If you're a Marvel fan, see this movie

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2014)

I didn't know much about this film other than it was based on a Marvel comic and characters, and it was doubly mysterious to me since I had given up comic books right right after high school and did not know any of the characters or storyline at all.
But I must say, if you're a Marvel fan, this is Marvel, through and through. The characters are hip, loose, funny, heroic yet very irreverent and anti-authoritarian, exactly what I used to love about the Marvel characters from my youth. Each main character has strengths and weaknesses, dark or mysterious pasts and courageous and lovable spirits that endear them to you instantly. The casting is spot on too, with each actor, including the appropriately cartoonish villains, inhabiting their on-screen characters fully and genuinely.
Look, this is a comic book, nothing more, nothing less. But it's a *great* comic book, with great scenes, great visual effects, great soundtrack (especially if you're of that generation, which I am), a neat storyline and characters you can care about and root for. What more can you ask for? I loved it.