A Major Win for Marvel, Whedon, and Fans

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2012)

Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios have accomplished something that I never thought would've been possible. I am giving this movie a perfect rating and, yes, I'm aware that it is not the greatest film of all time and I recognize that it is not without its flaws. But it is a fantastic summer action movie with some of the greatest comic book action we've gotten so far in film and, when you really think about a movie with the scope of THE AVENGERS, this movie could've failed in so many ways. But it didn't. It amazed. It was beyond fun. It was an excellent finale to what Marvel has come to refer to as "Phase I", which means we can expect to see more story lines and characters overlapping in Marvel Cinematic Universe and it's made me so freakin' excited to see what the future holds for Marvel's film franchises. The movie begins as we see S.H.I.E.L.D. in possession of the Tesseract from CAPTAIN America, experimenting in the possibility of unlimited clean energy. Unfortunately, the Tesseract has attracted the attention of Loki and whatever dark forces he's bargained with. Loki has plans on using the Tesseract to open a portal to another dimension and bring war to Earth with aspirations of enslaving the human race. Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. are in over their heads but, thankfully, the past year has introduced a series of superheroes that might come in handy in just such a scenario: Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. But can these super-egos work together toward a common goal without imploding on themselves?
The odds were against this movie. There were so many reasons this might not have worked. Ensemble movies can be difficult, especially when you have a ton of stars and beloved characters to juggle. Every character needs ample screen time to justify their existence in the film and give each fan a chance to enjoy a hero moment with their favorite character. In addition to all of this, I was concerned that the villain for the film was a weak selection. Loki was the antagonist of 2011's THOR and, while this is only my opinion, THOR was the least incredible of the first phase of Marvel movies. Loki worked within the scope of that movie but I wasn't sure he could carry a movie of this size as the primary villain. Yeah, I was wrong. I thought Tom Hiddleston had done a great job in THOR and he pushes his character a little closer to crazier here. He's an ample villain for a first time teaming of these heroes and, for the final battle, he calls in more than enough reinforcements to give us the epic action we expect when you bring these four heroes to the big screen in the same movie. Joss Whedon is one of the few who could have pulled off an AVENGERS movie as well as he did. The man knows how to juggle a large cast and give everyone a chance to shine. He even manages to give Black Widow a healthy role while bringing Hawkeye into the mix (somewhat).
If you're at all a fan of Marvel's movies leading up to this point, I'm all but sure you'll be satisfied with THE AVENGERS. One of Marvel's biggest strengths has been finding the perfect cast and directors to bring their heroes to life. Now we get a half dozen together at once. Robert Downey Jr. steals the spotlight for the majority of the film but, seeing as how Iron Man is the most established and a guaranteed crowd favorite, it was to be expected. Chris Evans continues to prove he was an ideal choice for Steve Rogers, and Chris Hemsworth is still the perfect God of Thunder. One of the biggest surprises was Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. I was a bit upset when it was revealed that Ed Norton wouldn't be reprising his role, and I thought Mark Ruffalo was an odd choice to replace him. But, man, he was great. Seriously, I hope he jumps into the character in the same way Hugh Jackman's embraced Wolverine. He's a great Banner and an even better Hulk, easily the best version of the Hulk we've had at the movies. The special effects in the movie are great, the battles are epic, and we even get a few hero vs. hero fight sequences that they knew we'd be itching to see. The Incredible Hulk battling Thor? I'm in.
On the other end of the spectrum, my complaints are few and far between. The movie keeps a great pace, only slowing down once near the middle following the massive Helicarrier sequence. The alien menace (I won't reveal their identity on the off chance someone reading this hasn't seen the movie yet) were nothing more than cannon fodder at the end but it made for a fantastic battle. Other than that...? Yeah, nothing. There's a lot I loved about this movie. It was a great culmination of everything we'd seen building in the previous movies. The chemistry between the cast/characters was great with a budding friendship between Stark and Banner and a bit of a rivalry between Stark and Rogers. There's a lot going on and plenty of action to keep the pace rocketing through the nearly 2.5 hour runtime. THE AVENGERS was a major victory for both Marvel Studios and comic/movie fans.