Avenging Superheroes: II

I feel myself all properly prepared for Avengers this spring. I finally gave in and put a hold on the three newest superhero movies from the library; Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern.

Captain America

This film taught us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, but only if they're genetically enhanced. I would have liked this movie much, much better if the small guy had proved that being small doesn't mean you can't succeed. Instead he proved that being small is useless, but if you keep trying some mad scientist will make you the big guy. The shield should have been superpowers enough. I wanted to see the shortest guy in the entire U.S. Army succeed, and I didn't get that. I was quite annoyed.

My favorite character from Captain America was Howard Stark. Watching this movie made me suddenly more interested in seeing the first Iron Man movie. Geniuses who develop cool tech are my sort of hero. The shield was super cool, but I had a refrigerator moment the next day when I suddenly realized that every time I saw Steve throw the shield I was making an association with Tron. (It's round, you throw it, and it comes back to you.)

Thor

Thor was my favorite of the trio! We actually watched this one as a family. It was a little too intense for my little sisters, though. They tend to get overlooked when it comes to whether or not a movie is suitable. I was also gratified, when I looked up my Norse Mythology, to find out that the movie was more or less accurate.

My favorite character was Loki. Loki always has and always will be my favorite of the Norse gods. His character was extremely well developed, and his motivations were both realistic and totally tragic. I feel so sorry for him, and the Avenger Trailers are not changing that for me.

One thing I thought could have been done better was actually in the editing. Several of the deleted scenes cleared up parts of the movie I found confusing, specifically the ones before Thor's coronation. If they needed to make the movie shorter they could have cut out some of the interminable fight scenes that dragged on for absolutely forever.

Green Lantern


I didn't realize, until after I started watching this movie, that it's not Marvel! It's DC Comics, which suddenly makes my brother's friend's comments about a Justice League movie that much more sensible. Although, with Christopher Nolan remaking the Batman and Superman series a Justice League movie starring those two alongside the types of Green Lantern would be a little incongruous.

I got to watch this one with my brother, which means I got to sit there and make all sorts of snarky comments like:

The mask looks like a bird beak, and really doesn't protect against identity.
Any organization that's been in existence this long has big problem.
The entire Green Lantern Corp is a bunch of over-confident wimps.
"The Emerald Energy of Will..." (say it with a whispery, mysterious voice.)

Overall, I actually liked this movie. I liked the green. I liked the random guy factor. I liked the fact that his girlfriend was intelligent. I had serious problems with the scientific plausibility of the source of power of the two opposing factions. And the guardians are a bunch of idiots. It's definitely not your typical superhero story, and that definitely gives it brownie points. The sequel looks promising, but could we please loose the stupid mask?

It is going to be awesome.