THE AVENGERS by Pamela Powell

THE AVENGERS opened last weekend and blasted the previous opening gross income record holder HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 by $38.2 million dollars for a total of $207.4 milion!  With its all-star cast of Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, and Mark Ruffalo and the theme of "super hero," it was bound to be a blockbuster.  Not to say that it was good, but it most certainly was a blockbuster!

In the past 12 months, I've seen The Green Lantern, The Green Hornet (and now another green monster, The Incredible Hulk), X-Men, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and let me not forget, Super!  Ok, I don't know if Super counts or not, but it was definitely the most bizarre and unorthodox Super Hero Movie on my list.  And now we have The Avengers in the theaters playing to sold out crowds.  It took more than one attempt to see it in my small town where, on more than one occasion, I have had the entire theater to myself to view other movies.  I had to wait till Monday night to see the 3-D version.  Needless to say, we have been inundated with Super Hero movies as of late!

3-D gave me the pleasure of paying more to see The Avengers; not something I love doing, but I didn't have a choice.  I really do just enjoy a 2-D movie with more character depth than visual depth!  Reviewing The Avengers is going to be short and sweet, unlike the movie.  (Why do I feel like a deja vu with Transformers?)  How much can I say about the fact that all the Marvel comic book characters came together to fight evil.  Yes, there was a lot of action.  Yes, there were a lot of things blowing up.  Yes, there were a lot of special effects.  And yes, there were a lot of close ups of Scarlett Johansson's lips.  I think I just typed up the recipe for "A Perfect Guy Movie." Sorry, there was no sex.  It was rated PG-13.

Robert Downey, Jr., provided the much needed interestingly delivered and humorous lines so typical of Downey's character in Iron Man.  Then there was Thor aka Chris Hemsworth.  Need I say more?  Those blue eyes get me every time.  I also liked the Shakespearean reference that Tony Stark (Downey) made to Thor which was quite appropriate given that Kenneth Branagh directed Thor!  There was no real love interest in the movie and the little bit between Stark and Miss Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) wasn't enough to interest any female.  Therefore, oh fellow movie goers, it must be stated that the aforementioned film is most palatable by the male gender.  (I know, I know, a poor attempt at Shakespeare vernacular!)

With that, I have a recommendation.  Guys, go see it!  Guys who are fans of Marvel comic characters, go see it!  You will love it!  Ladies, send your guys to go see it!  Then meet up with your girlfriends and have a couple of martinis while they are off watching things fly and blow up.  You will have 124 minutes plus preview time which means 2 1/2 hours of kicking back and relaxing!  I guess that means I have to give this movie a thumbs up for many different reasons!

Oh, boy!  Two more super hero movies to look forward to this summer!  Batman and Spiderman...Martinis beforehand?

5 Reels out of 10