Cult Movie Appeals To All

I saw The Avengers during its opening weekend and was blown away by it. I've never been a comic book fan - from Dick Tracy to Iron Man, I thought they were entertaining, but I've never been part of the cult.

But Joss Whedon's The Avengers just kept me sitting on the edge of my seat until the very end, or almost to the very end. Not only is it an amazing thriller, but it combines the power of six super heroes all together in one movie. The screenplay, also written by the director, is surprisingly witty and humorous. The movie appeals to the entire family and drums up everybody's childhood fantasy to save the world and defeat the evil.

And the evil is very real here - Loki from Thor is in full force here and it takes six super-humans to eventually beat him. Every actor is great in this movie, but some are better than others. Mark Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk, is the best of them all - combining the emotional vulnerabilities of Dr. Bruce Banner with the rage of the green monster. Tom Hiddleston plays a better villain in this film than a frustrated lover in The Deep Blue Sea (I also think he looks better with long hair). Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, is less irritating in this movie than in the Iron Man sequel. Chris Hemsworth as Thor is always convincing and funny as the overly-serious demi-God although I hate to say that he's probably gained a few pounds since the movie Thor. Scarlett Johansson is pretty in this movie and both Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson can never do any wrong. The least impressive actor or character is Chris Evans as Captain America - I don't know whether it's deliberate or not on the director's part to give him the worst lines in the movie, thus making him come across as the least smart of the super-heroes even though he is the leader of the pack.

My friend and I joined the thunderous applause in the movie theatre at the end, but I was told by my Millennial friend that we should have stayed until all film credits have been rolled. Apparently, we've missed a few important scenes at the end that hint at an upcoming sequel(s).

It's a tremendous feat nowadays to produce a movie that wins the hearts and wallet-share of young movie-goers. But this movie is more than that - it's a flick with a lot of fun for the entire family, and at a 3D cinema near you please!