Marvel`s The Avengers - DVD

Film: At the end of Iron Man 1, it was a slight foreboding. With The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, hope grew. And with Thor and Captain America, it finally became an exciting certainty: The Avengers are coming to theaters! Directed by Joss Whedon, the genius behind series like Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, the heroes of the Marvel universe are gathering to fight their first cinematic battle together. The result exceeds all expectations and has become the most successful superhero movie of all time (so far), with a worldwide box office take of $1.5 billion.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has survived the dramatic battle with his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and now vows revenge. His target is a cosmic cube that was recovered from the ice along with Captain America (Chris Evans), and it is now being held by the international organization S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). When Loki manages to steal the cube, while also brainwashing Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), Fury realizes that the world is on the brink of disaster. To prevent it, he must rally a team of very special warriors to put a stop to Loki. And so he reactivates the Avengers Initiative, which was actually shelved, and asks Steve Rogers aka Captain America, Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who turns into the dangerous Hulk when he throws a tantrum, to work together to avert the impending catastrophe. But first, they must tame the powerful egos that are about to collide. When Thor joins the team, the chances seem good that Loki's plans can be thwarted. But little do the Avengers know that they're actually up against a much more powerful enemy.

While the films presented to this gathering really only served to introduce the superheroes and prepare them for this adventure, they had enough independence and quality to stand on their own. Of course, this also increased the danger that a meeting of all these superheroes could seem overloaded and some figures of such strong characters like Tony Stark could be pushed too much into the background. But the all-clear can be given: Joss Whedon has managed to get all the actors to fully play to their characters' strengths, playing off each other but not against each other. This is true not only for the superheroes who have already established themselves in their own films, but also for the two new additions Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who made a brief appearance in Thor, and the beguiling as well as powerful Black Widow (Scarlett Johanson), who barely managed to make an impression in Iron Man 2 but more than makes up for it here.

The character of Bruce Banner, a.k.a. Hulk, has particularly benefited from good characterization. Twice in recent years, attempts have been made to bring the green gamma ray mutant to new screen glory. But neither Eric Bana, nor Edward Norton were able to draw crowds to the movies with their portrayals of the genius scientist who, as Tony Stark so beautifully puts it, turns into a green rage monster. Why Hulk now works so well in the Avengers is partly due to the fact that Mark Ruffalo is much more believable as the nerdy scientist than, say, Edward Norton. On the other hand, it is also due to the fact that Whedon does not conceive his Hulk as a tragic figure, but spices his attacks not only action-packed, but also with humor and a very high fun factor. As such, Hulk is responsible for two of the film's most amusing moments. And that is considering the fact that Robert Downey Jr. as Iron man once again gets to show his extremely casual-cool side and delivers some great lines, a great achievement.

If The Avengers lived only on the action and the really good special effects, the film would still be good popcorn cinema. After all, the last thirty minutes offer non-stop action with great stunts and top-notch effects that almost make you feel a little slayed. But what ultimately makes the film so successful is the excellent interplay between the actors and their characters, which is further aided by Joss Whedon's fine script. Whedon's strength has always been good, occasionally very funny dialogue, but also a coherent character arc, from which even minor supporting characters such as Agent Maria Hill, played by How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders, or Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), who has appeared briefly in almost every Marvel superhero movie, benefit.

Whedon has skillfully woven together set pieces from all the films to create a cohesive whole in this film. It even takes the time to explain, for instance, why Nathalie Portman's character from Thor is absent, even though the divine superhero had, after all, vowed to return to her if he managed to find a way back to Earth. On the other hand, the whole thing works even if you haven't seen all or any of the previous films. The fun factor is then minimized a bit, but best entertainment offers the Avengers even then.

So it is thanks to Joss Whedon and his actors that the hotly anticipated meeting of the Marvel heroes has become an all-round success. An exciting story, which can come up with a really great villain, great effects that work both in 3D and 2D, and of course the wonderful cast ensemble, which can convince up to the smallest supporting role, provide over two hours of best entertainment. It may be that the intellect is not overly strained here, but instead the fun center gets its money's worth. And for that there can only be one recommendation: Absolutely worth seeing!!!

Picture + Sound: In terms of technology, the implementation of the blockbuster for the DVD is on quite a high level. The picture is very clean, detail sharpness is at a high level and colours are powerfully mixed. There is also hardly anything to complain about in terms of contrast. The sound, of course, has quite a few great surround effects to offer, especially in the numerous action sequences. But even in the quieter moments, the sound of the DVD can convince with the good tuning of the dialogues and the film music. This can only be bettered on the Blu-Ray. Very good!

Extras: In terms of bonus material, buyers of the DVD have once again lost out. They only get a 7 minute documentary about the making of the film. That is for the third most successful film of all time simply much too little. More to offer has the Blu-Ray, the 3D/2D Blu-Ray combo has even a bonus disc with a 90-minute documentary on board. So who wants to penetrate deeper into the world of the Avengers, which must unfortunately also reach deeper into the pocket.

Conclusion: Marvel's The Avengers is an extremely entertaining superhero movie that has humor, suspense and action in equal measure to offer and can also come up with quite a few show values. For the DVD, the blockbuster was technically very well implemented, only with the extras weakens the disc. Here it's worth getting the Blu-Ray, which offers much more bonus material. If it's just about the film, but can confidently reach for the DVD. Absolutely recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp