superhero movie, but my favorite movie of all time, right there with Star Wars IV and V, Fight Club, The Shining and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I know it's a bold statement, but I don't think I've ever watched a so called blockbuster movie as good as this one. It's epic in every sense of the word, from beginning to the end, but I'll write more about this later.What made me create this account was to share some thoughts on the posts of redfirebird2008 and Telemachos about the opening of the movie.

You can't see the opening sequence without seeing the movie as a whole. At first I also found a weird choice, how it starts at the space with an unseen benefactor granting Loki a staff with a eeringly familiar staff with a blue stone attached and an army of aliens, in exchange for the Tesseract (Cosmic Cube). At first, I also thought of that scene as a generic scene, I'll give you that.But then we're not seeing the big picture and how that plays out through all the movie. Loki is an asgardian god. A petulant and mischievous god, quite beautifully introduced in the Thor movie, and someone very powerful is acting as his benefactor and we never get to see who this is throughout the movie, but we do see that even if Loki will never admit it, he's in fact afraid of him. We are not talking about a 'Skeletor' tyle of villain, we are talking about arguably Marvel's greatest villain of all time, Thanos. And that's only revealed at the mid-credits scene. Is that a set up for even yet another movie or a series? Well, yes, but that's what makes Marvel Movieverse such exciting. The average joe at the movie theater may not know who the hell this "big bad" is, but if Marvel keep playing their cards right, the opening and ending sequences will become even more meaningfuk in the big picture.When you come to think about it, it's as much as a set up as the Joker card was in the end of Batman Begins, very much like redfirebird2008 my favorite Batman movie, tied with the Mask of the Phantasm. It's a set up but with epic cosmic proportions, fitting to the Movieverse that Marvel is building, one that certainly provoked several WTF moments at the theaters, but I can guarantee Marvel won't take it for granted. I see the opening sequence and ending mid-credits as huge nods to the hardcore fanboys, the ones that are the reason these sort of movies are coming out in the first place, and that's why I see them as so rewarding. Unlike Nolan, Whedon and Marvel embrace the comic book roots of these characters and stories, and that's something that I avidly want to see happening with Batman and all the DC characters. Can you imagine, redfirebird2008, a new Batman trilogy with Batman clearly still grounded in reality, a dark and broody Batman but with a Gotham City that feels like Gotham and with the character embracing his comic book roots, inspired heavily in the Batman TAS and the Arkham Asylum games, written or ar least supervisioned bu Paul Dini and Bruce Timm? A Batman fully integrated within a DC Movieverse, hat's the kind of possibilities that The Avengers and all the Marvel films so far have proved that can be very successful and entertaining. That's something I'm eagerly waiting to see,and with The Avengers success, that's more close to the realm of possibility than ever.

As some poster on the SHH boards have said, with The Avengers, the ceiling is gone. MARVEL or DISNEY tried to talk Whedon out of his big finale if people remember correctly saying it couldn't be done and the budget wouldn't allow it. Guess what? He did it. He proved them wrong. And that speaks volumes.

The world council saying it can't be done and Fury standing for what he believes in. THAT is what Whedon did, now the world council knows - now the world knows - and that is why it's dangerous. From here on out they need to keep on going up, they can't go back - Whedon's changed things for good. And THAT right there is one of the reasons why the game changed. It may not look it from general audience perspective, but "that's too much" I'm seeing as becoming largely a thing of the past. As said, I bow down before Whedon for sticking to his guns and saying "this is my finale - it can be done - and I'm going to show you it can be done."

Nothing more is impossible, and we will see the effects of The Avengers success not only from new attempts of bringing suoerheroes to life from Warner, this is just the beginning. If Star Wars was the first blockbuster and created what can be seen as the first blockbuster movieverse, Marvel and Whedon are redefining what a blockbuster is, reminding us how brilliant they can be and proving to Hollywood that it is possible, that a movieverse with endless stories and sequences we've only seen at comic book sagas are not only achievable but profitable. Doing all that with a director with a profound love and understanding of what makes these characters and stories tick is what sealed the deal.There's nothing in history lf cinema quite like The Avengers and what Marvel has achieved wih their Movieverse. And I can only dream that Marvel will be able to keep the quality of their movies this high and that the other studios will follow suit.

Edited by iJackSparrow
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Ball Lightning Box Office Gold

Ball Lightning

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One of the best films of all time? It's a film that has barely any character development!

Its one of my most enjoyable films of all time, if not the most. (very different to the most emotional, that would have to be DH2). And definitely not the 'best' film, artistically or technically, but it was one of the films I enjoyed the most.Just all depends on what you think a 'best' film is :)
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ZattMurdock Global Phenomenon

ZattMurdock

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One of the best films of all time? It's a film that has barely any character development!

There's the illusion of "character development" - TDK - and then there's character development in blockbusters. Having a serious tone doesn't make for more character development than Luke's realization he is a Jedi, for an example, or

Tony proving Steve wrong about him being a true hero, or even the sutil way that Thor even after being stabbed smiles to his brother while taking him in custody to Asgard

. There is a lot of character development and there're a hell lot of nuances throughout the whole movie, you won't perceive it if you're not paying attention or you just don't want to see it for your personal preferences. But the character development is there, if you want to see.

Edited by iJackSparrow
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ddddeeee Global Phenomenon

ddddeeee

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People are going a bit over-board. It was an incredibly entertaining movie, but best of all time? Most entertaining of all time? No where near the top of either.

Definitely one of the most entertaining.
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Ball Lightning Box Office Gold

Ball Lightning

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People are going a bit over-board. It was an incredibly entertaining movie, but best of all time? Most entertaining of all time? No where near the top of either.

Well i haven't had a more entertaining time watching a film. The crowd absolutely going for it definitely helped, but if a movie can make crowds go crazy over it, then I think that means something.
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Ball Lightning Box Office Gold

Ball Lightning

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Hey this is my first post around these parts, I've been lurking the boards for quite some time now, I just want to chime in and say that I'm beyond excited for The Avengers doing this kind of numbers at the box office, it's a movie that's really deserving all the accolades, cash, critical and public acclaim that it's getting, I've been waiting my whole life to see all these characters on the big screen and it's finally here.

Fully agree with what you have said, and welcome to the forums (officially :D )! :)
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Chewy Global Phenomenon

Chewy

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To me character development is not as important as character itself. Joker receives absolutely no development through the course of TDK but he is characterized and realized perfectly.

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