Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Avengers Cast Assembled


The main cast of the new Avengers film was officially announced and assembled at last weekend's Comic Con. And... it's not bad, I guess. Whether I'll see it or not depends on whether or not I'll see the Captain America and Thor movies that are being released first. Hell, I guess the success or those movies will even decide if the Avengers film will get made at all. Maybe they'll be huge flops. They can't all be Iron Man, right? Or maybe they can. Anyway, here are my thoughts, pointless and premature as they may be:

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. 

Far be it for me to question this casting choice, since he starred in the two hugely successful Iron Man films. Also, he's a great actor. But I never loved his portrayal of Tony Stark, at least not in the first film since I haven't seen the second yet. He was just too goofy and not enough of a hero in my opinion. But at least he's a great actor who brought a lot of energy to the role. And having gone with Downey Jr  for the solo films, I'm glad he agreed to come on for the main Avengers movie. I'm sure he's getting a boatload of money to do it.


Chris Evans as Captain America

I've already shared my thoughts on this casting choice here, and I still have high hopes. I like Chris Evans and think there's a chance -- a good chance even -- that he could pull it off. He's always good and always a lot of fun, but he has yet to prove that he has the gravitas to pull off a role like Captain America. I just don't know. Then again, I don't know what they plan to do with the character, and maybe the casting of a hot, young, funny pretty boy isn't the most inspiring thing about the film. But I still think he'll pull it off.


Sam Jackson as Nick Fury

As much as I prefer the original version of Nick Fury over the Ultimates version (if you know comics, you'll understand. If you don't, too bad. I'm not going to attempt to explain that one.), this was still a perfectly reasonable, and even fun, way to go. After all, the Ultimates version was based on Sam Jackson, so I love that they just said screw it and cast him in the films. But still... I miss the old Nick Fury something awful. I would've loved to see what somebody like Michael Ironside or even Sam Eilliot could've done with the character. But, again, he was already in the other films, so there you go.


Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

I don't have an opinion about this either. I haven't seen Iron Man 2, so I can't comment on her character. She's certainly a pretty woman, but I've never really been nuts about her. I don't think she has that much screen presence and I actually find her annoying and off-putting in most things in which I've seen her. But, again, she's pretty. She probably looks good in that jumpsuit. I just hope she isn't the only female Avenger in this film.







Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye

Interesting choice. Renner is an Oscar nominated actor, so I'm not going to question his acting chops, but still... I dunno. I didn't care for the Hurt Locker, partly because it was boring, but also because Jeremy Renner's character was completely unlikable and unengaging in my opinion. I'm glad that they included Hawkeye in the film, since more than any other character except for Captain America, Hawkeye is the Avengers. So I'm a little let down that they didn't cast an actor I love in the role of a character I love. I think they shot themselves in the foot by portraying Iron Man as such huge comic interest in his films (something he most definitely is not in any of the comics I've read, and I've read them all), since that should've been Hawkeye. I would've liked to have seen them go nuts and cast someboy like Dax Sheapard. Think about it.


Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner (The Hulk)

It makes me laugh that they keep recasting the role of Bruce Banner for every Hulk film, considering how ultimately pointless his character is, especially here. Why even have Bruce Banner in the Avengers film? Just have him as the Hulk all the time. I wish they had brought back Eric Bana, since I thought he was great in the admittedly lackluster first film. I even liked Ed Norton in the second film. And I'm sure I'll like Mark Ruffalo in this film. It just seems like a lot of work to cast such a thankless role, but maybe that's exactly why it's so much work. Also, isn't Ruffalo too big for a role like this? I mean, he's a great actor with a lot of cred at this point in his career. He doesn't need to take a role like this in an ensemble action film. Then again, this has the potential to be one of the biggest film franchises of all time, and maybe he finally wants a shot at super stardom. Still, he should've gotten a better role than Bruce Banner.



Chris Hemsworth as Thor


Who? I guess he looks the part in the few pictures that have come out. We'll see. I have no opinion. This film has the potential to be the best thing ever made or a huge piece of shit.

3 comments:

Justin Garrett Blum said...

I'm thoroughly a fan of RDJr as Tony Stark in both the first and second films. I think he's great. He's an angrier, more arrogant character in the second film, if that makes you feel any better about it.

Donald said...

That sounds even worse.

Justin Garrett Blum said...

Well, I'm not surprised you'd say that--there's no making you happy. :p

"Angrier" probably wasn't the right word, actually. But he's a little more of a bastard, albeit a likable bastard. Anyway, if you weren't a fan of the first film--which was great IMO--you'll probably like IM2 less, since it's not as good.