AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!!

Marvel’s The Avengers isn’t bad, but it’s hardly the perfect movie that fans are raving about. Viewers hoping for a more substantive film — like Iron Man or Captain America — might find it a little disappointing.  (5/5/12)

And following another unexpected delay (sigh), we’re back with a review of Marvel’s The Avengers. I was a kinda disappointed with it, honestly. More in the review, but it seemed like for everything it did right — or at least every “cool” nugget — there was something it did wrong, and the things it did wrong occurred on a more substantive level. I suspect some folks out there would blast me for actively searching for flaws in the film. And yeah, that’s true — I was looking for them, just as I was looking for things to like about it. I tend to watch movies with an eye to evaluate them on all levels, and I’m not one to cover my eyes and stick my fingers in my ears (or devise my own theories to resolve issues that weren’t sufficiently explained in a movie/show/etc.) when I find something that doesn’t gel. That’s just me.

But that’s not necessarily you, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be at all down on The Avengers — as I note in the review intro, I suspect most readers of Scary-Crayon will enjoy it immensely. For an alternate take on the film, check out this review by Jeffrey K. Lyles.

Also, admittedly, this is probably a movie I’d enjoy more on DVD after I fished it out of the $5 bin at Walmart (or, even better, a cart at Dollar Tree). It’s legitimately flawed, but somehow those flaws are less bothersome to me when I didn’t pay $12 for a ticket — and when I’m not noting them in a theater filled with cheering, clapping people. Like, many of the one-liners were amusing, but they certainly weren’t substantive — so they weren’t the kinds of things I’d walk out of the movie quoting and discussing and referencing endlessly as if they actually made the movie significantly better for their inclusion. And while there were a few really good ones, most of the lines were hardly hilarious, so it was a little annoying to hear the theater erupt into raucous laughter in response. At moments, watching The Avengers in a crowded theater reminded me of watching a sitcom, and I generally despise sitcoms. The reason is this: if a joke in a show falls flat and there’s no laugh track, it’s not irritating — it’s just another throwaway line of dialogue and (unless it’s really bad) I forget about it. But if the joke doesn’t work and it’s punctuated by five seconds of yukking, as is the case in most sitcoms, it’s fucking stupid.

Anyway, yeah — thanks for reading; leave a comment if you like. See you next time, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later!