Film Review: Marvel Avengers Assemble (The Avengers)

What a clunky title right? Happily, apart from that and another example of pointless 3D (joining the ranks of, well every film that's come out in 3D) there isn't much else to complain about with 'MAA', the film that finally ends the years long build up and throws Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), as well as second tier heroes Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) together in one huge melting pot.

Continuing primarily from where Thor (the film) left off, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is forced to call these heroes together when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) threatens to destroy the Earth using an energy source called the Tesseract.

Weighing in at a lengthy 142 minutes, Avengers Assemble (it's called The Avengers everywhere else, presumably us Brits would get it confused with the 1960's TV show of the same name?) is perfectly paced. Setting the scene with an explosive beginning that makes most action films finales look inferior, it slowly builds to collecting the heroes together, which results in some terrific face-offs between them all - there's some fan-boy wet dreams as we see the Hulk battle Thor, and Iron Man and Captain America have a bit of a scuffle.

No one was prepared to admit this was not the venue for the costume party

The action continues to build, with nary a dull moment to be seen leading to a colossal smackdown on Manhattan island, and of course, the inevitable post-credits scene (which some people still left before, will they ever learn?)

As it's Joss Whedon writing and directing you're pretty much guaranteed a brilliant combination of action and humour, and it has to be said, improves a lot on the solo films. Not knocking those films, for the most part they've been good fun, but this seemed like the culmination of them. It's nothing original seeing NYC the arena for a massive battle, but Whedon adds so much to it that the 45 minutes (this is a guess, it was a long old battle) fly by and it seems totally fresh, as well as gleefully mental as we cut from one superhero to another battling evil.

Whedon always has a knack for cracking dialogue, and since I was never a huge fan of the Buffy universe and I never really got into Firefly, I'm glad that there's now something I can enjoy of his that appeals to me (this and the excellent Cabin in the Woods of course.)

With a great screenplay comes great performances, with Robert Downey Jr. (as usual) standing out, and I also found Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner to be really quite something. Playing a slightly more unhinged version than Eric Bana and Edward Norton before him really added something for me, as well as the Banner's face being visible when you saw the Hulk.

A bit of a worry going into the film was Loki as the central villain, and while he does appear weak at times, it's clear he's under orders from someone else (again, hang around post-credits) so it works for me and Hiddleston does a great job expanding the role he started in Thor.

Whilst not affecting the quality of the actual film, it would be remiss of me not to mention the shoddy retro-fitted 3D job that was done on this. Slightly blurry at times, and totally flat, the dreaded 3D added absolutely nothing to this. But I wanted to see it in IMAX, and sadly 3D is the price you have to pay.

Avengers Assemble is the natural culmination of the story started in the original Iron Man in 2008, and the start of a new chapter that will continue (I assume) in Iron Man 3 and Thor 2. The bar has been raised considerably with Whedon's involvement (although if anyone can match it from an action/humour standpoint it's Shane Black, who is writing and directing the former), and I sincerely hope the next time the Avengers assemble, Whedon is the guy helming it all.

****
Whilst it's nothing original, the action and humour take it a mark above the solo outings before it. Brilliantly written and performed, and with some outstanding set pieces, this truly is the start of the Summer blockbuster season.

Film Review: The Cabin in the Woods

When it comes to reviewing films, the trickiest thing sometimes is swerving around plot points that would ruin the enjoyment of the movie for the reader. These 'spoilers' are normally easily avoided, because with most films you can can run through the synopsis, and describe what makes the film great without revealing any twists and turns.

Sticking to a spoiler-free review makes writing about The Cabin in the Woods a bit tricky. It's not so much that the film has a massive twist, in fact the opening scenes kind of lay out what is going on pretty quickly, but it's not something you want to ruin. But I shall endeavour to talk about what I can, and strongly urge you go and see it for yourself, before it gets ruined for you.

Back in 1981, the horror film Pieces was released and was saddled with the slightly insulting tagline 'Pieces...it's exactly what you think it is!'. I think the exact opposite can be applied for The Cabin in the Woods. It's not what you think it is, not at all.

Pretty much the only photo I can use!

Originally filmed back in 2009, Cabin has run into all kinds of problems which delayed its release significantly. MGM's financial woes played a part, as did Lionsgate wanting the film to be released in 3D. Thankfully, the filmmakers put their feet down, and this was avoided. There would have been no point in releasing this movie in 3D, but of course, the same can be said about most films.

Directed by Drew Goddard, and co-written by Goddard and Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods is possibly the best written and most amusing horror film since the days of the Evil Dead movies. It's an incredibly smart and hilarious script, and the direction is also top-notch, especially when it comes to the (numerous) set pieces in the film.

The plot that I can tell you about is your usual horror fare. A group of friends go for a break to a deserted cabin in the woods, but once they arrive things start to go awry. It's essentially the same plot from about 100 horror films, but there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. And to say any more than that is most definitely creeping into spoiler territory. Even the trailer (that I saw) doesn't give away too much more than that, and that is almost miraculous considering how much movie studios like to reveal way too much in trailers.

The cast are all great in their roles but there's even some cast members that I can't talk about, so shall just focus on the teens on the cabin, who all do a great job with their purposefully cliched characters - the jock (a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth), the intelligent one (Jesse Williams), the blonde bimbo (Anna Hutchison), the stoner (Whedon alumni Fran Kranz, who is excellent throughout) and the obvious virgin (Kristen Connolly). The way the story takes these characters and their cliches is, like the rest of the film, inspired.

Before The Cabin in the Woods was released, some pre-awareness posters adorned buses in my area, with a quote from a review that called it a "Game changer". Normally when I hear this, or something like "reinventing the genre" I want to run a mile from any cinema showing it. But this time, believe the hype. The Cabin in the Woods will undoubtedly change the way I watch a lot of horror movies, and the same can't be said for other horror films that have proclaimed to be revolutionary, like the Saw films.

Not only that, but Cabin... is one of those rare films that manage to transcend its genre. Horror fans will get a lot more out of this than the casual cinema-goer, there's no two ways about that, but those with not much horror experience will get loads out of it as well. I went to see it with someone who didn't really watch many horror films (although admittedly, she is a Whedon fan), and she absolutely loved it. And it's a rare film OR horror film indeed that can make that much of an impact.


*****
A totally original, hilarious and just generally excellent film, whether you like horror or not. The best film of 2012 so far...