The best superhero film since The Dark Knight

Rating: 9/10 (2 June 2012)

I watched it for the fourth time yesterday in theaters on 3D and damnI love this film to bits and it just keeps getting better with each subsequent viewing. It is hands down the best experience I've had at the theater in years.
Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Loki, Fury, Hill, Widow, Hawkeye, Coulson, etc; having all these larger than life characters in a single movie can be a daunting task and could have gone wrong rather easily. But the film manages to make it work perfectly by balancing all the characters so that none of them feel like filler or as being disregarded due to undue attention being given to other characters. All are presented and introduced well, have their chance to shine and to show us about themselves and they all ad something of substance to the film. From Maria Hill to Nick Fury to Thor and Iron man, each one of them has their moment in the film and are portrayed in such a way that the audience can relate to them.
While the story is indeed simple, to critique the film on this aspect is to miss the point as the purpose of the story is to get everyone together to fight a common goal, which is the driving idea behind the Avengers initiative. On that count, the story works wonderfully and the drama and tension is rather created by the characters who are the focus and forte of the film. Their interaction, chemistry and motivations are what drive the film and draws you in. They are all drawn and presented so well that you end up loving and actually caring for these characters and like a good friend whose company you enjoy, you just want to see them again and again, something which plays into the replay value of the film, which to my mind is incredibly high.
For a film that depends so much on it's characters, it is essential that the actors portraying them do a good job and on this front the movie excels as well. Everyone brought their A-Game to the film and did a wonderful work with their respective characters. Robert was great as usual as Tony stark and Ruffalo with his very nuanced performance is hand down the best Banner/Hulk to ever grace a film. His chemistry with Robert in their scenes on the Helicarrier was amazing as well. Hiddleston shows an incredible range on his portrayal of Loki, most noticeably in his scenes with Thor in the mountains (Hemsworth is also great here) and with Black Widow when he is captured in the Helicarrier. Scarlett in particular surprised me, after a bit of a one note performance in Iron Man 2, she brings more depth and a more human side to her character in this film; specially in her scenes with Banner/Hulk, where we see her show a fearful/vulnerable side of her character. Jeremy is always great and this doesn't changes with his portrayal of Hawkeye as was Jackson with Nick Fury. All in all, everyone did great in terms of acting in this film.
The heroes in particular, whom we first met in their respective solo films, are shown here to have evolved since we last met them. From Captain America's feelings as being a man out of time who is trying to find his own purpose in this new world he just woke up in, to Thor's more mature albeit still conflicted nature due to his love for Loki, to a Loki who is confident, more menacing and determined than the confused Loki we left in Thor, to Tony Stark who is now in the clean energy business and is more than meets the eye to a Banner who is now in control of his "other guy" but who wonders why he survived the incident, all the heroes show more depth and complexity than they did in the previous films. You add to this the humanity of Black Widow, Fury, Hill, Coulson and Hawkeye and you have an incredible rich and wide palette of texture within the film; and like a great painting, it is all balanced out perfectly.
This great balance between the characters that the film achieves is seen as well in it's action sequences. The film has two big action scenes, the one in the Helicarrier and the other in the City, and in both we can see all the heroes jumping into the action and even achieving something worthwhile. The action sequences are also very well choreographed and edited, with none of the mindless, fast cut editing or excessive slow-motion cliché that is so common in many of today's films. You can easily follow and keep track of what's going on during each scene. One of my favorite parts is the virtuoso sequence during the final act where the camera continuously follows the action from one Avenger to the next, starting with Black Widow, then following Iron Man who joins up Captain America, then Iron Man passing through Hawkeye whose arrow then the camera follows to where Thor and Hulk are fighting. It truly shows how all of them are working together, fulfilling their respective roles as The Avengers.
The script of the film is fantastic as is the dialog and along with the film's pacing very tight. All scenes have a purpose and feel like mini pieces that could stand on their own, specially the ones during the first part of the film where each of the heroes is being introduced. The scenes lead beautifully to one another tied in by the dialog and at no point does one feels like the film is dragging or that some particular scene is filler.
The Avengers has it all, the film manages to provide an amazing mix of action, humor and drama that keeps you glued to the screen from beginning to end and when the film ends, you just feel like watching it all over again.