the avengers [2012]

i was a marvel comics kinda kid.  spiderman was my guy.  so was ghost rider, and powerman and ironfist [that pair would make a cool action flick] but i was not a huge avengers fan.  i did read the comic from time to time so i'm not unfamiliar with the group.  i am unfamiliar with this movie's director, joss whedon.

whedon appears to be a fanboy of the horror/sci-fi kind.  apparently the dude's did good so the studio gave whedon the keys to the candy store and some seriously big bucks to bring the avengers to the screen.  does he make it work?  oh yeah! 

this is not a great movie but it is very good popcorn fare.  the writing is snappy and the direction is strong.  the cast is more than game and there is some inspired choices for the characters.  i've never been a fan of the incredible hulk.  too much goofy destruction for my taste but as the hero is so subtly drawn by actor mark ruffalo is a minor miracle. 

plot is nothing to sing about.  in fact, in lesser hands the movie would be many shades paler because of the meagerness of the plot.  the action set-pieces are first rate even if the amount and rate of destruction sit a little left of beyond the curtain of disbelief.  what can you say but really even for a fluff summer blockbuster there much meat on the bone and despite the movie clocking in at 143 minutes long the duration feels like it whizzes like a short, thrilling roller coaster ride.

i couldn't believe it.  nick and i went on opening weekend.  the first showing was sold out.  we had a little over an hour and half to kill till the next screening so we waited in the arcade as nick honed his video game playing skills.  all mack daddy and shit the boy loves those realistic driver games.  he's a great racer and has a blast driving on a race track cranked to the first intensity. 

after about an hour i said let's go check on the theater where the movie was playing.  i was shocked.  with about 30 minutes to showtime there was a line of about a hundred already waiting.  i've not seen such crowds since i was kid.  not since star wars and i told nick that this was the very theater where i saw star wars when i was just a little older than him.

i've no idea how that registered with nick.  probably he can't fathom that far in the past especially because his old man is so old and from his perspective i was probably never young enough to be a kid, and besides he might even be suspicious that there was a thing called electricity way back when.