FILM REVIEW OF ''A PISTOL FOR RINGO'' (1965-Italian)

 Writer and director Duccio Tessari, who co-scripted Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars," helmed this entertaining, above-average spaghetti western, "A Pistol for Ringo," starring Roman-born actor Giuliano Gemma--billed here as Montgomery Wood—as the eponymous hero with perennial villain Fernando Sancho as his treacherous adversary. For the record, the profligate Sancho appeared in over 230 movies and basically played the same slimy Mexican outlaw in 35 westerns. Tessari penned a number of other Italian oaters including "Seven Guns for the MacGregors," "Return of Ringo" and "A Train for Durango." Tessari also worked on the Italian peplum—muscle man movies--before he embarked on these trigger happy westerns, most notably co-writing Sergio Leone's "The Colossus of Rhodes." In "A Pistol for Ringo" (***1/2 out of ****), Tessari imitates American westerns more than his native variety. Gemma is a clean-cut, good-looking, well-dressed gunfighter who is too fast on the draw for his own good. At least twice in this lively horse opera, he guns down opponents in self-defense. The way that Ringo handles a six-gun, however, it comes pretty close to murder. Moreover, Ringo is a wise-cracking gringo with a comeback line for everything. Indeed, the dialogue by Tessari and co-scenarist Alfonso Balcázar, who also knew his way around continental westerns with writing credits on "Nevada Clint," "Five Giants from Texas," and "$100-Thousand Dollars for Ringo," crackles with humor and imagination. Simply said, nothing about this hostage crisis western set in the arid Southwest that co-stars George Eastman, another Italian who made his share of spaghettis, is half-baked. Ennio Morricone composed the beautiful orchestral score and Morricone's magical music is far above what this violent western could have hoped for, especially the lyrical title tune about the wily protagonist.

The first time that we lay eyes on our hero, Ringo (Giuliano Gemma of "Day of Anger"), he is playing hop-scotch with a bunch of children in a village. Word has arrived that Ringo has been cleared of murder charges in the shooting death of another gunman, but the Benson brothers decide to make him pay for their brother's death. No sooner have they challenged Ringo—who is also known as 'Angel Face'—than he whips his six-shooter out of his waistband and blows all four of them away without wasting a shot. Indeed, like Clint Eastwood in "A Fistful of Dollars," Ringo doesn't wait for them to draw and only one of the Benson's clears leather with his revolver before he is shot dead. The sheriff (George Eastman of "Ben and Charlie") arrests Ringo and puts him in jail where our hero demands a glass of milk. Later, Ringo pours out liquor on the floor when he doesn't get his trademark glass of milk.

Meanwhile, Sancho (Fernando Sancho of "Mission Phantom") rides across the border alone only to be confronted by a couple of U.S. Cavalrymen who tell him to turn around and ride back across the Rio Grande. Sancho feigns ignorance and removes his sombrero in humility while the soldiers chew him out. Little to the troopers know that Sancho has taken his large hat off to hid his hand pulling his pistol out. He guns them down and his gang joins him in the border town where they shoot it up and rob the bank. During the hold-up, Sancho catches a bullet in the shoulder. The sheriff forms a posse to follow them and the villains hightail it out of town and ride to a sprawling ranch near the border. They take the owner, Major Clyde (Antonio Casas of "The Texican"), his pretty daughter Ruby (Lorella De Luca of "The Swindle"), and their servants and ranch hands hostage.

After the posse lays siege to them at the ranch, one character points out how impregnable the ranch is. "The walls are high and thick. You'd need a company of cavalry to attack it. Half of the soldiers would be killed in the charge." Nevertheless, the stalwart sheriff informs Sancho that his men and he are cornered in the ranch and there is no escape for them. The murderous Sancho responds, "Meanwhile, in case it takes you a while to make up your mind, we'll send out two dead men a day, one at dawn and one at sunset, first the ranch hands and last of all, the girl and her father." At the same time, the townspeople send for the U.S. Cavalry. They know Sancho by his reputation: "His favorite sport is shooting unarmed men, preferably in the back." Another posse man observes, "The only sure method to handling them is to slaughter them like cattle." The sheriff is bothered by Sancho's ultimatum. Particularly, the sheriff worries because Ruby is the love of his life and he doesn't want anything that might jeopardize her life. "If we could get a man inside the ranch," he opines, "we could help them to escape." Reluctantly, he approaches free-wheeling Ringo with a scheme that would see Ringo turned loose. Initially, Ringo is reluctant to help them. "Don't look for trouble," he points out, "It'll come by itself." Nevertheless, after the sheriff clears Ringo of the shooting death of the Benson brothers and the citizens grudgingly agree to 30 per cent as a reward for our hero, he agrees to help them. However, to establish his credentials as a villain, he has the sheriff and his posse pepper the air with bullets as he rides hell-bent-for-leather to the ranch. Once Ringo shows up, he operates on Sancho and removes the bullet. Ringo tells them about his predicament as well as their predicament and demands 40 per cent of the loot in exchange for getting them out of the ranch.

"A Pistol for Ringo" is head and hands above most generic spaghetti westerns. Director Duccio Tessari keeps things popping. Gemma is perfectly cast as the agile Ringo. The rugged Spanish scenery is gorgeous and the formulaic plot provides a couple of surprises.

FILM REVIEW OF "10,000 BC"

The romantic fantasy adventure "10,000 BC" (** out of ****) resembles a gentler, kinder, younger version of Mel Gibson's bloodthirsty, R-rated "Apocalypto." Predictable for all of its generic 109 minutes, this derivative PG-13 epic qualifies as little more than slickly-made hokum for teens that haven't seen better movies. The scenic "10,000 B.C." borrows bits and pieces from "The Jungle Book," "Braveheart," "Mysterious Island," the John Wayne western "The Searchers," and "The Chronicles of Narnia." The impressive computer-generated special effects that recreate the era impart more depth than the simple-minded screenplay by "Independence Day" writer & director Roland Emmerich and co-scribe Harald Kloser. The most exciting scenes depict ersatz larger-than-life animals. First, huge woolly mammoths go on the rampage twice with suspenseful results. These brutes boast tusks the size of tree branches and resemble the offspring of a prehistoric Mastodon and the "Sesame Street" critter Mr. Snuffleupagus. Later, a saber-tooth tiger confronts our hero in a pit and they eyeball each other. This shallow, occasionally amusing, formulaic Mesolithic melodrama chronicles a teenaged warrior's efforts to rescue his sweetheart from a marauding band of savage horsemen. These marauders ride for a personage called 'the Almighty,' and this pseudo-deity has one village after another enslaved as labor for his pyramid-building schemes. 

"10,000 B.C." opens with actor Omar Sharif narrating the story. Sharif's narration clarifies nothing that anybody with half of a brain couldn't have figured out alone. Anyway, the story occurs in the prehistoric past in the Valley of Yagahi where native hunters have raised families for generations. This tribe of hunters depends on killing great shaggy mammoths that provide them with meat, fuel, clothing, and building materials in the same way either the buffalo served the Plains Indians or whales served Eskimo tribes. Times, however, are changing, and the biggest change occurs when Yagahi hunters find the lost child, the lone survivor of a slain people, and usher her into their camp. The tribal spirit woman, Old Mother (Mona Hammond of "Dr. Who: The Rise of the Cybermen"), embraces young, blue-eyed Evolet (nubile Camilla Belle of "Practical Magic") and experiences a glimpse of the frightening future. Old Mother prophesizes that Evolet will assume a prominent role in the tribe's destiny. She also proclaims that a champion will arise to wed Evolet and lead their people.

As a child, the hero D'Leh (Steven Strait of "Undiscovered") struggles with prejudice. His father abandoned the tribe without explanation and so D'Leh is an object of scorn by all but the warrior Tic'Tic (Cliff Curtis of "Blow") who promised D'Leh's dad that he'd raise him like his own son. As children, D'Leh and Evolet fall in love, and our hero vows to never leave her. Later, when he learns that Evolet will be forced to marry the best hunter, D'Leh resolves to defeat his competitors. He slays the biggest mammoth more by luck than skill and claims not only the prized tribal white spear but also Evolet. Eventually, D'Leh confesses and gives up both Evolet and the spear. Before they can elope, a horde of treacherous brigands known as 'the four-legged demons' for the horses that they ride when they attack the Yagahi village and take prisoners. Later, D'Leh has a close encounter with a sacred saber-toothed tiger and lives to tell about it. He assembles a multiethnic, army of African warriors to follow him to the villain's riverside setting. The Almighty, an unseen Goliath in a veil, has scores of mastodons employed to pull the gigantic stones up ramps into place. Our heroes infiltrate the slave camp and incite a rebellion.

Some scenes seem inadvertently funny. For example, when the villainous slavers drive the villagers into a sea of high grass, the carnivores that they encounter look hilarious. They look like the offspring of the T-Rex from "Jurassic Park" and the giant goofy chicken in the Jules Verne movie "Mysterious Island." Meanwhile, director Roland Emmerich deliberately chose to have the heroes speak in English while the villains snarl in a guttural dialect that requires subtitles. Happily, Burt Reynolds look-alike Stephen Strait and Elizabeth Taylor look-alike Camilla Belle make a convincing couple, but their romance is strictly your typical boy-gets-gal, boy-loses-gal, and then boy-wins-gal back. Sadly, "10,000 B.C." breaks no new ground with either its storytelling or its stunts. Altogether, the storytelling is bland to the point of being generic and the stunts are as tame as the violence is bloodless.

FILM REVIEW OF ''SAFE" (2012)

The energetic Jason Statham action thriller “Safe” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) should assuage the appetite of his hardcore fan base.  Indeed, “Remember the Titans” director Boaz Yakin provides action, action, action, with a high body count, and some snappy dialogue.  Imagine “The Transporter” trilogy minus the hero’s fast car packed with gadgets and you’ll have a good idea what to expect from this swiftly-paced, no-holds-barred, shoot’em up about a tough-as-nails, ex-NYPD detective who becomes a guardian angel for an adolescent Chinese girl on the lam from both the Triads and the Russian mafia.  Mind you, as surefire as “Safe” is, it doesn’t surpass Statham’s previous epic “Killer Elite” with Robert De Niro and Clive Owen.  Nevertheless, “Safe” tops last years’ second-rate “The Mechanic.”  Statham delivers his usual poetry in motion performance.  The violence-prone villains qualify as a tenacious horde that keep our resourceful protagonist dodging fists, feet, and bullets.  When he isn’t clashing with either armed and dangerous Asian gunmen or Russian mobsters, he is tangling with corrupt NYPD officers who are every bit as lethal.  The chemistry between the older Statham and newcomer Catherine Chan is palatable.  She is the equivalent of a walking, talking abacus that the Asian mob relies on because nobody can hack her into her phenomenal memory.  Yakin is no stranger to shoot’em up sagas; he penned the Clint Eastwood police procedural “The Rookie” (1990) with Charlie Sheen as well as the first “Punisher” movie with Dolph Lundgren.  Audiences should recognize Asian heavy James Hong who has been playing bad guys since he was cast as a Communist soldier in the John Wayne opus “Blood Alley” back in 1955.  “RoboCop 3” actor Robert John Burke makes an unforgettable impression as a flinty-eyed NYPD police captain who has little tolerance for incompetence.  Hong and Burke make memorable villains.

When we meet Luke Wright (Jason Statham of “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”) for the first time, he is down on his luck.  Initially, Luke was a resourceful NYPD cop that Mayor Tremello (Chris Sarandon of “Dog Day Afternoon”) hired after 9/11 to eliminate suspected fanatics plotting subsequent acts of terrorism.  After he broke a corruption scandal that incriminated many of his colleagues, Luke quit the force and took up mixed-martial arts cage-fighting in New Jersey. When Luke refuses to take a fall in a rigged match (think Bruce Willis in “Pulp Fiction”), Russian mobster Emile Docheski (Sandor Tecsy) sends his obnoxious son Vassily (Joseph Sikora) to kill Luke’s wife.  Worse, not only does Vassily tell Luke the Russians will always have their eye on him, but he also vows to kill anybody with whom Luke forms a relationship.  Luke vanishes into the Big Apple and spends the night at a homeless shelter.  He encounters a stranger who wants his shoes.  The next morning when Luke awakens, he notices that the man that he gave his shoes is dead.   

In most crime thrillers of this variety, the brawny hero exacts immediate revenge, but Luke is so stunned he does nothing.  Later, Luke heads to a Brooklyn subway station where he contemplates suicide.  A small, 11-year old Asian girl, Mei (adorable newcomer Catherine Chan), distracts him momentarily as he is about to jump as do the same Russian Mafia gangsters who murdered his wife.  Luke watches as Mei and the ruffians board the train.  He changes his mind and leaps aboard the subway as it departs.  Meanwhile, the thugs find Mei, but Luke arrives not long afterward.  Extreme close-quarters combat ensues with our agile hero displaying his considerable prowess.  Naturally, Luke leaves the armed Russians sprawled on the floor with little wear and tear to himself. 

Writer and director Boaz Yakin does a good job of establishing the predicament early before he flashes back to how Luke and Mei wound up in their respective corners.  In faraway China, the naive Mei disputed the solution to a mathematics equation scrawled on the chalk board.  Basically, Mei makes her teacher appear idiotic in front of the entire class, and this audacious behavior lands her in the principal’s office.  As we learn, Mei is an extraordinarily gifted urchin with a photographic memory.  She can memorize numbers with a mere glance.  Furthermore, she becomes an incredible repository of statistics for the murderous Triads and their profitable criminal endeavors in New York City.  Mei’s father abandoned her in China, and she hasn’t seen her mother.  After the classroom incident, Mei finds herself employed by notorious Han Jiao (James Hong of “Chinatown”) who exploits her as a human calculator.  Han neither trusts computers nor the trail that they leave behind.  Instead, he wants his cute little female prodigy to remember everything and maintain a database for his operations.  Of course, Uncle Han—as he likes to call himself in her presence—uses Mei’s mother in China as a bargaining chip.  Earlier, we’re told that Mei’s father abandoned her, while she hasn’t seen her mother in ages. If Mei steps out of line, Uncle Han threatens to kill her mother.  After watching how the Triads use coercion to keep their people in line, One day Mei gives Uncle Han’s American right-hand man Quan Chang (Reggie Lee of “Crazy, Stupid, Love”) the slip, but the Russians nab her.   Emile Docheski insists Mei cough up a huge random number that Han has made her memorize, but the wily little gal gives the Russians the slip, too. Meanwhile, NYPD Captain Wolf and his squad of corrupt, trigger-happy cops want a piece of the action as the villains scour Manhattan in search of Mei and her new guardian angel.

The virile, sympathetic, English-born Statham is as close as 21^st century action-craving audiences can get to 20^th century icons like either Burt Reynolds or Jean Claude Van Damme.  Although his physical appearance rarely changes in his action movies, Statham tries to vary the characters that he portrays.  Luke is probably Statham’s most vulnerable character.  When Yakin isn’t staging some terrific shoot-outs and plunging our hero and heroine into one tense scene after another, he provides a surprise or two that you don’t often see in the typical Statham saga.   

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE GRAND DUEL" (Italian-1972)

Prolific Spaghetti western scenarist Ernesto Gastaldi penned the script for this Lee Van Cleef continental oater "The Grand Duel," directed with considerable competence by Giancarlo Santi. Although he didn't helm any Spaghetti westerns aside from "Grand Duel" on his own, Santi served as Sergio Leone's assistant director on "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966) and his masterpiece "Once Upon A Time in the West" (1968) as well as Giulio Petroni's assistant director on "Death Rides A Horse"(1967). In short, not only did Santi know how to stage gunfights, but he also knew about the conventions of the Spaghetti western bullet ballet. Originally, Santi was hired to direct "Duck You Sucker," but Rod Steiger's complaints prompted Leone to replace Santi. "The Grand Duel" ranks high up in the lower 25 Spaghetti westerns out of the best 100. Three things make it memorable.  First, this above-average shoot'em up benefits largely from Lee Van Cleef's iconic gimlet-eyed presence. Second, the mystery gradually unraveled --presented in surrealistic flashbacks--generates suspense and tension. Third, Sergio Bardotti & Luis Enriquez Bacalov’s unforgettable orchestral score that signals the tonal changes in the narrative.

Roughly speaking, the motives of the characters in "The Grand Duel" reverse the relationship between the old gunslinger (Henry Fonda) and youthful gunfighter (Terence Hill) in Tonino Valerii's "My Name Is Nobody." Meanwhile, Van Cleef's entrance in "The Grand Duel" imitates his striking introduction in Leone's "For A Few Dollars More." In these Italian horse operas, Van Cleef is presented initially as a commercial passenger. In "The Grand Duel," he rides in a stagecoach, while he rides in a train with his head bowed beneath a black hat in "For A Few Dollars More." In the latter film, Van Cleef concealed his face behind a huge Bible when he asked the conductor about the train making an unscheduled stop. The conductor warns him they aren't going to stop where Van Cleef's frock-coated, black hat clad character wants. Nevertheless, Van Cleef tugs the emergency cord, halting the train, and disembarks to fetch his horse from the freight car.

As "The Grand Duel" opens, lawmen fire warning shots at the stagecoach that Sheriff Clayton (Lee Van Cleef) is riding in and refuse to let Big Horse (Jess Han of "Escape from Death Row") enter Gila Bend. They explain that escaped killer Philipp Wermeer (one-time-only actor Peter O'Brien, aka Alberto Dentice) has holed up with a girl in town after breaking out of jail in Jefferson. The authorities have posted a $3-thousand bounty on Vermeer's head. Nevertheless, Clayton disembarks and strolls without any apparent concern past two lawmen and several bounty hunters to quench his thirst in Gila Bend. This introductory scene unfolds at a leisurely pace as it covers points, such as where the bounty hunters are hidden and Clayton's imperturbability in the face of death. Clayton indicates the positions of all the bounty hunters to Vermeer. Later, after our wrongly convicted hero eludes the bounty hunters during a furious horse chase. The villains kill his horse, but he flags down a stagecoach. The entire scene resembles the scene from John Ford's "Stagecoach" when Ringo (John Wayne) who was afoot clambered inside the vehicle.

The omniscient Lee Van Cleef hero dominates the action. The hooked-nosed, veteran Hollywood heavy delivers a stern but seasoned performance as the worldly-wise elder. Van Cleef smokes his signature curved pipe. Actually, when we meet Clayton, he is no longer the sheriff of Jefferson. He protested Philip Vermeer's conviction, and the authorities stripped him of his badge. Earlier, he had taken the Patriarch to court three times. Eventually, as the best man with a gun in the entire state, Clayton ushers in justice above the law. Anyway, one of the Patriarch's sons Eli Saxon (bald headed Marc Mazza of "Moonraker") accused Philipp Vermeer of killing the Patriarch, (Horst Frank in a dual role wearing whiskers), a wealthy, unscrupulous power-broker abhorred by half of the state. Vermeer suspects that the Patriarch had his father shot in the back because he learned about the silver on Vermeer's land. Meanwhile, Eli demands to know the identity of the man who killed his father. Clayton reminds Eli that the Patriarch was gunned down from behind and that Vermeer stood in front of them at the railway depot. Clearly, Vermeer couldn't have killed the Patriarch.
 

The vicious and degenerate "Grand Duel" villains qualify as challenging adversaries. David (Horst Frank of "Johnny Hamlet") rules the Saxon clan, while Eli serves as Saxon City's marshal, and Adam Saxon (Klaus Grunberg of "Fire, Ice, and Dynamite") runs the saloon. Grunberg plays Adam as a depraved homosexual who wears a vanilla-white suit, fedora, and constantly caresses a long scarf looped around his neck. The first time that we see Adam, he guns down an old man that his henchmen have thrown out of the saloon. Later, Adam massacres a wagon train with a machine gun and Brother David orders him to leave no eyewitnesses. David's words: "In a violent country, he who seizes today, controls tomorrow," epitomizes his treachery.

"The Grand Duel" plays out in three settings: first in Gila Bend; second at the isolated Silver Bells stagecoach station, and third in Saxon City where a showdown occurs in the stock pens in traditional western style. The final showdown scene is very atmospheric with Lee Van Cleef and his adversaries opening huge gates to each of the stock pens before they finally settle down to the shootout.  Santi never lets the action malinger. He does a good job with the first large-scale gunfight at the stagecoach station. The bounty vermin not only blow-up the stagecoach, but also shoot each other to increase their shares after Vermeer surrenders. The Saxon City shootout when Vermin pole vaults to safety is neat. The black & white night sequence that he stages during the Patriarch's killing has surrealistic quality. Meantime, hardcore Lee Van Cleef fans won't want to miss "The Grand Duel" for its several shootouts as well as the twists and turns in Gastaldi’s screenplay. Get the letterboxed Wild East DVD; it surpasses the full-frame, public domain DVD or the foreign, semi-letterboxed version.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE AVENGERS" (2012)

Since the epilogue in “Iron Man” (2008) when Nick Fury broached the idea of the Avengers Initiative to billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist Tony Stark, Marvel Comics has been patiently whetting our appetites for “The Avengers.”   This imaginative ensemble epic assembles not only Iron Man and Hulk, but also Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Nick Fury.  Agent Phil Coulson returns, too.  Ostensibly, these paragons of virtue are all that stand between Thor’s scheming step-brother Loki and the fate of mankind.  Happily, Loki brings more to the table than he did in Kenneth Branagh’s anemic “Thor.” Indeed, Thor and Loki seem to have matured considerably during the interim.  Loki ranks as a first-rate, diabolical villain; he is ready, willing, and eager to kill anybody who confronts him, and actor Tom Hiddleston relishes every moment with glee.  Ultimately, “The Avengers” (**** out of ****) qualifies as Marvel’s ambitious attempt to deliver an all-star, no-holds-barred, alien invasion thriller to rival the “Transformers” franchise.  Of course, we know already that our heroes won’t capitulate, but this PG-13 extravaganza takes everything down to the wire.  Inevitably, the extraterrestrial villain--only hardcore Marvel Comics fans may recognize him—who boasts about subjugating Earth is as presumptuous as audiences who fail to appreciate the artistry of “The Avengers.” “Serenity” director Joss Whedon gives every super hero an opportunity to perform an integral role in this larger-than-life smackdown.  Reportedly, Whedon shot more footage of Captain America than reached the screen.  Nevertheless, the fish-out-of-water, World War II hero still participates in a major way.  Melodramatic, with more humor than you might imagine, but just enough tragedy to make things bittersweet, “The Avengers” doesn’t wear out its welcome.  Moreover, this 142-minute, far-fetched nonsense holds up under repeated showings.  I’ve seen it four times, and it loses none of its spontaneity.  The 2-D version is better than the 3-D version. 

“The Avengers” opens with audacious Asgardian exile Loki (Tom Hiddleston of “Archipelago”) cutting a deal with malevolent aliens elsewhere in the galaxy.  Afterward, he materializes on Earth and snatches a formidable source of energy, the Tesseract, from Nick Fury's (Samuel L Jackson) SHIELD outfit. If you’re interested, the Tesseract appeared initially in “Captain America, the First Avenger.”  Once Loki gets his power-hungry hands on the Tesseract, he plans to use it to unlock a portal in space.  Since science isn't Loki's strong suite, he recruits Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård of “Thor”) with the use of his glowing scepter to handle the mysterious cube.  Loki wants to open the portal so an extraterrestrial barbarian horde, the Chitauri, can storm Earth.  The Chitauri are merciless reptilian warriors who resemble humans but wear silver armor and careen across the skies in trios on chariots.  Before he leaves with the Tesseract, Loki also recruits Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner of “The Hurt Locker”) to do his evil bidding. Meanwhile, Fury sets out to recruit his own team.  First, he recruits Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans of “The Fantastic Four”) who hasn’t quite grown accustomed to the 21st century.  Chiefly, Captain America doesn’t know what most of the popular phrases mean.  Former Russian spy Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) lands in Calcutta to round up Dr. Bruce Banner whose alter-ego is the Hulk. Fury needs Banner because he is an expert in gamma rays. Agent Coulson calls on Iron Man with specific requests.  Eventually, Thor barges him when he learns about Loki's treachery.  Everybody boards a futuristic aircraft carrier that does more than ply the high seas.  Throughout "The Avengers," Whedon does a masterly job of interspersing comedy with suspense.  "The Avengers" contains some brilliant comic moments, but Whedon doesn't allow things to turn campy.  Moreover, Whedon manages to muster enough time for each hero to make a contribution as they contend with Loki.

 Whedon's “The Avengers” emerges as the climax to several recent Marvel Comics super hero escapades.  Thor and Captain America toplined their own respective origins stories and generated well over a $100-million in box office receipts.  If you’ve been keeping track of Marvel movies, you know the least successful super hero of the quartet is the Hulk.  Unlike “Iron Man,” “Thor,” and “Captain America,” the pugnacious green gargantuan never formulated the right mix of leading actor, atmosphere, and narrative tone.  Marvel’s two “Hulk” movies failed to forge a charismatic hero after Marvel’s major success with him on prime time television.  Director Ang Lee’s “Hulk” (2003), with Eric Bana as the title character, took itself far too seriously and tackled unpleasant issues such as child abuse.  Marvel rebooted the character with director Louis Leterrier’s “The Incredible Hulk” with Edward Norton as the eponymous character.  This adventure surpassed “Hulk,” but remained half-baked.  Unfortunately, actor Edward Norton feuded with the studio over the film’s interpretation of the material.  Happily, for Hulk, lightening strikes the third time.  Mark Ruffalo looks ideal as Dr.  Bruce Banner and Whedon literally has remade the Hulk in Ruffalo’s own image.  Hawkeye and The Black Widow aren’t exactly in the same league with luminaries like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, or Hulk.  These two are conventional agents of SHIELD with special skill sets. Neither, however, possesses Herculean prowess.  Lastly, ubiquitous Agent Phil Coulson hasn’t changed an iota.  Like Nick Fury, Coulson has appeared in most of the films.  More than any other character, Coulson makes the greatest impression in “The Avengers” when Loki throws down the gauntlet.

There are two kinds of super hero movies.  First, you have those brawny, exciting sagas, with sparkling verbal repartee, like “Iron Man” and “Captain America,” that are lightweight but suspenseful.  Second, like “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” you have those that are ominous, sophisticated, literate, and rely as much as possible on realism.  “The Avengers” belongs to the first category, and Whedon’s opus ranks as one of the best.  The action rarely sacrifices its momentum for expository information about either the heroes or the villains.  Iron Man has lost none of his quirky, irreverent personality. He has the best lines and his nicknames for his companions are hilarious.  He calls Thor “Shakespeare in Park” and refers to Hawkeye as Legolas. Captain America maintains his stiff upper lip.  Hulk acquires a mystique lacking in prior Marvel incarnations, and Thor becomes the hammer wielding equivalent of an intergalactic lawman.   Again, Loki’s evil machinations keep thing interesting.  “The Avengers” is the kind of movie where you need to stick around even as the end credits roll to learn more about the villains and the heroes.