'The Avengers' fulfills all expectations

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2012)

Minor spoilers ahead. If ever there's a movie for shedding tears of joy, this would be it. The beauty of seeing a long-term plan come to fruition has a satisfaction hard to replicate in any other fashion. That's the feeling you'll get after watching "The Avengers". Marvel's ambitious venture of building up a five-movie saga in anticipation of one grand epic, which ties a ribbon on those movies while simultaneously paving the way for future endeavors, not only pays huge dividends, but blows up the screen with pure amazement during the process. There's a certain awe to behold when watching montage fight scenes seamlessly transition from Captain America's ground-level assault to Iron Man's fly-by attacks to Hulk's crushing of gigantic enemies. There's a sense that they've got each other's back, that they're truly fighting as one team. That's the magic that drives "The Avengers" to heightened plateaus of superhero storytelling. These Avengers have been assembled for this purpose and show that nothing can stop them if they work together. It's during those scenes that make you think "This is what I've been waiting for." Makes you feel like the kid who fell in love with these stories when first reading the comics. It's a good thing the superheroes finally start working from the same playbook, because the weight of imminent failure is lurking. Loki returns as the evil leader, and he's more power hungry and bent on world control than ever. Like any superhero movie, the bad guy's quest to control the world is at the forefront. But there's realism and a dark nature to Loki that creates a sense of peril and pressure to the task of stopping him. It requires sacrifice, something some of the Avengers need to learn. Loki is truly twisted, believing that mankind needs a ruler so it can be "free of freedom" (it actually gets a little thought provoking). Throughout the movie, there's an unsettling feeling of the grand sinister plot, not just a gimmick that most shallow bad guys cling to. "The Avengers" is a little darker than the other movies. Tons of destruction ensues as the scope of the grand battle covers all of Manhattan and takes casualties along the way. Even the backup plan of a nuclear missile wiping out everything comes into play. The humor that has made the characters lovable and entertaining is present and accounted for. It was a tough balancing act to get the interactions between all the superheroes to seem fitting, but director Joss Whedon concocts the perfect mixture of screen time and blends all the superheroes together brilliantly. Yes, tensions even arise as Iron Man and Thor duke it out. From Nick Fury giving Hulk the order to smash to Tony Stark calling Coulson by his first name, "Agent", there's plenty of laughs from everyone, none of which are contrived (okay, some are, but not any more than any of the other Marvel films, which is a good thing). During some of those interactions, a lot is learned about the superheroes. There's some back story for Black Widow and Hawkeye that was sorely needed. Bruce Banner has some moments in the sun (side note: Edward Norton was a better Banner, but Mark Ruffalo did a good job). Captain America steps up to be the leader he was meant to be. At times, it seemed like the movie could (and maybe even should've) piggy back on anyone of these stories and flesh it out a little more, but Whedon did a good job of keeping the movie's somewhat broad focus on target. Special effects were top-notch. The art design of enemies for the final battle was creative and organic. Music was stellar. Actually, it was cool when the musical theme would get switched up a little depending on which superhero was fighting at that particular moment. Indeed, the long wait was worth it. "The Avengers" reaches its potential and brings out the giddiness and excitement we've all had for these superhero movies. One last note: There are two end-of-credit scenes, so stay all the way through. One gives a glimpse of what is to come in future movies (there'd better be more of them) and the other is simply a perfect capper.