This film, the first product of the Marvel/Lions Gate animation deal, takes its inspiration and plot from the first year of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's mega-popular The Ultimates, but as the title suggests, there's more than a little of the original Avengers in here too. So-called New Avengers need not apply, as there's not much chatting, and the heroes do in fact appear during the story.
This is a pretty good debut, and as a lifelong Avengers fan, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my favourite heroes on screen, but it's also not without its problems. The animation quality is variable, and to be utterly truthful, the film occasionally looks a bit cheap, like a bog-standard production line Saturday morning cartoon show, rather than the special movie event it's supposed to be. Similarly, the art style used has that rather bland and generic US adventure cartoon style, which is a considerable disappointment considering the source material; I know enough about animation to know that converting Bryan Hitch's detailed art into an animated form would be prohibitively time consuming and expensive, but even so it would have been nice to have brought a more distinctive visual style to the project. The Japanese do it all the time. On the other hand, the direction is quite strong, and there are a number of great visual sequences that effectively translate the "widescreen' storytelling of the comic into the real thing. The fights, crucially important in something like this, are also well choreographed and full of exciting, fluid movement, with the climactic battle with the Hulk a particular standout.
The film's biggest drawback is the writing, in particular some misguided decisions regarding plot and characterisation. Combining the plots of the first two Ultimates arcs was a good move, as breadth of content has never been a strength of the source material, but it has led to a rather choppy final act, as the screenwriters seem to be unable to decide whether the climax of the film should concern the Hulk's rampage or the Skrulls/Chitauri. The finale kicks off with a Chitauri invasion fleet descending upon SHIELD's headquarters, but then the aliens are seemingly forgotten as the narrative focus shifts to the Hulk. There's no real sense that the Avengers defeat the aliens; it's more like the Chitauri spontaneously, but quietly, cease to be a particularly pressing problem. In comparison to the desperately hard-fought battle in the comics, this comes as something of a disappointment. Similarly, Captain America's Nazi/Chitauri nemesis, Herr Klenser, is introduced in the opening sequence (a brilliant reproduction of The Ultimates #1, although sadly lacking the "parachutes are for girls" moment), and is dispatched in a suitably ambiguous way that suggests a later appearance, but he fails to turn up, and as such we're robbed of the dramatic impact of the Cap/Kleiser fight, as well as the insane violence of the Nazi's battle with the Hulk. The result is a final battle in which Captain America, very much the narrative focus of the film as a whole, has no personal stake, and the Hulk is left with no one to fight.
The loss of Kleiser also robs the film of a thoroughly entertaining personality, and sadly it's merely one of the many missteps in characterisation made throughout the movie. The glitches are also quite baffling; Hank Pym's abusive tendencies towards the Wasp, the Hulk's cannibalism, and Captain America's abrasive personality are all toned down or done away with completely, suggesting an attempt to appeal to younger viewers, and yet there is plenty of death and destruction, and the film's Iron Man is from the non-Ultimate continuity, complete with the much darker portrayal of his alcoholism. In most cases, these changes aren't a problem, and probably won't even be noticed by the hypothetical new viewer, but in others, the film suffers; Pym's personality is clumsily replaced with the irreverent jokiness of Avengers Hawkeye, and the film-makers appear to have forgotten to give Cap anything to replace his Ultimate identity, resulting in a rather bland and forgettable lead character. Thor, easily the most entertaining and interesting of the Ultimates in their comic appearances, makes it to the film largely intact, but he doesn't get nearly enough screen time. We also lose the many scenes of the team chatting and getting to know each other, and while The Ultimates isn't exactly the most deep of comics, even that negligible depth is conspicuously absent here.
One area where I really can't fault the film is in the music. Well okay, perhaps I would have liked to have heard some kind of stirring "Avengers Theme", but on the whole, the composer does a fantastic job, providing a solid action movie score that effectively reflects and supports the on-screen action. I'm sure I'm not the only one to get an outbreak of goosebumps as Thor descends from the storm clouds, wreathed in lightning, and accompanied by an ominous choral theme. Spot on.
It might seem like I didn't like this film at all, but that's not the case, and not just because of my long-standing allegiance to Earth's Mightiest Heroes. While there are many flaws, they are for the most part rather minor, and don't detract entirely from what the film-makers get right, which is a faithful and entertaining adaptation of the storytelling style of the source material, if not every little detail. It would have been nice for Lions Gate and Marvel to begin their partnership with something truly stunning, but this certainly isn't a bad start, and it makes for a solid foundation for future stories.
This is a pretty good debut, and as a lifelong Avengers fan, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my favourite heroes on screen, but it's also not without its problems. The animation quality is variable, and to be utterly truthful, the film occasionally looks a bit cheap, like a bog-standard production line Saturday morning cartoon show, rather than the special movie event it's supposed to be. Similarly, the art style used has that rather bland and generic US adventure cartoon style, which is a considerable disappointment considering the source material; I know enough about animation to know that converting Bryan Hitch's detailed art into an animated form would be prohibitively time consuming and expensive, but even so it would have been nice to have brought a more distinctive visual style to the project. The Japanese do it all the time. On the other hand, the direction is quite strong, and there are a number of great visual sequences that effectively translate the "widescreen' storytelling of the comic into the real thing. The fights, crucially important in something like this, are also well choreographed and full of exciting, fluid movement, with the climactic battle with the Hulk a particular standout.
The film's biggest drawback is the writing, in particular some misguided decisions regarding plot and characterisation. Combining the plots of the first two Ultimates arcs was a good move, as breadth of content has never been a strength of the source material, but it has led to a rather choppy final act, as the screenwriters seem to be unable to decide whether the climax of the film should concern the Hulk's rampage or the Skrulls/Chitauri. The finale kicks off with a Chitauri invasion fleet descending upon SHIELD's headquarters, but then the aliens are seemingly forgotten as the narrative focus shifts to the Hulk. There's no real sense that the Avengers defeat the aliens; it's more like the Chitauri spontaneously, but quietly, cease to be a particularly pressing problem. In comparison to the desperately hard-fought battle in the comics, this comes as something of a disappointment. Similarly, Captain America's Nazi/Chitauri nemesis, Herr Klenser, is introduced in the opening sequence (a brilliant reproduction of The Ultimates #1, although sadly lacking the "parachutes are for girls" moment), and is dispatched in a suitably ambiguous way that suggests a later appearance, but he fails to turn up, and as such we're robbed of the dramatic impact of the Cap/Kleiser fight, as well as the insane violence of the Nazi's battle with the Hulk. The result is a final battle in which Captain America, very much the narrative focus of the film as a whole, has no personal stake, and the Hulk is left with no one to fight.
The loss of Kleiser also robs the film of a thoroughly entertaining personality, and sadly it's merely one of the many missteps in characterisation made throughout the movie. The glitches are also quite baffling; Hank Pym's abusive tendencies towards the Wasp, the Hulk's cannibalism, and Captain America's abrasive personality are all toned down or done away with completely, suggesting an attempt to appeal to younger viewers, and yet there is plenty of death and destruction, and the film's Iron Man is from the non-Ultimate continuity, complete with the much darker portrayal of his alcoholism. In most cases, these changes aren't a problem, and probably won't even be noticed by the hypothetical new viewer, but in others, the film suffers; Pym's personality is clumsily replaced with the irreverent jokiness of Avengers Hawkeye, and the film-makers appear to have forgotten to give Cap anything to replace his Ultimate identity, resulting in a rather bland and forgettable lead character. Thor, easily the most entertaining and interesting of the Ultimates in their comic appearances, makes it to the film largely intact, but he doesn't get nearly enough screen time. We also lose the many scenes of the team chatting and getting to know each other, and while The Ultimates isn't exactly the most deep of comics, even that negligible depth is conspicuously absent here.
One area where I really can't fault the film is in the music. Well okay, perhaps I would have liked to have heard some kind of stirring "Avengers Theme", but on the whole, the composer does a fantastic job, providing a solid action movie score that effectively reflects and supports the on-screen action. I'm sure I'm not the only one to get an outbreak of goosebumps as Thor descends from the storm clouds, wreathed in lightning, and accompanied by an ominous choral theme. Spot on.
It might seem like I didn't like this film at all, but that's not the case, and not just because of my long-standing allegiance to Earth's Mightiest Heroes. While there are many flaws, they are for the most part rather minor, and don't detract entirely from what the film-makers get right, which is a faithful and entertaining adaptation of the storytelling style of the source material, if not every little detail. It would have been nice for Lions Gate and Marvel to begin their partnership with something truly stunning, but this certainly isn't a bad start, and it makes for a solid foundation for future stories.