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It’s nice to read a movie review on The Platform, so kudos on that!
I disagree with you on your verdict however.
The Avengers is quite innovative. To put together so many leading characters in a single movie with such a big hype could be a recipe for disaster. Could you split the screen time between so many important characters while still feeling emotionally involved? Could creating such anticipation around the movie lead to disappointment with the end product?
In the end, Josh Whedon delivered a movie that quite clearly met fans’ expectations and desires.
Your criticism that the plot didn’t develop much in the first half of the movie is only fair up to a point. To begin, the plot is quite simple – baddies invade earth and heroes defend it. But it has to be simple, because unlike movies such as The Matrix, Inception, even the rebooted Batman series – this movie isn’t really about the plot. The plot is in fact totally inconsequential, something thankfully Josh Whedon understood.
This movie is all about the characters – the superheroes fans have followed through five previous movies. The first half of the movie was all about seeing where our heroes are and then bringing them together, while also getting in some fantastic fight scenes. Iron Man vs Captain America vs Thor, who could ask for a greater battle? A complicated plot would have either hidden the main characters or simply been too much to follow.
There is a fine line between cliche and convention. I’d argue that this movie used familiar conventions in just the right amount. Thus there are similarities with other movies, but that just adds to the story. Captain America didn’t need to be a critique of American foreign policy, he’s symbolic. The upright, moral, sincere hero. His DC equivalent is Superman. It’s not their superpowers which are important, its their outlook on life. Thor is the fish-out-of-war, even down to the archaic spoken English. Yes it’s been done before but that’s what is great, we relive that familiar character out of swords-and-sorcery fantasy in a new context.
The heroes of this movie went through the familiar monomyth. Instead of individually, they did it as a group. It began with the call to assemble, the initial failure to respond, the significant death, finally coming to terms with the burden of the hero and then the ultimate victory (including the sacrifice of sorts). Its a repeated motif and its work because we love it.
Avengers doesn’t concern itself with being real, ‘gritty’ or even too original, it had the chemistry of a good superhero movie just right. A bit of fun, a lot of action, a touch of melodrama and characters we can cheer to victory. In my opinion, it doesn’t get much better!