Yes, No, Maybe So: "The Avengers"
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 10:32PM It's finally here, he says robotically. Nearly every day is Avengers day online with paparazzi shots, interviews, stills, clips, posters, and whatnot, so the trailer just means that this is a Tuesday. But we must mark the occasion. It's how we do. And if "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" are going to assemble, we'll be there for roll call.
There can be only one... CHRIS.
The movie pits the collected superheroes against Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who holds the cosmic cube that The Red Skull lost (I think? Someone get me a "previously on" clip reel) because we have to braid the individual stories of the most recent Marvel movies (Thor and Captain America) back together with the two Iron Man movies where Nick Fury (who didn't get his own movie) was collecting heroes. They're even yanking The Incredible Hulk back in to the mix though surely nobody remembers dangly story threads from ye olden times of 2008. The only thing I remember from that movie was that Edward Norton lived in the jungle and then they poisoned the air so he turned green and lept through a glass walkway until he landed on a grassy field where he fought tanks until it was rainy and time to snuggle with Liv Tyler who was married to Phil Dunphy??? And somewhere in there was Tim Roth playing with chemicals and his own body? I can't remember. I'm guessing it won't be important because they save Mark Ruffalo (Hulk #3) for that mandatory "surprise the trailer isn't over!" joke tag at the end.
YES NO MAYBE SO breakdown and the actual trailer after the jump.
YES
- Tom Hiddleston was the best thing about Thor and it's fun to see an up-and-coming star get the Big Bad role they usually reserve for expensive stars. "You were made to be ruled..." is a creepy way to set up the stakes and his voice is just right.
- Captain America: The First Avenger was way better than we were expecting and maybe we got a little tingly seeing Chris Evans all boyscout serious and do-goodery again.
- The shots of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye look promising, love that rubble slide.
- Some of the action shots look like they hurt like we're seeing more stunts than usual and less CGI?
- Wait... Captain America fights Thor? Are you exciting to hear the sound effect when Mjolnir hits the shield? I am (geek alert!) Superhero vs superhero is always fun in comic books if they don't have to leap through too many disbelief suspending hoops to get there.
NO
Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away what are you?
Tony Stark: Uh... genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.
Thor: [Chuckling]"
- Anyone else tired of Robert Downey Jr's smug quipping? He used to have such nuance and range. And why is Thor laughing at that joke (although it's probably from a different scene if I know trailers). The best thing about Thor was how funny his humorlessness was!
- This looks closer to Iron Man 3 than Thor 2 or Captain America 2 which might be a problem.
- That dread pulsing sound effect at the beginning of the trailer that was so effective for the first or second Transformers trailer (I can't remember) is now a total cliche.
- God but that is terribly generic manly rock music playing all through the trailer. Are we supposed to be picturing legions of fanboys doing air guitar riffs in unison? Or are we merely supposed to make the connection that we loved Iron Man and it used all that metal in its soundtrack?
- There sure is an awful lot of still expressionless posing in this trailer, as if we are not seeing actual clips from the movie but clips from the photoshoots for individual character posters. This is particularly true of Scarlett Johanssons as The Black Widow (though we've hated that casting from day one. Oh for what could have been with Emily Blunt!)
MAYBE SO
she flips her hair back and forth, she flips her hair back and forth
- If anyone can make the movie version of The Black Widow (a great character in comic books) interesting isn't it Joss Whedon who has proven his mettle with directing bad-ass superwomen time and again (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Firefly)
- If anyone can make a superhero team movie interesting isn't it Joss Whedon who has proven that he understands the drama and comedy in interpersonal ensemble dynamics again and again (Firefly, Buffy)
- If anyone can make manly superheroics both funny and moving and exciting isn't it Joss Whedon who has proven his gift with tonal dichotomies frequently (Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog, Buffy)
THE TRAILER
Will you be there when these Avengers assemble?
If so why? My take away goes like so from these tiny glimpses. Iron Man: NO; Hawkeye: YES; Captain America: YES; Thor: MAYBE SO; Loki: YES; Hulk: NO; Iron Man: NO, Black Widow: NO; Nick Stark: MAYBE SO.
Reader Comments (24)
I want my ScarJo back
Although it looks impersonal and the trailer was a little too Transformer-ish in places, I think it could be fun. I was a YES the minute they announced it (fantasy+superheroes = ticket), so making any grand statement about that is pointless. However, I haven't loved any of the Avengers Lead-In films, so I was not actually excited to see it until now.
Joss Whedon means an automatic YES for me. I will see anything and everything he does.
And I'm sure the marketing team wants people to think it's IRON MAN 3 for the $$$. The film will likely be more ensembly than it being The Tony Stark Show.
Your "No" concerning the "terribly generic manly rock music" and "Are we supposed to be picturing legions of fanboys doing air guitar riffs in unison?" had me in stitches because I thought the exact same thing while watching this trailer.
The music really makes the film seem more like Transformers... but with Marvel Heroes than The Avengers, and that's not a good thing.
I'm not excited for this at all. I always found movies with more than one, two or at the most three super powered characters were a bit too much. It's the main reason why I'm not the biggest fan of X-Men. Too much of a good thing maybe.
I'm definitely a "Maybe so" for this movie. It looks like it could be good but it also seems so crowded it could easily lose focus.
Also, I agree with you about Robert Downey Jr. I am afraid he is going to go by the way of Johnny Depp and that would be very sad.
"There can only be one... CHRIS." <-- Haha, nice. Like a commenter above, I think they are probably going to be using a lot of Robert Downey Jr in the marketing materials since his movies have been the most successful. RDJ himself has said that it is definitely an ensemble movie, so I'm hopeful. Also, I agree with you about Loki and Hiddleston's voice opening the trailer... chills! Not sure why ScarJo is standing still posing in the middle of some explosions though. Hopefully Joss comes through with the girl power. I'm hearing rumors that Cobie Smulders actually has a much bigger/ more important role that has been let on. Fingers crossed.
"This looks closer to Iron Man 3 than Thor 2 or Captain America 2 which might be a problem."
Probably doesn't help that "Thor" and "Captain America" weren't set in modern day times, so we're already playing on "Iron Man"'s turf, as you will. Plus, "Iron Man" made $100mil more than those two, so... yeah. :( I've grown to dislike that man. He and Johnny Depp need to stop making multiple franchise movies. It's annoying.
I hope the lack of any female characters other than ScarJo's means that Whedon was able to put EVERYTHING he has in the writing department into Black Widow.
I wholeheartedly agree with your three excellent maybeso points, which are my only reason to watch the movie.
maybe:it looks an efficient action packed movie and i have nothing against NIN music (always efficient ) but my main trouble is what characters will underused and underdevelopped? i guess they won't be Stark or Thor
Well, if I were the marketing team at Marvel and compared the WORLDWIDE box office of Thor/Captain America/Iron Man/Iron Man 2/ and The Hulk there's no doubt in my mind that I would make the Avengers trailer look like Iron Man 3.
The Maybe So pile pretty much sums up the reason for seeing this, beyond any unremarkable trailer. If Whedon delivers big time, Hollywood will pretty much be his oyster. If he fails, he'll get all the blame. And I'm sure he knows it.
And I, too, am waiting for RDJ to show me another trick.
Well I'm a yes simply because I am a Joss Whedon fan, and this will only be his second movie release. That said, the trailer didn't exactly fill me with excitement. I hated the music, I hated the posing, I liked the joke about the hulk at the end but on the whole the trailer did nothing for me. I hope there are better trailers to come.
Joss Whedon's involvement is primarily the reason I am skeptical of this project. I feel like a lot of the criticisms lobbed at "fanboys" are doubly true of Whedonites.
I'm shocked to say it, but I'm looking forward to Captain America 2 more than anything else IF they manage to set it in the past again and bring back Joe Johnston. I don't think I'd be interested much if it's set in present day.
Oh this? Whatever,
Unless this gets absolutely ecstatic "Best of the Year" style reviews, I think I'm sticking with the cartoon that's going on right now.
And about Cobie Smulders: She's playing Maria Hill, and unless Marvel is REALLY trying to build to a cinematic adaptation of the Civil War storyline (a storyline that, as currently published, is HATED by quite a few comic book fans), I can't see her role being too significant. Outside of that event, she sounds like a bit character. Also: Civil War was an event propped up by the very fact that there are 1,000+ heroes in Marvel comics. The Marvel Cinematic Universe currently has...10. That's not a "Civil War", that's a "Family Squabble."
Whedon worked some kind of magic with Serenity (the Firefly movie). He successfully introduced a bunch of characters to fans and newbies at the same time, gave each of them a moment to shine and a purpose in the film. And he still delivered an engrossing, exhilarating action pic. So there's reason to be hopeful.
I remember reading somewhere (EW?) that Robert Downey Jr. lobbied Whedon to make Iron Man more the lead of the film... and Whedon said no. He's enough of a fanboy himself to know that this has to be an ensemble piece.
Disagree about Downey Jr.
The Best thing in the trailer. Owns it.
I don't know; I'm really not liking Robert Downey's sharpie-applied facial hair at all.
The trailer is rubbish. I hope the finished film won't be.
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Love RDJ ...totally disagree...that's the character and how Tony is most of the time so deal with it.
Agree with the above. I think the trailer is good but I agree the music made me chuckle. I'm happy RDJ is getting his franchise and I know from previous characters he has a lot of range. This is how I like Tony Stark and how I want him to be. He owned the trailer.
I am excited to see everyone interacting,