The Avengers (SPOILER-ish)

Got a last minute invite to catch The Avengers at the second home. Health be damned, I went.

It's been a long time and several movies coming by now (the only ones I did not watch was the last Hulk movie and Thor), but I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this. I can't believe I saw it a week after it came out here and I still have seen it before the general release date in the US. 

• How long do you think it took Paul Bettany to record his Jarvis lines? Half an hour, tops? 
• So sad the guy had to die - he was a great minor character. Who will be Fury's one good eye now?
• Half expected the HIMYM chick to not survive, but was sort of hoping Barney Stinson to pop up somewhere. But great on Cobie Smulders for snagging a part in this movie.
• Stan Lee cameo - check
• The pissing match of a fight in the woods? Urgh. I'm surprised that Loki didn't just run off during all that.
• Did anyone else saw what's coming the moment Bruce Banner said that Loki needed a power source for the cube to keep the thing open and it was shown earlier that Stark's tower generates its own power? Yeah, I thought so.
• Have to like the Hulk's resuscitation method. Go him.
• What's with all the bad guys and the comically hilarious (and phallic) headgear?!
• The one liners were funny, particularly Stark's
• Never saw Thor, but I didn't expect the Asgardians to sound so... Shakespearean. 
• Fury has great aim for a guy with no depth perception.
• New York City is so great that it gets threatened with destruction in every other movie.

I thought the final battle scene was a little too drawn out for yours truly (there's only so much alien killing I can sit through), but I thought it was pretty entertaining. This coming from someone who's not read the comics or seen the TV show (was there?) or anything like that.

If you had been waiting YEARS to watch this, you probably have seen it by now if you're NOT in America (who's only getting it THIS weekend...). 

If you're ambivalent about this, well, it's a great popcorn movie.

And yes, there may be a sequel.