First things first, I need to apologize for a general lack of bloggery lately. I could write up a laundry list of excuses, but I won't bother. I'll be updating on my reading schedule soon (the short version: complicated), but today I want to do what everybody else on planet Earth is doing: talk about The Avengers.
This isn't a review of the movie, though. The movie has been dissected, picked apart and minutely examined ad nauseam on the Internet. With good reason: it's fan-freaking-tastic. For a geek-ette like myself, it has absolutely everything: mind-blowing visuals, a hilarious script, great acting, a terrific story and JOSS WHEDON, the Lord of Awesome. Okay, I would have been fine with more shirtlessness from Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans, but you can't have everything in life. Avengers is definitely in the top tier of the superhero movies I've seen, and it's the most fun I've had in a movie theater since. . . . the last Harry Potter film.
But honestly, one of the things that I was most surprised by was the audience.
I went to the midnight showing with a few friends, something I don't do very often. I am kind of a night owl, but I'm usually in bed reading at midnight, not sitting in a movie theater. Still, I was excited about the movie (95% Whedon-related), and I figured it would be fun.
Around 10:30, a certain kind of person started filing in. These people were, to be blunt, geeks. Coming from me, this is an affectionate label, since I am a proud nerdgirl and my Buffy coffee mug and toy X-wing fighter would put me pretty firmly in most people's geek camp. Still, these people could not have fit the stereotypes any better. Most of them looked right out of Central Casting: glasses, acne scars, goofy T-shirts and the occasional costume. They were a fairly loud group, cheerfully and palpably excited. Yes, most of them looked as though they could probably have an in-depth conversation about World of Warcraft, and yes, Mom's basement was quite possibly the living quarters of a few of them.
Even before the movie started, there was plenty of entertainment. Seemingly ordinary women carrying Captain America shields, carrying conversations about Batman, a young man with--inexplicably--a Darth Vader helmet on his head, multiple butt cracks. There was a guy dressed as a sort of drag queen Thor, and another one with a wildly impressive Iron Man costume. Two grown men got into a shockingly loud and intense argument about the origin story of Ant-Man.
When the previews started, the audience absolutely went nuts for the new Spider-Man trailer, and were even more excited for The Dark Knight Rises-- cheering multiple times throughout the brief trailer. When the movie started, though, the packed theater was totally silent, almost rapt. You could feel the genuine anticipation. This audience cared about the movie they were about to see.
I honestly don't think that anyone in the theater was disappointed, from the most casual viewer to the most skeptical fanboy. The movie was so good, so satsifying, on so many levels. Although the audience was almost uniformly quiet during dramatic scenes, the place went absolutely nuts for the comedy. That patented Whedon dialogue was very much in evidence, and it was as incisively hilarious as ever. Robert Downey, Jr absolutely brought the house down with his quips.
The action scenes had the feeling of a sporting event. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, totally absorbed. The finale was just exhilarating. When the Hulk smashed Loki into a pulp, the theater absolutely exploded with cheers, laughter and applause. It was just that awesome.
When the movie ended, there was an enormous cheer. The entire theater remained for the first post-credits scene, and they cheered again, even more enthusiastically, when it ended. About half the audience stayed for the final tag, and the laughter and applause when it was over was deafening.
Here was an audience that was fully engaged with a movie. No texting, no whispered conversations. Nobody checking their watches. They were following it carefully, and they were enjoying it immensely. Much of the credit has to go to Whedon and his crew for putting together such an excellent movie, but I have to give these guys credit, too. Some of them may be a little socially inept (I said may), but they know how to watch a movie, dammit.
You don't see that kind of commitment and devotion that much these days. People are jaded about entertainment; they absorb a steady stream of it all day long. They rip apart the shows they watch online, they listen to crappy techno-pop, read erotic novels on electric devices and go to the movies as a kind of social event. We're not used to just sitting back and really enjoying a movie with an audience that's enjoying it just as much. This audience was made up of real fans: people who are passionate about something. And I think it's cool to see that kind of enthusiasm, especially nowadays, when cynicism seems to be the default mode of the average moviegoer.
