Entertaining popcorn flick it may be, but best superhero movie it is NOT!

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2012)

INTRODUCTION
After watching both Ironman movies, all Hulk movies, Thor and Captain America, watching Avengers is a sensible thing for me to do.
WHAT'S HOT
Great casts. Majority of them carry their parts well. Its nice to see all the familiar faces from previous movies.
Great action scenes and impressive visual effects. The final New York scene is awesome. So many things to focus on, sensory overload!
Ironman. On the field, Steve Rogers may be the unofficial leader of the team, but it is Tony Stark who performs most of the important, life-saving duties. The backbone of The Avengers.
Scarlett Johansson and Cobie Smulders. Enuff said.
WHAT'S NOT
Loki. I understand that sometimes a couple of jokes here and there can be good, but when some of the jokes come from the result of the main villain being stupid, weak, being thrashed around, that's not good. What makes a good superhero movie is, among other things, the villain. His or her on-screen presence should instill fear, uncertainties, and in some ways, respect.
Alien soldiers. There is no doubt that Ironman, Hulk, Thor and Capt America can kick aliens' ass anytime anyday, but Black Widow? Come on... I understand that this is a comic book movie, therefore any logic should be thrown out of the window, but Black Widow beating many alien soldiers without much difficulties is way too much. No doubt that she is a formidable fighter and can overcome many human opponents as we have seen in Ironman 2, but to be on the front line during an alien invasion is a no-no. She is more suitable for espionage, covert, intel-gathering, kind of duties.
Black Widow. Same as above.
Familiar story lines. Using a space portal to send alien soldiers and ships to attack earth? We have seen that in Transformers : Dark of The Moon. Huge alien attack craft that looks like 'fish'? Also seen that in the same Transformers! Destroying alien mothership using a nuclear warhead? Seen that in Independence Day.
Police / Army. I know this movie is about a team of superheroes saving our world from alien invasion, but the apparent lack of support from the police and armies in fighting the aliens is so glaring. The freedom of 6 billion people under threat and yet you rely on less than 10 persons? The results are our heroes performing less important tasks such as saving civilians cornered by weak and easily defeatable alien soldiers (as evidenced by Black Widow) in a bank and rescuing people trapped in a bus! Delegate those things to the police, firemen, or ground troops, and focus on the bigger task of defeating Loki and closing the space portal.
CONCLUSION
An enjoyable movie. I had a good laugh on some of the scenes, mostly involving Hulk. In my opinion, The Dark Knight is still the best comic book movie, and maybe the title will go to The Dark Knight Rises in 2 months time.