The Avengers

I finally fulfilled my lifelong dream to see a movie on opening night.

And what a movie it was. 

Holy cow. Essentially: it was deeply, deeply fabulous. If you don't want to know anything at all about it, don't continue (although I don't give any spoilers), but know this: GO AND SEE IT.

Not only was it opening night, it was IMax 3D--as good as you can get. Sound so loud that it messes up your heartbeat and screen so huge and life-like that you flinch from arrows flying hurtling toward you and want to reach out and touch everything.

I sat between my amazing and most superhero-loving-est friends and spazzed. All movie long. There were moments where I literally could not even process the sheer awesomeness.

And when Thor finally made his thunder-ridden, angsty entrance, I screamed like it was a Disneyland ride or something. SORRY GUYS BUT I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS.

See, I'm not a superhero geek or anything--I don't know the comics, but I love every movie (that I've seen) that's led to this movie. The Avengers includes Iron Man (hoo boy), Captain America (one of the goodest good guys ever), the Hulk (never seen the movie but wow--I liked him), Hawkeye (briefly seen before but showcased fantastically and very attractively here), and--Thor. Always and forever.

I've been anticipating this ever since it was rumored to be occurring. It was worth the wait, and exploded my expectations. I deftly adored every single one of the many abundantly awesome characters. 

Thor was more beautiful and lion-like than ever before. Even more hair, even more smoldery blue eyes. He pulled off and rocked every bit of that beautiful blond hair. And I had forgotten/not prepared myself for the power and beautiful majesty of his voice (right up there with Mufasa). He blasts all my snobbery about not caring for accents right out of the water.

I have always loved and stood by Iron Man, even though he has is issues and his haters (many of which are my friends or relations). His personality, vibe, and choice of pants are absolutely irresistible. His character development/improvement just gets better in this movie. And instead of going back to former issues, he picked up where he left off in Iron Man 2--committed to Pepper (although sheesh I wish they would get married). And he was awesomer than ever before. Gah. 

I adore Captain America coolly. He's beautiful and his hair is comforting. He has the perfect face, voice, aura, and stance for a 1940's all-American hero. He's a good guy of the highest order. He is quietly brave and tough-as-nails at soul-level, and I love him, but (therefore?) I don't relate or rabidly adore his psyche in the same way as Iron Man and Thor. He is too sturdily flawless for a soul connection. 

In this movie, he's now misplaced in the 21st century after being frozen for 70 years (that's gotta be awkward), which creates some amusing confusion and gratifying angst (destroyed punching bags for. the. win). Somehow, I liked him way more in this movie-- I loved when he locked horns with the other guys, when he took charge, when he gutsily hung by fingertips, when he smiled hopefully about monkeys.

I've never seen The Hulk and never had had much of a desire to (Edward Norton--meh). Praise be, they changed the actor to a now gracefully albeit hobo-ishly aging Mark Ruffalo. Despite his peaceful, cozy-type doctor-ness, his transformation to shirt-destroying green beast is believable and gives me joy.

I've been explaining my delight and anticipation about Jeremy Renner to most anyone who will listen lately. I recently saw him in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol and all my premonition instincts about how I'd feel about him were so spot on. Meaning: I absolutely love him.

I've always had a thing for guys with bow and arrows. Began with Errol Flynn and his rakish Robin Hood, continued with my preteen crush on Legolas (I'm not proud). But here, here was epic agile archer-ness with a heavy dose of straight-up hardcore superhero-ness. 

And purely aesthetically, his arms were framable. 

You're welcome.

I didn't know what to expect from the mind-bomb combination of sheer awesomeness that would be The Avengers, but the main thing I was worried about was the Black Widow. I have this instinctive dislike of Scarlett Johannsen, even though/because she's beautiful and a good actress. I wouldn't have any of that creepo-flirtingness that there was in Iron Man 2. I was ready to hate her at the deepest level if she got near any of the superheroes whom I love--I mean, they all have love interests, and it would just be horrific if there was any flirting or weirdness. 

However, I ended up really liking her, rooting for her, and also LOVING HER RED HAIR. I liked how, even though she was fighting along-side all the epic men, she was totally a woman and didn't try to be/seduce any of them. Much appreciated. I think my only issue with her was some awkwardly way-tight pants.

Nick Fury, whose name I adore but who I've never liked, won me over, too. In the other movies, he  shows up on occasion, randomly and irksomely. I'm still not a fan of anything really going on with Samuel Jackson's face other than the scars and his eyepatch, but I like him now.

I raged about Loki in Thor (just that some people LIKE HIM MORE THAN THOR AHEM), but I appreciated him much more in this movie. I love him as a bad guy--his twisted, diseased psyche, with calculated and deceitful snatches at power flowing out of being-the-inferior-brother issues, daddy issues, adopted issues, being-a-frost-giant issues. 

I personally get annoyed/fed up with bad guys whose main motivation is just sheer lust for power or money. I mean, that works, but it's not terribly original or pick-apart-able. I like when there are psychological scars and deeper, intrinsic warped-soul motivations.

The really incredible thing, is the smooth and perfect meld of all of these epic characters into just one movie. It had great potential for just being ridiculous/cheesy/over-the-top, but instead, everyone keeps their complete character, and are combined in a way that just makes each of them even awesomer. And, being on a COMMUNITY IS AWESOME kick, the whole let's-get-a-bunch-of-flawed-and-unstable-people-all-together-to-save-the-world thing was just. so. good. All kindsa Bible verses about this stuff, guys. For reals.

It's undeniable--the movie is chockfull-and-spilling-over with wildly muscular, very attractive men with great teeth, but I liked how they weren't gratuitous about it. It was understated in a way that made it that much more amazing. No skip scenes, no stupid girl stuff. They were smoking hot and courageous while saving the world, not being creeps with girls. 

It's definitely violent, but there's very little blood or really icky moments, and the language is fairly mild and limited. If you're not into action movies, it's probably not for you, since it's loud and proud and smashy.

It's sky-rocketed to my top-five-favorite movies, and I love it and recommend it more than I have any movie in very long time.

I loved it. I loved the story, I loved the special effects, I loved the amazing pants, I loved the character development, I loved the beautiful, colorful shots, I loved the hair, I loved the superheroes,

I LOVED EVERYTHING. AMEN.