Good and Bad

Just got done watching the movie "The Avengers" with my wife and son, it was his treat to us to celebrate our anniversary.  Funny thing about that movie, it's a block-buster for a lot of good reasons.  I know a lot of you out there (ha) will say what good can come from Hollywood, and most times I would be in agreement with you. My favorite actor, Robert Duvall, once said that the reason he lived out in the mountains and not in Hollywood was that he had to work there, but he didn't want to live there.  But this new movie has a lot of good in it.  It has Captain America, urging others on and encouraging them to be their best and expecting their best from them.  It has a comment about only ONE God.  It has forgiveness and redemption and second chances given major roles with several characters.  Thor trying repeatedly to redeem his brother and trying to help him see there is still good in him.  Dr. Banner is shown in a state of acceptance of his "issue," but not letting it come in the way of hm working to help those that life has dealt a lousy hand to.  I shows the ex-Soviet spy making the most out of the second chance she was given and looking for a way to repay the kindness.  It shows her seeking out her friend, who was turned to the foe's side, tirelessly and selflessly striving to release him from the chains he finds himself in.  It gives us a chance to see a self absorbed man who uses arrogance to hide his desire to help others and to be loved finally put his ego aside to do a truly selfless act.  I shows a regular guy, agent Coulson, who deeply believes in the cause he fights for and sees clearly the difference between his side and the darkness it fights.  He sums it up when he tells the antagonist, "You can not win because you lack conviction."  Wow, that's a phrase we need to hear more of these days.  We see an elderly man, a man of wisdom stand up in the face of the darkness and proclaim it for what it is to all who will hear, even though it will cost him his life.  

I could go on and on with more examples of what is right about this movie, but I won't.  There were things that were wrong in the movie.  The refusal to follow orders by Col. Fury, yes that was wrong.  He did it for the right reasons, but he was wrong.  The killing of the man in the art gallery to gain entrance to the secure facility by using his retinal scan, but in the director's defense, he used a cut away shot to reduce the effect of the gruesome act, while giving us a look into the heart of darkness.  The un-married state of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts will have some crying moral decay, but look deeper and you'll see that Stark is for the first time in a truly love based relationship.  He could have any woman he wanted, and he chooses Pepper, a (yes beautiful, but) middle-aged woman who is not a poster child for the newest cosmetic surgery procedures.  

Hurrah to Hollywood for making a movie where we can cheer for good over evil, where we can see love triumph over hate, where right and wrong are clearly not separated by a  blurry line.  Thank you for giving us heros who have conviction.