‘The Avengers’ blow up – So what’s great about The Avengers?

For a comic book movie billed as an all-star showcase of jacked-up, tech-savvy action heroes there is a curious lack of fight sequences in director Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. Nah, I kid—I don’t think this Marvel flick ever went more than 90 seconds without a flurry of cart-wheeling kicks, superhuman strength punches or eye-melting explosions. It is a wall-to-wall combustion engine of nuclear action.

Too much? Probably. But I get the feeling that that was the point, and any dislike I have for the excessive bombast dripping from nearly every frame may have more to do with my age than the movie’s curiously winking, big top spectacle. This is supposed to be fun after all, or above all, I should say. It’s summer, anyway, and two hours of fast-paced, mindless entertainment isn’t the worst way to spend an evening at the movies.

So what’s great about The Avengers? Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. He’s wittier, smarter and has a far greater, more believable character arc here than in the two Iron Man films combined, especially in scenes when he gets to play his detached sarcasm against the Boy Scout foil of Chris Evan’s Captain America. These two form the centerpiece of a team of “freaks” that Samuel L. Jackson’s SHIELD leader Nick Fury rallies together to defend the planet from an army of ill-tempered aliens led by Loki, who you may remember as the runtish brother of Thor. The god of thunder is largely useless here, except as the target for a few great one-liners from Downey. It’s clear Loki was chosen as a villain in order to give Chris Hemsworth’s Norse God something to do, a reason to even be in this movie.

Rounding out the main cast are Scarlett Johansson as deadly super spy. She’s supposed to be Russian, though her accent comes and goes at will. Johansson’s chemistry with Downey and Evans leaves something to be desired, but she does show considerable acting chops in both of her “interrogation” scenes in the film, so she’s not a total write off. Mark Ruffalo takes over for the departed Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk. The “will he, won’t he” anticipation of waiting for this genius scientist to get angry enough to transform into a giant green rage beast is enough to add a nice edge to several scenes, and Ruffalo is enough to elevate the less nuanced performances of Hemsworth and Evans.

Whedon is certainly at play and in his comfort zone with each of these characters, and he injects the film with a lot of much-needed humor. Downey is consistently hilarious, and Harry Dean Stanton provides the funniest comic movie cameo in recent memory. Whedon also does a fine job balancing the screen time of each character and giving each a valuable role in the mission at hand. No one feels inessential here, though none are given the character arc that Stark enjoys. It is hard to deny the perfection of his transformation in this film. Like Han Solo’s change of heart at the end of the original Star Wars, Stark’s revelation should have Marvel fans cheering. If not, maybe all the explosions will.