The Avengers review

The Avengers
Avengers Assemble (UK).
Written and directed by Joss Whedon.
Paramount Pictures.
Marvel Studios.
Superhero movie.

I had infinitely high hopes for this movie. Ever since Iron Man came out, back in 2008, we knew this movie was going to happen. I watched all five Avenger movies, in a never-ending period of my life. The Avengers seemed still so far away when I watched Thor last year, but now it’s gone. I would chop off my left arm to watch it again before it gets taken out, or to make the DVD come out faster. That’s how good it is.

The whole movie is just... WOW! It is a full-fledged nerdgasm all over. I cannot, or want not, write this review with spoilers, since I do not want to ruin the movie for potential viewers, therefore this review will be a bit superficial.

Well, it all starts with Loki (Tom Hiddleston), brother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), getting this super-awesome scepter from an unseen guy. Meanwhile, the people at SHIELD are trying to harness the power of the Tesseract, which had suddenly started to misbehave, as stated by Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård). This leads to that, Loki declares war on Earth, and Director Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) decides that it is time to bring together the Avengers. The Avengers are “a group of remarkable people,” a group of superheroes of the likes of Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

The story is fantastic, and it is completely related to the other Avenger movies. Having said this, I recommend watching Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, in that order, before watching The Avengers. If possible, right before. It is kind of fast-paced, but not overwhelmingly fast. There are loads of action scenes, plenty of smart-talk scenes and some emotion.

All performances are breath-taking. There was no bad acting anywhere in the 143 minutes this film lasts. I don’t think we can have anyone else play Tony Stark anymore; RDJ is Tony Stark. He is as brilliant and arrogant as ever. Chris Evans is awesome as Steve Rogers. I think I liked Hemsworth’s Thor from the Thor movie better. This Thor is less arrogant, less war-craving. Mark Ruffalo is perfect as Bruce Banner, and The Hulk... The Hulk is just astonishing. I would have liked more Hulk in the movie, though. He only Hulks out twice, but when he does, it’s incredible. Before I watched the movie, I underestimated Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), but then I realized how bafflingly bad-ass he is. In one scene, he fires an arrow at an alien and kills it, without even looking.

I need a whole paragraph for Loki. Tom Hiddleston is brilliant as Loki. Loki is not evil per se, he is just troubled and hurt and tired of being in the shadow of someone else. He wants to be recognized. Hiddleston shows these emotions extremely well. He has some of the best lines in the whole movie (“How desperate are you that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?”). Tom Hiddleston really is one good actor. If he does not get an Oscar for Best Villain or Best Actor, I will go Hulk on the Academy.

The script is really, really good. The movie is perfectly balanced, everything steals the show at every minute. The first hour or so of the movie goes from action to build-up back to action. I loved the talk scenes. Everyone is just there arguing. You cannot form a team of superheroes and have everything run smoothly. This is what made Joss Whedon the perfect choice as director. All the different personalities clash. The easy-going Tony Stark, the patriotic and serious Cap’n America, the alien Thor, trying to get used to Midgardians’ way of doing stuff.

The rest of the movie is the team really getting together and Loki’s invasion taking place. The last hour of the movie is my favorite hour of the movie. The last third of the movie is what Marvel fans have been waiting for the last 49 years. Iron Man, Cap’n America, Thor, The Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) fighting Loki’s army (“I have an army.” “We have a Hulk.”), working together to save avenge the Earth.

Verdict: The Avengers is the best movie I have seen in my life, it is full of good speech, great acting, marvelous special effects, and pure awesomeness. It is completely worthy of all the hype it’s been getting and I just cannot wait for the DVD to come out.

The Avengers is
Awesometastic
6’000,000 stars out of 10

~Akira Villalpando

P.S.: Make sure to stay after the end credits, it will tell you what The Avengers 2’s build-up will be about. Hint: Infinity Gauntlet

Roman

I have some exciting news. I have started to write a fantasy novel. I cannot reveal much right now, I don’t even have a concept yet. But one thing is sure: unlike any writing I have ever done, I will first make an outline of the story. I do intend to write a trilogy, so I have a bit of intensive work to come.

~Akira Villalpando

Great expectations

This past weekend I got and read my hardback of The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) and on Saturday I will watch the movie, so, for next week, expect a review of both the book and the movie.

~Akira Villalpando

Finally

That’s right, my hardback of The Hunger Games is finally here, it arrived yesterday. I began reading it as soon as I got home and I am almost finished with it. It really is amazing. And the book itself is so pretty, it is one of the prettiest books I have.

When I got to the bookstore to pick it up, the clerk told me they had also received the hardbacks of Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and I would have bought them too, if I had had any money. Since I have now read, or am reading it actually, I can now watch the movie, which I will next weekend.

Let the 74^th Hunger Games begin!

~Akira Villalpando

Illusion

There is this girl, I am going to call her C for reasons, who I really like. She goes to my former school, she turned sixteen last month and, well, she is just awesome. According to a lot of people, she is really whorish, but I refuse to believe that. I did not dare talk to her until I met her on Tumblr. I realized that in Tumblr she shows who she really is. That was in late December. I have talked to her a few times, we only chat online, because I am really shy and cannot meet her irl.

I have really strong feelings toward C. They seem to grow each time I think about her, or talk to her. But every time I type my salute and hit Enter, it’s as if I immediately regret it, because I do not know what to say to her. I find talking to Homo sapiens challenging, but I find talking to C plain hard.

So, last night, I dreamt about her. It had been a while since I last dreamt about a girl. When I woke up, I felt so happy, I almost felt renewed. The dream was quite simple. I go one day a week to my former school, I attend a literature class. In the dream, I was there, with her, at school, at the workshop, talking. It was so simple, yet so amazingly vivid and cheering. But, I realize that was only a dream that will probably never come true.

~Akira Villalpando

I am now a Nerdfighter

After almost a year of hesitation, doubt and procrastination, I have joined Nerdfighteria. I do not fully understand it yet, but rest assured I will. If you are interested in contacting me there or whatever, click here to go to my profile.

~Akira Villalpando

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance review

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Directed by Neveldine/Taylor.
Written by S. Gimple, S. Hoffman and David Goyer.
Superhero movie.

I was expecting a lot from this movie. I like the first one a lot and Nicolas Cage is one of my favorite actors, so, naturally, I thought I would like this one just as much, but I did not.

The first half of the movie was a tad boring. I hated the fact that this movie and the first one have nothing to do with one another. For instance, in Ghost Rider, it is shown that Mephistopheles gives Johnny Blaze the Ghost Rider curse, while in Spirit of Vengeance, it is said that a guy named Roarke is the one that gave him the curse. They are both basically the Devil, but there should have been some consistency.

Furthermore, the conflict with Blackheart is never mentioned, nor even implied to its having happened. The general story and concept are somewhat intriguing. There is this kid who is the child of the Devil, who wants to transfer himself to the kid. Johnny wants to protect him, some weird-ass monks want to destroy him.

I really liked the use of CGI in Spirit of Vengeance, specially the effect of smoke emanating from the Rider’s head (I am pretty sure that its head did not smoke in the first movie). The effect when Blackout uses his powers were somewhat annoying, it gets all dark and the only people who appear are him and the person he is killing.

The 3D effect was very badly used. I ended up with a slight headache, something that I had never experienced with any 3D media.

Verdict: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is not as good as Ghost Rider and is better enjoyed in 2D. I award it 5.5 out of 10 stars.

~Akira Villalpando