They can be heroes

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2014)

I'm really more of a DC guy and watched this movie well out of synch with other related Marvel films and TV series I've watched previously but even as some of the finer points of the narrative went over my head somewhat, nevertheless this epic team-up of four (plus two) major super-heroes was an absolute blast.
The two and a half hour viewing time absolutely flew by making this one of the best blockbusters I've seen from the comic universe. The longer playing time allows plenty of room for character development as well as initial face-offs between Iron Man and Captain America and later Hulk and Thor to whet the appetite for the all-action SFX fest finale, when the heroes, plus Black Widow and Hawkeye, finally get their act together to repel the Chitauri alien invasion plotted by Loki.
All the main characters get more or less equal on-screen exposure apart possibly from Hulk but his delayed appearance is of course in line with the surprise element his transformation engenders and is very much worth the wait in any case. There's room for humour too, unsurprisingly in the main from cynical Tony Stark / Iron Man and some sight gags too, like the Hulk's slightly overdone fist-pump with Thor and also his later take-down of Loki after a suitably grandiose speech by the latter.
As the most successful individual performer in the franchise, it's not a huge shock to see Iron Man save the day this time but fans of the individual heroes will all be satisfied with how their favourites are treated I'm sure. Besides the heroes, Tom Hiddlestone makes for a convincingly asinine Loki, Samuel J Jackson gets to jut and chomp a lot as Nick Fury and the likable Clark Greig impresses as Fury's straight-arrow right-hand man Coulson. The effects are literally out-of-this-world as New York is laid-waste by the invading Chitauri and their massive caterpillar-type spaceship and individual "Silver Surfer"-type jet-ski flying machines. Sure you have to suspend a lot of disbelief as the super six take on and defeat an army of it would appear thousands but it is the comics after all.
It seems to me Marvel is well ahead of DC in the movie stakes certainly if this all-action mega-hit is anything to go by. I look forward to its inevitable follow-up.