The Avengers (2012)

Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.

Director:

Joss Whedon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (screenplay), Zak Penn (story),

Stars:

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson

Top 250 #152 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 16 wins & 57 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Tony Stark / Iron Man
Chris Evans	...	Steve Rogers / Captain America
Mark Ruffalo	...	Bruce Banner / The Hulk
Chris Hemsworth	...	Thor
Scarlett Johansson	...	Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Jeremy Renner	...	Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Tom Hiddleston	...	Loki
Clark Gregg	...	Agent Phil Coulson
Cobie Smulders	...	Agent Maria Hill
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Selvig
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Nick Fury
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Pepper Potts
Paul Bettany	...	Jarvis (voice)
Alexis Denisof	...	The Other
Tina Benko	...	NASA Scientist

Storyline

Nick Fury is director of S.H.I.E.L.D, an international peace keeping agency. The agency is a who's who of Marvel Super Heroes, with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When global security is threatened by Loki and his cohorts, Nick Fury and his team will need all their powers to save the world from disaster.

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Plot Keywords:

shield | captain | captain america | thor | tesseract | 

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Genres:

Action

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [gb]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

4 May 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Marvel's The Avengers

Filming Locations:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$220,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$207,438,708 (USA) (4 May 2012)

Gross:

$623,279,547 (USA) (28 September 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital (Dolby Surround 7.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Cobie Smulders screen tested for the role of Agent Maria Hill. Smulders was eventually cast.

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Goofs

When Loki blasts the Police car, causing it to nose-skid then flip, as it comes to rest you can see some gas still escaping from the location of the compressed air cannon under the rear of the car.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Other: The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world. A human world. They would wield its power, but our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead. And our force, our Chitauri, will follow. The world will be his. The universe yours. And the humans, what can they do but burn?

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Crazy Credits

Part of the closing credits are seen amongst the equipment used by the main cast: Iron Man's armor, Captain America's shield, Thor's armour, Hawkeye's quiver, Black Widow's stingers, Dr Banner's glasses and Fury's gun.

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Connections

Version of The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Shoot to Thrill"
Written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson
Performed by AC/DC
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment

User Reviews

An Unstoppable Force of Awesomeness! All Hail The New King!

I have got to tell anyone who will listen that this is one of THE best adventure movies I've ever seen. It's almost impossible to convey how pumped I am now that I've seen it. I purposefully avoid hyping myself for movies because when expectations are too high, nothing seems to be able to reach them. I usually avoid the hype train whenever possible. That said, I was jacked to see this movie and was fully aboard the hype train. It couldn't be helped. So, I was certainly open to intense disappointment had this movie not been good. I'm so happy to report just the opposite has happened.

The only word I can think of to describe this movie is AWESOME. It's amazing work and everything I had hoped for and more. It's exceptional entertainment for the uninitiated but it has everything a fanboy could want to be sure. It has every little nuance of what a fanboy wants to see. One of the MANY things I loved was the tension and flat out conflict that arises between team members. It's not a two dimensional "team wonderful that bands together to fight crime ho ho ho." Most don't like each other at fist and there is so much texture to be played. That is great because so many of these characters are larger than life. They have egos and the big guns aren't used to working with other people or even playing by the rules. Stark, Thor and Banner all work "the other side of the fence" so to speak. Then there's the Widow, Hawkeye and Captain America who are used to following orders and playing within a command structure. They are all thrown together in a wonderful and, best of all, believable fashion. Again, more than I ever dreamed possible.

The entire cast really delivered. You needed more than just action actors or stunt doubles to play all these parts. The pathos is there but so are the timing and true deep performances. Look, I was missing Ed Norton as much as anyone on that hype train I talked about but I'm so happy to say that Mark Ruffalo won me over. I hope he's locked up for the long haul because we don't need any more changes. Three was the lucky number for movie Banners. Every other actor in Avnegers that we've seen before is BETTER than their previous incarnation (EVERY single one) with the possible exception of RDJ as Stark. He's great but it's hard to top his take on the character from the original Iron Man in an ensemble movie. I also have to fully disclose that I'm insanely attracted to Scarlett Johansson. I thought her Widow character was amazing but I'm definitely judging that through rose colored glasses. The character arcs that run there course during this film will surprise a lot of general audiences expecting nothing more than a Transformers type popcorn scarfdown.

I honestly don't want to give away ANY of the movie with this review because this is one film that needs every scene to be savored. Do yourself a favor and remain unspoiled. It's how I saw the movie (apart from what the trailers showed) and even though you're obviously reading this review, read no others with any kind of spoilers whatsoever. Experience the awesomeness for yourself. Avengers as a movie and as a team on screen is an unstoppable force. I'm just going to say, Hulk & Thor combination equals AWESOME and leave it at that. This movie defines MUST SEE.