Same thing happened to me. Iron Man was flying away to do something else by the time I realized what what I'd just seen, and I started to wonder if that was actually what I saw. Surely my eyes must have been mistaken, because something like that would be way too awesome to shove into a big action scene where the viewer could miss it. Any other movie would have the characters talk about it for ten seconds and then do it in slow motion, just to make sure you didn't miss it.
But The Avengers? The Avengers is all like, "Oh, you missed that one totally awesome shot? That's cool, we've got like a million more. In fact, we're about to pan around the city in the most awesome long shot ever and show every character doing something awesome. I'm sure you'll catch it the second time you see this movie. Because you're coming back, right? Yeah. We both know you totally are."
Reading this over just reminded me of something I've been thinking since I saw the movie but haven't been able to put my finger on.
Joss Whedon (or whoever decided these sorts of things in the relevant sequences) truly understands how to use slow motion in an action movie.
What do I mean by this?
When you show something in slow motion, there are a few reasons you want to do so:
1) The action in question would be too fast for a human eye to catch at full speed, so you slow it down so the audience can see it clearly
2) To communicate something otherworldly or superhuman (besides speed) that wouldn't be as easily-understood in full speed
3) To highlight the emotional resonance of the onscreen action (very common in war movies)
4) To make it look cool
Par for the course these days is to forget about 1-3 and just rely on 4, and in fact abuse the hell out of it, just 4 over and over and over again to just slather your action scenes in a gratutious layer of slow motion
cool until nobody could possibly dispute how fucking cool it is. Moviemakers throw around slow-motion like it's the default setting on their cameras and they need to really concentrate during action scenes to
not slow it down.
Slow-mo is used surprisingly sparingly in the Avengers. In all the instances I can think of, there was at least a decent reason beyond "it looks cool" to justify it. Some examples: Thor hits Hulk in the face with his hammer (2, the impact of this blow would be not just massive, but absolutely incomprehensible to a normal human), Hawkeye shoots an arrow at Loki, who catches it (1), Iron Man falls back toward earth after jettisoning his boosters in space, with the portal rapidly closing (1+3), Cap and Thor battle seemingly non-stop waves of Chitauri as Cap begins to tire (3). Of course they all
also look cool, but that's not all those shots had going for them.
I remember all of these scenes and the way slow-motion was used in them clearly, and I'll continue to remember them that way.
"But Hawkian, you just saw the movie a few days ago, you have no clue if you'll remember those shots a few months from now!"
You shut your whore mouth. I have absolutely no doubt; if I had to compare them to something, it would be the slow-mo shots from the original Matrix- Trinity's scorpion kick, Morpheus leaping during the dojo fight, the bullet-dodging/camera rotation scene- scenes clearly intended to demonstrate that these people were clearly performing superhuman feats, using that particular effect. I still remember these moments clearly from my first viewing over
ten years ago.
Actionfests like the Transformers flicks or the Underworld sequels just throw slow-motion shots around like candy. I swear, while I remember some shots that were slowed down, I can't remember any particular ones that stand out over any other shots. There was nothing there beyond the "cool."
I hope future action films take note.