While I am a huge fan of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, they are quite different from The Avengers. I'll also agree that Spider-Man 2 is an incredible film, and definitely one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.
The Spider-Man films are fun, especially if you enjoy all the campy humor. Before you freak out -- I don't think this is a bad thing. The approach Raimi took was to play into the expectation of the audience. He gave the audience exactly what they think of when Spider-Man comes to mind.
All those sequences of people looking up and shouting Spider-Man's name, or those times Spider-Man stops for a second in front of an American flag -- It's camp! It's all fairly cheesy, but that's what those films were about. The Spider-Man films embrace super hero cliches, and they aren't ashamed to admit it.
The Avengers takes a completely different approach. While The Avengers is also very entertaining, the tone it goes for is much different. The Avengers wants re-design superheroes into the Hollywood action movie formula. Whedon wants these heroes to be cool, slick, and absolutely badass.
While both approaches are perfectly acceptable and work for their respected films, comparing the two is rather difficult. It's true that Whedon doesn't put in all the family death, quotes about heroism, and puberty that we get in the Spider-Man films. Again, just because it doesn't contain those elements doesn't mean the film is lacking them. You need to explain why Avengers needs these elements -- it seems to work fine without them.
If The Avengers focused too much on one character, one person's growth, then it wouldn't be about The Avengers. This movie is about all the heroes -- all the team members -- and how they came to work together. It doesn't need all the campy drama -- tug at you heart -- moments of Spider-Man 2. In fact, the result of that may have been disastrous.
And the Galaga joke...Yeah, that seemed to bother you a whole lot. My issue with the scene was that it didn't cut together correctly. My initial reaction was to think that Captain America was the one playing Galaga. This would have been much funnier, since he was frozen in ice and didn't get to experience video games. The scene was rather confusing, and it still didn't make sense to me the second time I saw the movie.
So, I agree that it isn't the funniest joke. Since you already admitted that most of the humor worked for you -- let's try and move past it. Together, if necessary. I'm here for you if you need me. I'm really sorry you have to experience it. To be fair, it was just one mediocre joke.
One more thing I have to point out, as evidenced for just how well-crafted this movie is on a technical level, is the continual shot that covers all the heroes as they battle in New York City. Granted, it's not a "real" camera shot -- definitely a digitally created shot. However, it's still quite an amazing sequence.
In one continuous shot the camera is able to move through New York and capture each of the Avengers doing battle. It's moments like this that solidify the purpose of this film -- to give the Avengers an origin story. To bring the team together, and to sell them to an audience as a single package that audiences will love. The Avengers moves the inherent "nerdyness" of a super hero team-up into the realm of something cool that movie fans won't be ashamed to embrace.
All those sequences of people looking up and shouting Spider-Man's name, or those times Spider-Man stops for a second in front of an American flag -- It's camp! It's all fairly cheesy, but that's what those films were about. The Spider-Man films embrace super hero cliches, and they aren't ashamed to admit it.
The Avengers takes a completely different approach. While The Avengers is also very entertaining, the tone it goes for is much different. The Avengers wants re-design superheroes into the Hollywood action movie formula. Whedon wants these heroes to be cool, slick, and absolutely badass.
While both approaches are perfectly acceptable and work for their respected films, comparing the two is rather difficult. It's true that Whedon doesn't put in all the family death, quotes about heroism, and puberty that we get in the Spider-Man films. Again, just because it doesn't contain those elements doesn't mean the film is lacking them. You need to explain why Avengers needs these elements -- it seems to work fine without them.
If The Avengers focused too much on one character, one person's growth, then it wouldn't be about The Avengers. This movie is about all the heroes -- all the team members -- and how they came to work together. It doesn't need all the campy drama -- tug at you heart -- moments of Spider-Man 2. In fact, the result of that may have been disastrous.
And the Galaga joke...Yeah, that seemed to bother you a whole lot. My issue with the scene was that it didn't cut together correctly. My initial reaction was to think that Captain America was the one playing Galaga. This would have been much funnier, since he was frozen in ice and didn't get to experience video games. The scene was rather confusing, and it still didn't make sense to me the second time I saw the movie.
So, I agree that it isn't the funniest joke. Since you already admitted that most of the humor worked for you -- let's try and move past it. Together, if necessary. I'm here for you if you need me. I'm really sorry you have to experience it. To be fair, it was just one mediocre joke.
One more thing I have to point out, as evidenced for just how well-crafted this movie is on a technical level, is the continual shot that covers all the heroes as they battle in New York City. Granted, it's not a "real" camera shot -- definitely a digitally created shot. However, it's still quite an amazing sequence.
In one continuous shot the camera is able to move through New York and capture each of the Avengers doing battle. It's moments like this that solidify the purpose of this film -- to give the Avengers an origin story. To bring the team together, and to sell them to an audience as a single package that audiences will love. The Avengers moves the inherent "nerdyness" of a super hero team-up into the realm of something cool that movie fans won't be ashamed to embrace.
Galaga joke did work. Huge pop from the audience all four times ive seen the film. Not everyone will like every joke, but if 75% of people laugh and clap then it worked.
ReplyDelete