Lady in the pool?
We caught the 10:20 showing last night. Tons of fun, though the action has started to get numbing in these things. I find myself far more interested in the quieter character beats (of which this film had far more), and when the action kicks up, I only really find my attention grabbed by cool, technically proficient shots like the extended oner during the opening battle (a riff on the same kind of "one-shot-follows-the-entire-team" from the first film). Far better shot than the first film (yay, better lighting that doesn't look like a CBS sitcom!), the direction felt more self-assured, the comedy beats were numerous but fun...I don't see how you could leave the film and not feel satisfied. I don't like the elision of character beats that these team-up films require (Tony destroying his suits and getting out of the Iron Man game was the entire point of
Iron Man 3, and here he shows up, fully-suited, mid-battle, with no reason; the first Thor film was given climactic weight by his knowing sacrifice of seeing his love again in order to save the Earth, and then *poof*, he just pops up in
Avengers with a throwaway line about "dark magic", etc.), but when the result is this fun, it's hard to quibble with getting the pieces back on the board as quickly as possible. As the Marvel brand expands, they are going to get muddier and muddier, though, which is a small shame.
I have to say, in the film, I was worried about the Vision stuff; there was no reason to trust him (less than no reason, in fact; he was, after all, made from the guy about to destroy the world), but the astonishing economy of storytelling used to instantly sell both the audience and the characters on his worthiness was amazing. My theater literally gasped aloud at that little beat. SO GOOD.
My one real complaint is that I kind of hated the Dr. Helen Cho stuff...maybe it was the actress (who wasn't very good), maybe it was my own lack of familiarity with the character, but she seemed very shoehorned in to play to the overseas market (more and more big-budget blockbusters are doing this, because it pays dividends upon release). Broadening the diversity of the cast isn't a problem at all; it was more that her scenes felt like they were shot and focused directly on her, despite anything else going on at the time, like the movie decided to drop everything because she was onscreen.
Skyfall and
Iron Man 3 had these kinds of scenes as well, but they felt much more integrated into the piece. *shrug*
That said, aside from some minor quibbles, it was a great time.
EDIT: Also, kudos on the misdirect, Whedon. You had me convinced
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