The wait is finally over. The Avengers has finally come home. I personally couldn’t wait to finally own this movie. I decided to just jump the gun and buy the regular edition blu-ray package and not the overly amazing Phase One 10-disc collection. Seeing as that one has been pushed back I think I made the right decision. With this blu-ray package you actually get quite a bit for your money and I’m okay with that.
Let’s talk about the movie first and foremost. There’s no denying this was a nerd’s dream come true. I never would’ve thought it could work but somehow Joss Whedon managed the impossible. He somehow gathered some of the biggest super hero movies around and melded them into a unified super hero flick. I’m a huge fan of the comics and Joss Whedon put my nerd fears to rest.
The way the character’s egos react to one another is pure Marvel magic. You can’t have the Hulk and Thor not hit each other. I also thought how awesome it would be if we could get a Marvel Civil War movie; Captain America and Iron Man’s argument lead me to such ideas. Hopefully Marvel will get some of its licenses back such as Spider-Man, or the X-Men (neither of them likely) and we could be in for a treat for the sequel.
The movie’s great, but really what about the blu-ray package? Even better! Of course the picture looks beautiful, sound is as crisp as you remember it from the theater and the Joss Whedon commentary is quite amusing. The special features were nice but I couldn’t help think that they could’ve easily poured more into it. Maybe saving the rest for the Phase One set?
The special features had quite a few deleted scenes, which were very entertaining for a comic book geek like myself. It was nice to see a little bit more Hawkeye than in the movie, seeing as he was woefully underused throughout the film. One scene showed Steve Rogers adapting to the present day, which was nice but it would go with a solo Captain America movie so much better.
What’s more interesting than the deleted scenes was Marvel’s One-Shot, “Item 47”. It shows the journey of a couple (Lizzy Caplan, and Jesse Bradford) discovering one of the weapons the alien Chitauri Army uses during the invasion of New York. Using the weapon for ill, they pretty much go on a Bonnie and Clyde like rampage. The short film was good, and it could be used as an indication on how the Shield TV series will flow.
Looking back on things, Joss Whedon somehow capture lightning in a bottle with The Avengers. He managed a Nick Fury-sized task in making this movie and somehow came out unscathed. His commentary on the disc will show you how clever, dedicated and crazy this man truly is. This is only his second movie! Pretty damn good if you ask me. It would be a travesty for you to own this movie and not check it out.
In terms of the video and audio, both perform enormously well. Hopefully you have a high definition TV and a great audio set up. This is one of the biggest action movies of our time; you need to experience it as such. I didn’t experience the movie in 3D but if you have the option do so, you should- the chatter online is that it’s absolutely fantastic. If you want to show how awesome your home theater is to your friends this is the movie to do it with.
The Avengers in my humble opinion may be in the running for the best super hero movie of all time. It certainly beat out The Dark Knight Rises (even though that was a great film too). No other movie this summer surprised me more than The Avengers. I thought there would be too much going on in the movie and too many characters to care about. Thankfully, I was wrong. In Joss Whedon we trust.