The Avengers: Delivering the goods

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 2012)

If I was to describe the Avengers in a single word it would be this: Nirvana. The film wants for nothing. There's action, story, character development, and well placed humor bits. It's everything we were promised and nothing we weren't. You want super hero conflicts? You got 'em. You want gratuitous amounts of action? You got it. You want Stan a Lee Cameo? Better question: could it be an Avenger movie at this point without one? You want Hulk Smash? You bet your sweet candy ass Hulk Smash! There are a few nit-picky things that I could say about the movie, but they all fall wildly short of what the movie gets right. This movie is a rock star affair from start to finish, with the screen play by Joss Whedon (geeks try to hold it together), and visual and sound effects done by none other than Weta studios and Skywalker light and sound.
You already know the cast, we all know the score. So its time to strap in and enjoy the ride. And you had best strap in since the pace for avengers after the intro sequence is somewhere between frenetic and murderous. There really is no lull in the story or the action that lasted longer than my attention span, and that's saying something for a man with ADHD. There really is an awful lot crammed into that 2 hours and 23 minutes and believe me they make use of damn near every second. With so many stars though, it is true that some character development got sacrificed, most notably for Hawkeye, but it seems to have done very little to diminish the film as a whole.
In a somewhat cross-related issue, the substitution of Mark Ruffalo for Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk was a much welcome change in my opinion. The skinny around town is that Norton wanted more money than Marvel was willing to put up and negotiations broke down. Bet he'll be kicking himself in the ass for that choice come Monday. Especially considering how many fans of the hulk this film is likely to generate. But I've always found Norton to be a little annoying and Ruffalo does a great job, but that's just my opinion. All the other characters are amazing too, Cap is great, Iron Man steals the stage whenever he can (but not as much as I thought he would) and Thor actually levels out a bit to make a fuller transition from brash youth to wise veteran warrior.
A final word on 3D and IMAX: See it in IMAX 3D, it's absolutely astounding! Catch the matinée showing if you have to, but don't miss your chance because it really does impact the cinematic experience. And as always STAY AFTER THE CREDITS and I do mean STAY AFTER ALL THE CREDITS. Seriously, YOU WON"T WANT TO MISS IT.
Peace out.
So will Avengers change the entire world as we know it? No, probably not. But it will set a precedent and a higher standard for all other films to follow.