The Avengers

They did it again! This time with the biggest and most anticipated release of the year. This Blu-ray release seems fine for anyone who cares just for the movie, but Joss Whedon fans, and Blu-ray enthusiasts would be thoroughly disappointed with this lame release. This release reportedly not just omits the "Commentary track by Director Joss Whedon", but also drops the meatiest of the extras, the in-depth documentary "Assembling the ultimate team". Both these extras are schedule to appear on all the international Blu-ray editions of the film and yes, they are all single disc releases and I see absolutely no reason why the documentary and the commentary track were not made available to us here. What the local studios have been doing to us with these releases is totally unacceptable and unpardonable. I'm staying away from this sub-par release.

The Avengers is one of that rare gem of a film that not only delivered what it promised, but also, maybe, even surpassed the expectations.
Even repeated viewings do not rob the film of its “mighty” sheen.
Not only it is action packed but witty, touching and yes, though knowing about the Superheroes helps, you don’t have to have seen their previous films.
The director Joe Whedon introduces them progressively and takes care not to over whelm you with the incredible powers of the heroes.
(For movie buffs, I am including the approximate time given to each super hero, in mins: Hawkeye: 12, Thor: 26, Bruce Banner/The Hulk: 28, Black Widow: 33, Iron Man: 37, Captain America: 37)
Not many in India have heard of Whedon who unfortunately does not share the same status like say, Christopher Nolan, and was inspired by ‘67 film The Dirty Dozen (where the preparation time for training the prisoners was 120 minutes and the final Nazi fight only 20 minutes) and the patriotic Black Hawk Down.
By intermission (India must be the only country in the world to “force” intervals at in-importunate times, probably so that the Cinemas get their earnings from the popcorn and soft drinks) I had decided on the inevitable: The Blu-ray purchase.
Since there is confusion about the Blu ray contents, I am clarifying here after viewing the Blu-ray at home. The film is in 7.1 English/5.1 Hindi. Images are razor sharp (in one scene I could see the seams on the trousers!) with impressive colors as is to be expected in such a title. Bonus features ARE present and include an explanation of the sets, a gag reel, extended/ deleted scenes and a short film “Item 47” about how a couple recovers an Alien weapon after the invasion & its repossession.
Unlike the Dark Knight trilogy where the film made you think and which was cerebrally stimulating, Avengers does not take itself so seriously and sprinkled liberally are lot of one liners that I missed in my cinema viewing (but enhanced my experienced in home-viewing courtesy Subtitles: the greatest invention ever in home cinema) and is “asli” popcorn fun, best enjoyed with a group so you can shout, laugh & sometimes, shed a tear, at the jaw-dropping spectacle(s).
Initially we are introduced to Banner/Hulk working in the slums of Kolkata (shot in New Mexico)
There are 3 scenes where the six Avengers come together and drew a wild cheer from the audience.
The first iconic one is during the fight with the aliens when they arrange themselves in a circle, with a dreamlike, graceful glide by Iron Man, completing the formation, and the camera takes a revolving, loving look at each Avenger.
The second one has Hawkeye in the Centre and all surrounding Loki when he is falls.
And most of you must have missed this: a brief scene AFTER the rolling credits END, where the six come for a meal of Shawarma, an Arab meat preparation.
The film has a long satisfying climatic scene that will have you gasping, leaving you exhausted as one action act comes after another, seemingly with no respite, endlessly, mercilessly.
Even the dialogues can be identified by us in India as they have that silly touch of humour (When Captain America asks the Iron Man for an Attack Plan he says he has a plan: Attack!)
The story is about a Demi-God Loki who has taken over a Tessract, an energy source that allows him to step into earth and plans to take over the planet using an alien army.
Nick Fury of SHIELD (a secret spy agency) finds that he is no match for Loki and collects all the superheroes: The Avengers Initiative.
The first minutes of the film are action packed with awe-inspiring sound with explosions, gun shots, flashes of lights and destruction and similar to the start of Indiana Jones/ Bond films, which could easily serve as a climax of many films.
The next 45/50 minutes is mostly chatty and takes place in the helicarrier (an enormous ship that performs like a helicopter) and a subsequent attack on it.
But it is in the final stage, the film really rolls up its sleeves and arrives, after the preliminaries are done with, the Avengers motivation coming from a death of a central character.
The camera pans from each Avenger to Avenger, sequentially and showcases their individual and combined contribution in the battle against the Aliens: The Chitauris, and maybe sending a social message to ask countries to leave aside all differences if they have to fight for a common cause.
The film deftly (and deliberately) ends with a polished touch where the Irons Man’s Tower that had the giant letters “Stark” ( Iron man’s name) being partly destroyed in the alien invasion and only an A remaining, signifying the Avengers and probably the tower being the next site of action in Avengers 2.
Not unsurprisingly, as the Flipkart synopsis says, The Avengers is the third highest grosser all times, after Avatar and Titanic.
Recommended.
S.T.R.O.N.G.L.Y.

As I missed this in the Theatre, I waited a long time for the Blu-Ray to come out and it was worth the wait..Thanks to flipkart. I knew back in 2008 when Iron Man came out, that The Avengers were Assembling.

I did not understand why Marvel made a second "Hulk" film after Ang lee's marvel-ous work, but that Hulk was a stand-alone story, and not worked into the fabric of the Marvel Multiverse.

Each solo Avengers film introduced characters which were to be in this film, Iron Man was the most developed of them all, The Hulk, Captain America and Thor each developed those characters for this film.
I was nothing short of blown away as the movie progressed! From the main story line/plot, to the underlying story and other messages that the I saw from the story. The plot, from beginning to end, was important all the way through and must not be missed for the viewer to experience all this movie has to offer.

I hope that any other future movie viewers find this movie just as appealing as I did! I highly recommend this movie for anyone looking for a n action film that is appropriate for children and can still amuse adults at the same time!

I just received my copy today and it was far better than my expectations. With short comic magazine , this DVD was just AWESOME! The quality is superb and it also has Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu along with English. Flipkart's service was as usual - great. I watched this film like already many times and just can't get over it. I loved this movie like all Marvel movies and this is a must buy. This Movie ASSEMBLES all my favorite Marvel heroes namely -
IRON MAN/TONY STARK , played by Robert Downey Jr.,the playboy in a high-tech armor suit ;
CAPTAIN AMERICA/STEVE ROGERS (Chris Evans) , the star-spangled World War hero;
BRUCE BANNER/THE HULK (Mark Ruffalo), the genius and ticking time bomb with great anger Management issues;
THOR (Chris Hemsworth), the out of our world Hammer carrying hero ;
HAWKEYE/CLINT BARTON (Jeremy Renner), the awesomely crazy archer;
BLACK WIDOW/NATASHA ROMANOFF (Scarlett Johanson), The sexy yet deadly asset of the team ;
all up against LOKI (Tom Hiddleston), the evil Prince of mischief and adopted brother of Thor.

Samuel L. Jackson's performance as NICK FURY ,Clark Greg's as PHIL COULSON and Cobie Smulders's as MARIA HILL are also commendable.

What to expect when all this comes to your home theater ?
Super Action , Blazing bullets , Big Outer Space Explosion , A Super script and Humour ! With witty dialouges and hardcore action,
You certainly don't wanna miss this EPIC Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Joss Whedon has combined all these ingredients so well ,it is truly amazing and just as the cover says "THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE OF ALL TIME".
(psst... Can't I rate it 100 out of 5!)

The movie may be the third highest grosser of all time in Hollywood but I was disappointed with the overall package.

Pros:

1. Good picture quality with razor sharp details.
2. Great special effects. Very slick overall production.

Cons:

1. Same old predictable story , if I were to cut and paste a few scenes from Battleship or Transformers 3 (especially the last fight scenes on the city streets) you would not be able to tell the difference.

2. The main villain Loki not only looks anemic but gets pretty easily beaten up in less than 10 secs by Hulk.

3. The surround sound is a big disappointment . I have a Denon AV receiver with Energy speaker system and the rear surround hardly got a work out .

4. Very little repeat value. You might watch it once with friends but that is it. Not the kind of movie you would want to stay back on a Sat might at home and enjoy over a nice scotch