Nothing truly outstanding but among the better superhero movies

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2012)

I will try to analyze this movie from a different point of view than most of the critics do. I went to see this movie without any expectations because of many favourable critics but I haven't seen movies such as Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and so on. Usually, superhero movies are not my cup of tea and I find them rather childish and only focused on special effects and the same old redundant stories.
This movie is among the better superhero movies but it's definitely not the big thing many people claim it to be.
On the positive side, we have the great 3D effects that are really worth watching this movie in the cinema in comparison to many movies in 3D that are not quite spectacular and only try to raise the gross. The graphics and special effects of this movie are flawless and of the highest modern standards thanks to an exaggeratedly high budget of course.
But there are other positive things to find. Robert Downey Jr. does once again an incredible job and becomes a better actor in my estimation each time I see him in a new movie. He is some kind of a slightly crazy but charming dreamer with a sense for romance and cool humour and incarnates the Iron Man in a perfect way. Mark Ruffallo plays a rather calm and intellectual gentleman that becomes the Hulk as soon as he doesn't control his anger. His acting is also very authentic and grounded in this over the top movie. These two actors really impressed me the most but Tom Hiddlestone as the egoistic avenger and half god Loki and the great Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury are also quite convincing while the other actors can't catch up with these four talented actors.
On the other side, the story kicks off way too fast and if you don't know much about the Marvel characters, you will feel a little bit lost in the beginning. It's not quite clear who is attacking whom and why in the first couple of minutes but after that, the pace of the movie slows down and introduces the different characters in a solid way. In the case of the Hulk or Natasha Romanov (as she seems to be of Russian origin, her actual name should be "Romanova" - it's a pity that such a famous movie with such a big budget has this kind of stupid error), the introduction's scenes are amusing and entertaining while the presentations of Captain America or the Iron Man are not very well thought out in my opinion.
On the other side, the story of this movie is pretty generic and also predictable. The movie also has some important length in the middle of the film as the superheroes are discussing on the giant airship. The battle scenes in the end of the movie also get rather boring after a while and lack of diversity. The ending is also too much of a common standard to truly impress.
In the end, there are almost as many negative as there are positive things to mention but as the quality of the positive facts is quite elevated and a more important factor than the pure quantity and as this movie was almost very well entertaining me over a quite long running time with two little exceptions, I may give a shyly positive seven points to this flick. After all, I might now try out the movies about Hulk and the Iron Man who are my favourite characters in this movie and can't deny that this movie awoke some interest in me to dig a little bit further into the Marvel world I have missed out.