The Avengers: Paper Thin Heroes. **

        People love summertime for so many reasons, all of the flavor of ice cream, the warm sun bathing weather, swimming in the outdoor pools, or simply going for walks and bike rides outside. One of the many pastimes for a few generations of families is going to the movies in the summer, usually the summer blockbusters never disappoint. Most independent movie companies refrain from releasing movies in the summer now because hollywood has killed the summer blockbuster. Sure there were the glory days but for hollywood, the times have changed. Mainly, the summer blockbusters now are lifeless and filled with headache inducing special effects and there is really no story telling going on what-so-ever. This is where 'The Avengers" comes in. Marvel has been on fire within the movie business as of late. The "Spiderman" Trilogy was awesome (Mainly 1 and 2 were excellent), "X-men" and "X2" with the newest installment of "X-men First Class" were also excellent. The leading prequels up to "The Avengers" were awesome as well (Captain America, Thor, Ironman), so going into this one I was expecting the very best from producers Marvel and writer/director Joss Whedon. "The Avengers" is one of the most celebrated comic strips ever written and drawn. It has many spin-offs including The New Avengers and some other stories that stand on their own.

         The movie starts with us taking a visit to S.H.E.I.L.D. which is a central intelligence agency that is based in the United States of America. This agency is in charge of protecting the world from extraterrestrial attacks and controlling people from around the world that are "gifted". They do this so that when something comes up that threatens the world, then can deal with it, they also keep everything under wraps so that no one can use what they know to destroy the world. S.H.E.I.L.D. is responsible for assembling the Avengers. Nick Fury assembles, Hawkeye, Black Widow, The Hulk, Ironman and Captain America to fight Thor's brother Loki who has summoned an evil alien race to come and destroy earth. This is possible because of an artifact that was found at the bottom of the ocean that acts as a portal to space and other worlds. Of course Thor comes into the picture later to fight with the rest of the team. "The Avengers" could have been so much more than it actually was, sure there was good things going on in this film but there was also evidence of a money grabbing scheme here and it really stinks. The action in this movie is spectacular, the special effects are fantastic, and the main fight at the end is a great conclusion. The problem with the action was that nothing special was happening here, the sequences seemed to be bland, and nothing creative happened with the avengers team. My favorite action tid bit was the fighting and bickering between The Hulk and Thor. The last action sequence of the film was way too long, I'm sure it was at least 45 minutes long, I actually was very bored and tired by the end of the sequence, it gave me a headache and I was wondering when it was over. It was also so bland to watch, almost like we were shown something that we've seen way to many times. Sure this is an action flick, but the action has to be creative and fun to watch, and it was fun to watch for the first 15 or 20 minutes but after that it's just bland. The story in this film is so paper thin.

       "The Avengers" has such a vast legacy in comics filled with intriguing stories and episodes of these so very different humans and aliens fighting baddies together. This movie touched upon this dramatic characterization for about 15 minutes tops. The other bulk of the movie showed the characters bickering and trying to steal the spotlight with cheesy one-liners, I'm sorry but The Avengers should be so much more than that. Because of this, the moments that should have been heroic and epic simply fell flat. The Characters were stale and went no where and fighting here and fighting there and, oh look at that, they get along. The moment at the end of the movie when the stand together should have solidified the greatest and heroism of "The Avengers". All the producers and makers cared about was making things go boom as cool as they could and it really dumbed down what could've been such an epic drama instead of a battle royal. Loki was just stupid as well, one of the worst villains I have seen on screen. There should've been more room for development there too. Well, in a nutshell, "The Avengers" could've been so much more. It could've had depth and character and really showed off what wonderful characters these are as well as their abilities. What we got was a dumbed down action packed romp.

       This was a popcorn flick that just wanted to look pretty and it did, but nothing memorable came out of it but the random one liners took it's place, it felt like these heroes were trying to improvise or one up each other with them. I was expecting depth and awesome characters, sure there was a hint at the struggles and characterizations of "The Avengers", but it wasn't enough, that drama took a back seat to the way too long 45 minute action conclusion. I'm getting tired of movies that end with technological throw down, why couldn't the main part of the conclusion be the Avengers finally assembling? Instead, they assembled so quickly just so the producers could make more than enough time for the silly action. As I left the theater I wasn't excited for the DVD to come out, and that made me sad.