The moment all poindexters – and pretty much every other filmgoer – has been waiting for is almost upon us; the cinematic release of THE AVENGERS. Though we must wait a little while longer, we can tease your imagination with some words from the visual effects supervisor, Chris Wells, who has given ‘Starburst Magazine’ a few nuggets of info about the opening scenes of the film.
Wells, who represents Hydraulx (the company that’s worked on several of the franchise’s other releases, including CAPTAIN AMERICA, IRON MAN 2 and THE INCREDIBLE HULK), describes the epic scale of the work: ‘We’re doing what essentially boils down to the prelude of the movie. There’s a whole intro that happens before you start even getting the titles and it’s pretty big. There’s nothing small in this movie. I went to a screening with all the temporary visual effects and it was pretty fleshed out. It’s a long movie but it doesn’t feel like it. Out of all the comic book movies and franchises I’ve worked on, this is the best one I’ve seen so far.’
He also shed some light on the question that has plagued many fans’ minds: will director Joss Whedon let the story be driven more by the characters – which he is known to do – or by the action? ‘I think they nailed both. I think he did a very good job of setting up the characters based on what we know from the Marvel franchise, integrating them together with all their differences and similarities and then getting on with business. And just when you think the movie is a character piece it just goes nuts.’
Lastly, the character of the hulk, which is another contentious topic amongst fans, was also addressed. ‘I promise you it’s not going to be boring. This thing has gone so big that Marvel are dwarfing their other franchises. For people who enjoy the comics and haven’t really liked the way some of the characters were treated in other movies, I think they’re going to be a little more appeased by this one. Especially the Hulk. They let the Hulk be Hulk and that’s great. He acts more like the comic book Hulk. It’s fun. My biggest problem with every single superhero movie is I don’t think the payoff ever matches the build up. This one definitely does.’
This interview is available in full in ‘Starburst’ issue 376 (out in March). THE AVENGERS is due for release on the 27th April.
Sources: Starburst, Comingsoon
