The Avengers The Avengers Critics Reviews Thread - Part 1

[Tony Stark]

Its not going to be as high as TDK. We've been over this already. Move on.

And as far as Kyle Smith's review, it's the (Newscorp) NY Post. Joss' liberal leanings could easily have cost him half a star. Ill take 3 stars from that guy any day of the week. Plus, he has to leave himself room for that 3.5-4 rating for TDKR.

Again, I'm surprised how much love Whedon is getting from overseas critics. I underestimated his reputation.

Percentage wise? or average rating? I think percentage wise this should be above 90%, but I could be wrong. Average rating will probably be below TDK, but should be higher than Iron Man.

 

[TheLastAvenger]

I hope so. But dark knight was at 100% for almost 100 reviews and in the end it settled at 95% I think. But on rotten tomatoes reviews are added even after the movie comes on dvd so they can always bring the percentage down. I still hope that by the end it stops at 94 -95%.

I don't know that anybody really cares about what the percentage is by the time it hits DVD. "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" currently stand at the same percentage (94%), but partly because 4 of the rottens for TDK came months after it came out, while Iron Man's latest rotten came only 1 month after.

While I would never give TDK a rotten for the flaws it has, it is a movie that I am far less fond of now then I was when I first saw it. If I were to write a review now instead of then, I would focus much more squarely on the things it did wrong, whereas I only vaguely noticed those on opening night. And I admit, part of the reason my mind focuses on the flaws now is because I dislike the fan worship of the film.

My point being, the Avengers film is going to get a LOT of reviews, maybe more than even TDK, and folks are going to focus on the flaws more and more as time goes on. I actually expect a sub-90 rating once all is said and done, but if TA could maintain such a high rating up to its American release...that will linger far longer in fans' minds then where it ends up towards the end.

 

[Mjölnir]

I hope so. But dark knight was at 100% for almost 100 reviews and in the end it settled at 95% I think. But on rotten tomatoes reviews are added even after the movie comes on dvd so they can always bring the percentage down. I still hope that by the end it stops at 94 -95%.

Not according to RT history. If you put the reviews for The Dark Knight in order of newest and then start tracking from the end forward, then you see that it got 18 straight fresh reviews and then it's first rotten. Exactly like the Avengers, although it got rotten reviews more quickly than TA after that (but with a different launch iirc).

Not that I think that info has any relevance as I don't think it's a competition.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

if i had to guess it will be in the mid eighties once all the US critics chime in. nature of the beast. its interesting to read all the reviews, but the subject matter means certain critics simply will not give this a positive review. not to mention theres an existing anti-Whedon bias, particularly in the US.

What matters is fan reaction and box office at this point. And thats pretty much a done deal. Joss will have even more control and even more money for the next one. A good thing because I trust him completely with this material.

 

[metaphysician]

With respect to critics who don't like action movies/CBM's, it's actually in their best interest to put aside their distaste and review this movie positively. These genre's are never going to go away and it's better to get movies like this rather than dreck like Transformers 2 and Wrath of the Titans. Supporting movies like this will encourage it's success and will help to promote these type of quality blockbusters being made.

I don't think the real hardcore movie snobs think like this. They don't want high quality blockbusters, because that would give legitimacy to the genre. Better for crappy movies to be successful than to have to admit a genre can possibly have merit.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

Some people dont like superheroes. Period. Heres a reminder that even TDK had its detractors:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_knight/reviews/?sort=rotten

Lol some of them are quite vicious actually.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

I can't confirm it because of the paywall, but it looks like the Times of London have given the Avengers 5 stars. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Iceman]

I think you have to be completely inoffensive and take no risks like a Toy Story to get 100%. For something like TDK or Avengers it's basically impossible. But then I put no stock in the tomatometer, average rating tells a lot more.

 

[Shadowlord X]

I don't think the real hardcore movie snobs think like this. They don't want high quality blockbusters, because that would give legitimacy to the genre. Better for crappy movies to be successful than to have to admit a genre can possibly have merit.

If that's the case they need to see the error of their ways.

 

[T"Challa]

This poor girl made me laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqSTkIMmrFo

lmao

 

[Joeyjojo72]

I think average rating will be very misleading for this movie. The Avengers is going to get a lot of "its ok but not great" reviews from critics who have had enough of all the superhero "silliness" but recognize the quality (relative to Transformers and the like) and the huge public support. Look for a lot of 3/5 stars and positive, but derisive reviews once the movie opens in NA.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

Almost ZERO chance of it getting a higer avg rating than TDK. Lets put that to bed.

 

[Mjölnir]

I think average rating will be very misleading for this movie. The Avengers is going to get a lot of "its ok but not great" reviews from critics who have had enough of all the superhero "silliness" but recognize the quality (relative to Transformers and the like) and the huge public support. Look for a lot of 3/5 stars and positive, but derisive reviews once the movie opens in NA.

Average rating also says quite little as different reviewers have very different usages of the scales. Some can say that a review is mostly negative while still giving 3/5 while others could be decently positive with a 2/5 grade. Some give 5/5 to movies they really like and others almost never give that grade.

I'd be more interested in an average grade if there was a set scale with clear definitions.

 

[Quasimod0]

Almost ZERO chance of it getting a higer avg rating than TDK. Lets put that to bed.

Probably because the exciting colorful flashy avengers movie puts off some of the critics and makes them not take it seriously

 

[Tony Stark]

Almost ZERO chance of it getting a higer avg rating than TDK. Lets put that to bed.

I agree, but it's at 8.1 now (TDK was 8.4) so not far behind, both Thor and Iron Man were in the low 7's at this point.

My point is, people are saying this is a special movie, not just an "it's OK" review. Sure there have been some of those, but the vast majority have been "best in class" reviews.

 

[Iceman]

I think average rating will be very misleading for this movie. The Avengers is going to get a lot of "its ok but not great" reviews from critics who have had enough of all the superhero "silliness" but recognize the quality (relative to Transformers and the like) and the huge public support. Look for a lot of 3/5 stars and positive, but derisive reviews once the movie opens in NA.

If that happens would it really be misleading? Sounds like a fair reflection of the critic's opinions if that's what they are actually thinking.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

As said above, the ratings systems are too diverse and too crude to really tell you much. good luck determining the difference between a 3/5 and 3.5/5 and a 3/4 or two thumbs up or one thumb up or whatever. If you have a list of critics who you trust, then simply read their reviews and extrapolate from there. The avg RT rating is (almost) meaningless.

Im only concerned with the breadth of the support, no the depth. I do care what CB/Superhero/Genre fans think of this movie, so the critics who are both film buffs AND fanboys/girls are the ones i want to hear from. That and box office (a reflection of the breadth i was talking about) are all that matters to me.

Tony Stark, we are more or less on the same page. I just think the "grudging praise" type review will be more prevalent than for TDK.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

And I just want to remind everyone again that there are a ton of non-English press/fan reviews out there. The french critics - and this shocks me - were almost universally positive.

 

[Suzanne78]

As said above, the ratings systems are too diverse and too crude to really tell you much. good luck determining the difference between a 3/5 and 3.5/5 and a 3/4 or two thumbs up or one thumb up or whatever. If you have a list of critics who you trust, then simply read their reviews and extrapolate from there. The avg RT rating is (almost) meaningless.

For me, I do agree with this personally. Normally, if there's a movie I'm on the fence about seeing in the theater vs. waiting until it comes out on DVD, I'll check the RT and Metacritic scores first, then I look at the critics I trust, but of course that list differs for the type of movie I'm interested. Genre/big FX movies, I look at the typical geek sites - Collider, Slashfilm, AICN, Badass Digest, etc. And sometimes EW, AP, Slate... For indies/artier fare, it's NY Times and other newspapers. But I really only do this if there's a movie I'm debating seeing at the theater.

Now, I don't doubt that Avengers will probably rest somewhere in the high 80's-low 90's, but that its dance between 95-97% positive is simply impressive for a big summer tentpole. I never expected it to surpass TDK percentage-wise; I appreciate the fact that both movies represent two different approaches of the same genre.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

Agreed.

 

[Doc Samson]

I'm not going to make too much of this, as the posters who've already seen it seem to love the movie, which gives me hope. But a vast majority of these "critics" only appear to like the movie because it's funny. Numerous reviews cite it as a comedy just as much, if not more so, than an action/superhero flick.

It just bothers me that a film like this only gets respect if it makes sure to poke fun at it's own genre, automatically home to the "preposterous premise", as if everything from a comic needs to be a joke in order for a critic to approve. I don't necessarily think a serious comic book film is any more pretentious than any of the other crap they heap Academy Awards on, often much less.

 

[Kalonthar]

It just not showing up properly for me on RT (has done it before), or does it actually look like this right now?

 

[El Payaso]

I'm not going to make too much of this, as the posters who've already seen it seem to love the movie, which gives me hope. But a vast majority of these "critics" only appear to like the movie because it's funny. Numerous reviews cite it as a comedy just as much, if not more so, than an action/superhero flick.

It just bothers me that a film like this only gets respect if it makes sure to poke fun at it's own genre, automatically home to the "preposterous premise", as if everything from a comic needs to be a joke in order for a critic to approve. I don't necessarily think a serious comic book film is any more pretentious than any of the other crap they heap Academy Awards on, often much less.

As many superhero movies, The Avegers does play "comedy" way too much, at least for me. Sometimes it works, but when it doesn't... it really hurts.

I love humoir, which is why I don't like it to be some kind of magical device you should put all over the place. Specially when it's unnecessary and can kill a good scene.

But I think critics refer to humour because the movie tries really hard to play the comedy angle.

 

[T"Challa]

It just not showing up properly for me on RT (has done it before), or does it actually look like this right now?

yeah it does this often..give it a couple of minutes to update

 

[Joeyjojo72]

Trust me, when a movie critic praises the humor in an ACTION MOVIE, that is indeed high praise. It's something that Michael Bay (and his ilk)will never ever be able to pull off, and it sets this movie apart from just about everything else. The Avengers desperately needed Whedon's brand of humor, and from all accounts thats exactly what weve gotten.