I saw the Avengers at midnight last Thursday. It. Was. Amazing. I have to own that I generally love the movies I see. Heavy Spy and i even tried predict how each of us would respond to the movie and mine was "it was awesome !!!!!!!!!"
Now if you haven't seen it, don't worry I don't usually give spoilers. Even if things sound like spoilers I'm probably leaving it vague or misleading to throw you off. So feel free to read on.
Generally speaking, everyone loved the Avengers. It's got great reviews, if you care about those kind of things (93% Rotten Tomatoes), superb word of mouth, and almost noone that has seen it was like, well that was a waste. In fact, I haven't seen people this excited about a movie since Inception, and not since Dark Knight about a comic book movie. While it is funny, action packed, and rather well written, I want to talk about a few things that really stood out to me that makes this movie so great.
First, Joss Whedon knew what he had and what he was doing. Let's think about this for a sec. First, you have a star studded cast who fans have grown to love over the course of MANY years. Whedon manages to balance screen time, punchlines and action sequences pretty impressively if you ask me. Noone felt shafted and everyone had some pretty epic moments, even the side characters like Agent Hill (the right hand woman to Nick Fury who I didn't realize was important). Maybe Thor and Captain America got slightly less action than Iron Man and Black Widow, but considering they had movies last year, I'm good with that.
Second, the whole "fans have grown to love over the course of MANY years" part. This is a franchise that has been building over at least 5 movies. A common criticism that I've heard is that the movie lacked a plot or character development. That's because they've either not seen Captain America and Thor, or refuse to acknowledge that this is not an isolated movie. Its the next chapter. Its a universe of movies! Your character just did 90-120 minutes of developing last summer!
So yea, that's really all I wanted to say about the movie. Action was stupendous. Comic timing superb. References that I laughed at but generally Dandy Woo, Cardmaster Cider, Powder Climber and Tall Bear didn't because they didn't remember events (or had seen) from previous movies. Ahh, movie bliss.
Speaking of avenging, I have mentioned before that I have a Chinese conversation partner. Today we were talking about how in Ancient China, an important party of the system of power was revenge. Just like honor was central to the Japanese samurai, or chivalry the Medieval knight, revenge was the political norm for the pre-Hun dynasty (and as I understand it several other dynasties too). Let me preface this to avoid any misinterpretation: I am taking all this from my partner, whose hobby was Chinese history for many years. He's told me many amazing stories that I often cannot differentiate fact and mythology. That's what you can do with thousands of years of history.
Let me give you an example: There many different kingdoms in a more medieval structure China, and the emperor who first consolidated did so by conquering three of the largest kingdoms. He was a good ruler and solidified his power. However, as he was getting older, he was worried about his son taking over. Apparently, the son was mentally challenged, though my convo partner pointed out that history may have recorded him as far more incapable than he actually was. Regardless, knowing that his son would have problems, the emperor made his brother and his brother-in-law BOTH swear to take care of the son. They agreed, likely with hopes of ruling on their own. However, since they represented two different families (the old emperors and his wife's which apparently automatically means they are rivals for power). But there's a third power at play, the son's wife's family, led by her brother. They are smaller than either of the other two and not perceived as a real threat. However, they wait for the uncle and brother in law to start fighting, then manage to kill off the new emperor's wife's family. Yes, not just the brother-in-law. The whole family. Because if you don't kill the whole family, someone's going to be out for revenge. They turn and finish off the uncle and have apparently secured power. Notice noone tried to kill the emperor himself, because that would be like trying to kill a god. All of this is to be the prime minister to the emperor. So then if I recall correctly, two other smaller kingdom see their chance to take over. They unite and the prepare to overthrow the wife's family. The new emperors wife's brother is apparently a brilliant strategist. Because see these are big battles, not just wars of words. He manages to turn the tide on the larger united force. But while he is doing that, a third king, who was originally loyal to the emperor, thinks that the strategist is going to lose, so he conspires to capture him and turn him over to the two kings in hopes of recognition when they become prime minister. Realizing that the strategist is actually about to win, the conspirator hesitates, but ultimately does follow through with the betrayal. The united kings take over and calling him a traitor, do not actually promote the conspirator but try to kill him. The emperor proves he's not as helpless as originally portrayed and brings in foreign tribes to wages mini skirmishes that allow him to overthrow the two kings. The traitor becomes the prime minister to the emperor, but at this point, the empire is in such shambles that the Huns, led by Attila, come in and destroy the entire dynasty.
In other words, Chinese history is real life GAME OF FREAKING THRONES. I have not verified the accuracy of this story, which my convo partner dubbed the Chaos of Eight Kings. But even if its not exactly accurate, or my recount is a bit off, its pretty close and pretty freaking ridiculous. Chinese history is awesome!
OK I think that's all I wanted to say this week. I'm now caught up on blogging. Enjoy the rest of your week as I shall enjoy mine. See you Sunday (PPSSSTTT It's Mother Day)!
-JTY
Listening to: Reptilia- Strokes reminds me both of guitar hero and good summer times. It's been hot here in Ohio (80s and humid) Thunderstorms and surprise rain galore!
Reading: "Navigating the power dynamics between institutions and their communities" - Byron White, an article for my favorite class in grad school: Service Learning
Playing: League- three wins with Spam and two last night with Dungeon Daddy, on a streak for once.
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