The Avengers (2012)

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2012)

It's finally here. OH MY GOD. As a big comic fan it's amazing to see how far the genre has come in the last decade. We finally get star studded spin-off featuring a large cast of some of the greatest characters. If you've been living under a rock, then you may not have noticed that over the last five years, Marvel have been churning out their big hitters and building up to The Avengers. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hulk join forces to stop Thor's brother, Loki and his alien army. Sure, the plot is simple, but that's what we want for a big smackdown. For any team we need a great leader and Marvel have found the best in Joss Whedon. With his familiarity with large ensembles he effortlessly gives every hero their due. He also manages to flesh out characters in very short scenes. We get a sense of Stark and Potts relationship, some back story for Black Widow and Hawkeye, the confusion of Rogers and so forth. He does his best work with Hulk. I've loved every incarnation of the Hulk so far, so I was wary of Ruffalo's performance. He captures it perfectly, going for a more nervous and geeky Banner. When the Hulk is unleashed, Whedon makes sure to not take it too seriously. Hulk gets the biggest laughs in this surprisingly comic film. The action is fantastic, with a number of exciting set pieces. The final battle has so many wonderful character moments immersed in the action, and they really do work as a team. There are a couple of shortcomings. The alien race is just pathetic, and never really feels like a threat. Add to that the whole mother ship destroyed and every alien dies plot convenience. The film lacks any real threat. We hear about the many people Loki kills, but we never see anything that relates to this. Without seeing the sacrifices made it's hard to get too involved. There are also a few moments where characters just happen to show up. These are things that are minor nitpicks. After all, the only way to do a perfect Avengers movie would be to have an unlimited budget and unlimited running time. What it does achieve is simply amazing and very exciting for the future of superhero films.