Avengers... How I wish Dean Martin had featured in the movie.
During the 1970s singer, actor Dean Martin had starred in a series of spy/action films which had names like the Silencers, the Defenders, the Ambushers and so on. They were a precursor to the archetypical James Bond series and had more than a fair share of T & A and some really comic action. Also they made old Dean look suave and sophisticated and gave him gadgets that were ahead of their times.
One scene I shall never forget is when Dean Martin wakes up, switches on his bed that tilts sufficiently to tip him into an underbed pool, where he is automatically washed, dried, powder puffed and dressed up before being deposited into his jazzed up sports car.
So though I was a Marvel Comics fan and was quite fond of the characters featured in the Avengers 3D extravaganza, I still felt cheated and disappointed with the whole film.
Maybe Superman was to blame. That movie set such high standards that it almost felt like the comics we had read were but storyboards for the films that we eventually saw. Christopher Reeves in a benchmark performance, the Joker, the Bat Mobile, Lois Lane, the list of illustrations coming to wonderful life is never ending.
But the Avengers seems to have decided to bank on 3D techniques and audio technology and resisted the temptation to evoke any nostalgia. So the film turned into a standalone comic book based one that drew heavily on contemporary carving and sketching of characters. And while it did manage to appeal to the kids (my children still can’t understand why I am disappointed with the film) it left me strangely disconnected.
Which is why I came away remembering Dean Martin and so wishing that someone other than Austin Powers works on a modern day sequel to his series. And I smirked that for someone playing around with 3D opportunities for the first time, the film featured very few ‘Oh WOW, now that’s what I call 3D’ kind of moments. We have of course been pampered by the earlier films in the genre that have explored the possibilities of the realm with much more imagination.
All in all, an evening worth the tub of salted popcorn and the sneaks full of the caramelised version but that’s it. Looks like the Director and Producers of the film took their philosophy of ‘this far, and no further’ too seriously on several fronts and we, the audience, were made to suffer the almost good film made from almost the best ingredients and discover Nirvana only when the villainous God vanished back into space...well, almost.
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