Movie review: "The Avengers"

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to movies to watch "The Avengers". Not her first choice, but neither she was really against it. I intentionally did not want to go last weekend, hoping to avoid the biggest crowds. In the end, we were both satisfied. I have been following "The Avengers" hype for some time, although passively - I like super-hero franchises, but I am not really a fan. So I knew what to expect of the movie and it turned out I was pretty realistic in my expectations.

"The Avengers" is a movie that combines and continues several movies starring super-heroes: Iron-Man (watched both and liked), Thor (watched and liked), Captain America (didn't watch, heard it was not good), Hulk (didn't watch) and Black Widows and Hawkeye (don't have movies). It also features the agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which was mentioned and played parts in mentioned movies. The plot is pretty simple: S.H.I.E.L.D. has been tampering with some alien artifact called Teserakt and accidentally freed Loki (a villain from "Thor" movie), with a little bit of help from his new allies, Chitauri. He steals the Teserakt, abducts some scientist and agents and escapes in unknown direction with nothing good on his mind. In reaction, S.H.I.E.L.D. gathers restarts the Avengers initiative, which has a goal of centering all Earth's superheroes and ally them against common foe. They are later joined with Thor who comes to Earth to put his brother Loki to order. Considering their strength, the Avengers should not have any trouble defeating Loki, except two tinny problems: they have to find out what Loki's plan is, and they have to overcome their own differences (which are pretty big).

This movie takes after "Iron Man 2" in atmosphere - flashy, fast, lots of high-tech gadgets, much of ironic banter. As I said, it is not a plot-driven movie. Although it lasts more than two hours, it is all about characters, and some about the setting. This means that it is mostly oriented to those who like the franchises and will be able to disregard weak plot. To me, it also looked like they wanted to introduce the setting and prepare the field for the second Avengers movie or other connected movies. Characters were interesting enough, and humor was quite good and successful.

In my opinion, the only flaw of the movie was the weakness of the enemies. Loki was more of a daze and confuse mind-bending player, so it OK if he is physically week (even though he is a god). But I really expected much more from the Chitauri, considering how they were announced and referenced. Also, the ending reminded me much of "The Transformers 3" trailer I saw (didn't see the movie, yet).

All in all, "The Avengers" is a standard super-hero movie multiple several times (considering all the big-name super-heroes). If you like such movies, you will love it. Even if you don't, the movie has a bit of everything to offer: humor, action, Scarlett Johansson for guys, Chris Hemsworth for girls... Just don't expect some plot-heavy intelligent drama, and you will not be disappointed - because this is THE super-hero movie.

Movie review: "X-Men: First Class"

Well, this was a hell of a week for me. I was working from dawn till evening, so I wasn't really in the mood for writing after coming home. This movie I will be reviewing, "X-Men: First Class", I watched it two weeks ago... I like X-Men franchise, although I was never a fan. I just think that setting is great. I liked all four movies before this one; I don't consider them some great masterpieces, but they were fun to watch. My opinion of the latest movie is the same.

Although it was made latest, this is a prequel. Events in it happen half a century before the events in previous movies, in sixties (although there is a short introduction happening during World War II). It deals with history of Magneto and Professor-X, two very important characters for the whole franchise. In some ways, the two of them are the founders of whole X-Men thing. Some part of this history was shown in chronological sequels (the fence scene and concentration camp), but this movie develops and explains what happened afterwards. It describes the origins of prof. Xavier and how he met Eric Lensherr and then later separated with him. Around their relationship we see the world, first organized mutants, afterward of WWII, Cuban Missile Crisis and so on. The plot itself is not something convoluted or sophisticated; it is a simple hero-movie plot. But it is very deftly done, especially the fact it is combined with real history.

The same can be said of characters: they are not deep and real-like, but they are all fun to watch. There are no big stars; most of the cast is in their twenties, but they did their job quite well. I usually don't notice how people are dressed in movies, but I really liked their clothing here. I must say that James McAvoy, who plays prof. Xavier, even remotely doesn't remind me to Patrick Stewart (older version of professor). Also, there is a very funny scene with Rade Šerbeđija, my fellow countrymen.

In short, "X-Men: First Class" is by plot and characters a typical super-hero movie that doesn't require much concentration, but it gives you much pleasure. Every part of the movie was done well and there wasn't a boring minute in it. Just don't raise your expectations too high.