The Avengers face a powerful enemy in Joss Whedon’s action-adventure superhero blockbuster
THE AVENGERS (Joss Whedon, 2012)
Flicks on the Beach, Monday, August 5, Coney Island, 1001 Boardwalk West, free, dusk
River Flicks for Grown-Ups, Wednesday, August 7, Hudson River Park, Pier 63 lawn at 23rd St., free, dusk
www.marvel.com
After a spectacular energy device known as the Tesseract opens a wormhole that allows the evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to enter present-day Earth and ultimately steal the machine, turning Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) into unwitting allies in the process, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) bring back the Avengers Initiative, reuniting Tony Stark / Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers / Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and an extremely tentative Dr. Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who are gathered together to regain the Tesseract and foil Loki’s evil plans to take over Earth. Also entering the fray is Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki’s brother, who needs to decide which side of the battle he is on. As egos get in the way and wisecracks fly by like so much machine-gun rattle, particularly from Stark, the Avengers realize they are facing a supremely powerful force, one that will require, well, superhuman effort to defeat. Writer-director Joss Whedon, the genius behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, plays things a little loose in this comic-book blockbuster, not worrying too much about gaping plot holes that could have been created by the Tesseract itself and letting the superhero banter and tech-heavy set pieces take center stage. Downey goes over the top as the brash Stark, while Ruffalo, following in the failed footsteps of Edward Norton and Eric Bana (and, of course, the great Bill Bixby), is relegated to a whole lot of brooding. But there’s still lots of fun to be had as the characters team up to save the world. Be sure to stick around through the credits for a pair of bonus scenes. The Avengers is screening August 5 as part of the free summer series “Coney Island Flicks on the Beach,” which continues August 12 with Fame, August 19 with a film to be announced, and August 27 with the sixtieth-anniversary presentation of Little Fugitive, which was supposed to kick off the series on July 1 but was rained out and instead has been rescheduled to close out the fest. The Avengers is also being shown on August 7 as part of Hudson River Park’s “River Flicks for Grown-Ups,” which continues the following two weeks with Pitch Perfect and The Hunger Games. For a day-by-day listing of free summer movie screenings throughout New York City, go here.