A Gem of an Action Movie

Rating: Null/10 (15 May 2012)

The Avengers (2012)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Nick Fury brings together Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow to join forces and do battle against an enemy that threatens global security in this rather amazing comic book adaptation. I'll be honest and admit that comic book movies aren't my #1 type of film and it wasn't until just a month before THE AVENGERS opened that I bothered to check out the casts supporting movies. I enjoyed the two IRON MAN movies, thought THOR was very good, THE INCREDIBLE HULK was entertaining and I found CAPTAIN America to be decent but no matter what I felt about those films it couldn't prepare me for how much I enjoyed this one. Director Joss Whedon has created something incredibly special and you really can't help but think he's raised the super hero bar so high that many future films are going to have problems reaching it. When bringing all of these characters together, the filmmakers could have taken an easy route and just give us mindless action but that wasn't the case here as Whedon really delivered a deep but easy to follow story and he knew how to have fun with it. The constant banter between the superheroes could have led to some very unfunny moments but the screenplay was so smart in allowing each of their personalities to come through and then added the fun of taking those personalities and throw them at one another. This banter really turned into something incredibly funny and allowed for some great one-liners as well as some terrific action. When it comes to these type of movies I usually complain about a couple things. One is the obvious CGI but that wasn't a problem here because it just looked so realistic that it never took you out of the story and instead it put you more directly into it. Another thing I usually complain about in recent mainstream movies are the expanded running times. THE AVENGERS clocks in at 142-minutes, which made me nervous going in but it turns out that this film proves long running times are okay as long as you have enough to support it and this movie does. In fact, the long running time felt extremely short as the film flies by without any problems. Say what you will about comic adaptations but there's no question that THE AVENGERS is first rate entertainment thanks in large part to the great direction, the detailed writing and each of the performers fitting their roles and bringing them to life. This here is without question a complete success so future comic movie makers had better step their game up.