The Avengers (2012)

This continuation of the Marvel series is good fun, with lots of explosions, big special effects, a fairly high body count, and plenty of laughs. Jack and I have seen Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, and we knew to wait for the Stan Lee (co-author of the Marvel comic book) cameo and the bonus footage at the end. Mary Jo's teenage daughter had told her to see all the prequels but I was able to fill her in on all she needed to know in a few sentences.

Most of the characters return from previous movies and nobody shirks his or her acting duties: Robert Downey Jr. (last in these pages in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) as Tony Stark AKA Iron Man has top billing, got the biggest salary, and has a lot of funny lines, as his character is amusingly arrogant. Also from the Iron Man series we have Gwyneth Paltrow (most recently in Country Strong) as Stark's trusty sidekick Pepper Potts and Scarlett Johansson (We Bought a Zoo) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (introduced in Iron Man 2). In both Iron Man movies, Thor, plus Captain America: The First Avenger were Clark Gregg (I wrote about him in Choke) as Agent Phil Coulson (and to expand on what I wrote about him in Thor, now I know he's supposed to be funny!) and Samuel L. Jackson (profiled in Iron Man 2) as Nick Fury. Jeremy Renner's (last in this blog in The Town) character Clint Barton/Hawkeye made an appearance, uncredited, in Thor, where I also mentioned Chris Hemsworth, who plays that studly title character. His brother Loki is Tom Hiddleston (one of the soldiers in War Horse and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris). There's a big laugh when Loki stands up to the Hulk, who is played, this time around, by the reliable Mark Ruffalo (after I covered his past in detail in The Brothers Bloom we liked him in Shutter Island, Date Night, and The Kids Are All Right). Now that The Hulk is all computer-generated, there's no need for a big guy, such as Lou Ferrigno or Ron Perlman, to get green and angry, but Ruffalo is new to Hulk's conflicted human alter ego, Bruce Banner, played in the past many times by Bill Bixby, twice by Perlman, in 2003 by Eric Bana, and 2008 by Edward Norton. Chris Evans once again brings self-deprecating humor to Steve Rogers/Captain America and I wrote about him in my post on that one.

This is director/co-writer/producer Joss Whedon's second time directing a feature--he's better known for producing 145 episodes (and directing 22) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as co-producing the 1990 series Parenthood, among others. His co-writer Zak Penn penned the Ed Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk (2008) (according to one of the trivia items on imdb, Norton was supposed to be in this one but negotiations "broke down"). Another tells us that some of the Germany scenes were shot in Cleveland with locations well known to folks from those parts.

Alan Silvestri returns as composer of the exciting, loud music. As is often the case, someone has uploaded the whole score to youtube, so one can listen to all tracks in order, starting with this one. Then there are two 80s metal songs, of which Tony Stark is fond, Shoot to Thrill, reprised from Iron Man 2, and Live to Rise, as well as the softer Black Dirt.

I said above that there's a bonus at the end. Wait for it. Silly but funny, it was added two days after the Hollywood premiere. See, there are a few advantages of being in the 99%. The Stan Lee cameo is towards the end. At least three sequels are in the works: Nick Fury, Iron Man 3, and Avengers 2.