This isn't a review - I don't have much to say in that vein that hasn't already been said by a million others. This is more of a gathering of my random thoughts:
- I want to watch this movie over and over and tear it apart layer by layer, doing GMC, looking at the Hero's Journey or the 8-sequence structure, studying the dialogue, etc. I feel like there's a lot to mine here. Can't wait for the DVD so I can. (Who am I kidding? I'm getting the DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital Copy package)
- I've got a mega-crush forming for Tom Hiddleston - I love him as bad-boy Loki (that grin! that hair! the hug-needing!) but then I find he's doing not one, not two, but THREE Shakespeare plays this year (which will show on BBC and I’m hoping will come to PBS), he studied classics at Cambridge and he knows it's pique, not peek or peak - be still my Shakespeare-fangirl, grammar-nerd heart!
- OMG the Joss Whedon dialogue! Anyone else would let the villain finish his speeches before the good guys retaliate, but every time Loki is just hitting his crescendo he's cut off mid-sentence in some demoralizing way. Love it.
- I think I enjoyed the Hulk in this movie more than I did in any other story. I didn't care for either of the recent Hulk movies, but not because they weren't decent movies. I just find the Hulk too much of a tragic figure to enjoy a story hung entirely on his character. He seems completely bereft of joy and hope. I come away from Hulk movies feeling weighed down, not lifted up, and that's not what I want from entertainment. In The Avengers, he seems somewhat less tragic, and I think that has a lot to do with Mark Ruffalo's acting (and Joss Whedon's directing, I'm sure) - the way he carries himself, the way he almost-grins through half of the movie. He's not as worn down as the other Bruce Banners, I think (or maybe he's hit bottom and is on the way back up?).
- If I bought the soundtrack on cassette (remember those?), it would be worn out already. Thank goodness for digital music. Good thing I have headphones or everyone around me would have hurt me by now.
- At our second viewing, my daughter pointed out that most of the people on the bridge of the Helicarrier are women. It's awesome that they're there, and awesome to me that she noticed.
- More on this later, but I found myself rooting for Loki - not to get what he wants but to get what he needs.
- Speaking of Loki, I do have a question for anyone who didn't see Thor before they saw The Avengers: What did you understand Loki's motivation to be? I'm curious whether seeing Thor gives you a different impression of Loki's character. I want to explore this later, so let me know.
