Movieline

Hero Shots Galore: The Avengers Trailer Assembles!

This morning Disney released the first full trailer for Joss Whedon's Marvel superhero party The Avengers, and ZOMG guys -- have there ever been two minutes of action more packed with hero shots, zingers, and things blowing up before this very moment? (Michael Bay might give Whedon a run for his money, but the Avengers trailer has what even his robot spectaculars don't: copious slow-mo superhero booty shots. Consider the bar raised.)

In fact, the trailer doesn't even bother with explaining plot and set-up; it assumes (correctly) that you already know what The Avengers is all about, why Sam Jackson's corralling a bunch of A-listers to his cause and who that pale, long-haired Shakespearean looking fellow is that's tearing up the streets of America. Which means: Cut to the assembling, already! Let's take a look.

"What do we do?" "We get ready." Oh, that Sam Jackson. Always prepared. In fact, the only nagging thing about this trailer, which I kind of love because of the aforementioned butt-shots, the fiery set pieces, and the sight of Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansson looking bad ass in their spiffy costumes, is the strangely conspicuous verbiage this super-team throws around. "Assemble" is their battle cry? What are they, Voltron? Putting a puzzle together? Building IKEA furniture?

"But it's from the comics!" you say. Yeah, yeah. Well, it sounds funny. Also see the line, ""If we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it," spoken by a serious RDJ, in contrast to the rampage of witty one-liners he's on during the rest of the trailer. Of course you will. You're the Avengers.

Verdict: I'm nitpicking. This looks pretty badass, and who am I kidding? They had me at [explosion].

[Apple]