So I somehow managed to go until last night before watching this, not sure how or why (especially given the first Iron Man is one of my favourite films and I was really looking forward to it).

 

Was actually slightly unconvinced by the opening sequence, seemed a bit clichéd (plus they seemed very intent on allowing everyone the power of flight over the course of the film) but apart from that I was completely blown away. I think one critic described it as "Transformers with a brain, a heart and a working sense of humour" which sums it up pretty well.

 

Oh and it ended up grossing over $1.5 billion and is by a distance the third highest grossing film ever. I said about Harry Potter last year that beyond Avatar 2 (and Dark Knight Rises, for which just over $1 billion is mildly underwhelming if anything) I couldn't see what was going to overtake it but I had no idea how big this would be - it transcended the genre like nothing outside of Christopher Nolan's stuff and did it without veering away from the traditional comic book standard. With this and the Dark Knight trilogy you have to think that superhero films have reached their two logical endpoints - minimalist and maximalist in terms of how they present their heroes.

This film was visually stunning and OTT, and that's why I downloaded it and was what I was expecting - this isn't a type of film I typically watch. However I thought the plot was paper-thin, and for a film as blown-up as this, it hindered my enjoyment of it. I also thought the cast was pretty cheesy / camp, most notably the villain, and that really removed any sense of peril in the film, even if that was intended. There also never seemed to be any real danger despite the epicness of the final scenes and so I didn't think there was much suspense or thrill. I mean, this is a thriller, right?

 

Eh.

 

edit: okay paper-thin is unfair, but it was fairly predictable all the same.

Edited January 9, 201312 yr by Harve

Still got no idea why did Avengers earn so much. Besides Hulk & Stark there was notjing

interesting in it. Boring and ultra stupid.