The movie opened in Manila way ahead of the US. The superfriends are battling Thor’s evil adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who wants to get a supernatural energy source called tesseract (first featured in “Captain America”) and conquer our planet by opening a hole in the sky where his army of metal soldiers can pass through.
But from the start, you know he doesn’t have a chance. He’s just one, and he’s up against six superheroes. Never mind if he has a sceptre that can hypnotize anyone to be subjugated by him, including Hawkeye who initially works for him.
What makes it even more unbelievable is that Hiddleston doesn’t look like a worthy or formidable opponent. Let’s face it, what is the chance of this puny looking unknown British actor (who looks like a constipated closet queen that refuses to come out) against the likes of Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth? Even when it comes to being a long-haired beauty, he certainly can’t beat the super sexy and ravishing Scarlet Johansson (oh we just so love her.)
But we have to suspend our disbelief to enjoy the movie so, sige na nga. The problem is that the film’s first half is full of so many dakdakan portions that are truly boring stretches. No wonder it feels too long with its more than two-hour running time. If you’re watching this on video, you’d want to flash it forward. Everyone seems to be stranded on the screen while we viewers are eagerly awaiting the next big action set piece. It only turns very exciting during the hyperkinetic, special effects-laden climax when New York City is invaded by Loki’s forces.
It becomes the task of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury to bring them all together from various places like Russia for Scarlet and India for the Hulk. When they first meet, they tease and mock each other for comic relief, they have their personal conflicts as part of building up the story, but in the end, of course, they all combine forces to defeat Loki and his minions and make this an action-packed summer popcorn movie.
Robert Downey is given preferential treatment here as billionaire Tony Stark and he acts like it’s his own movie. He not only saves the world by performing a very heroic feat near the end, he’s also given comic wisecracks, like when he sees Thor in costume: “What’s this, Shakespeare in the park?” At one point, Captain America tells him: “Is everything a joke to you?” But it’s the Hulk who runs away with the movie as a kind of indestructible secret weapon. Hulk is at his best here, especially when compared to his two previous solo screen outings starring Eric Bana and Edward Norton. Mark Ruffalo is so cool as Bruce Banner so maybe it’s time to give him and The Hulk a new solo flick, before they make the sequel “The Avengers 2”.
