Amazed at numerous recent negative feedback, I've watched 30+ times

Rating: 10/10 (6 July 2013)

In 18 months on IMDb, this is my first review. I was scrolling through IMDb for some background and stumbled into the user review section. Of the first 20 or so, it seemed 15ish rated this film a "1". Shocked, I actually put down my phone, paused the movie, and fired up my computer just to write my first review of ANY film. I am more than willing to concede to the negative posters that the storyline is relatively predictable. However, I cannot fathom why they think it would be so easy to weave a complex story arc (like those found in Dark Knight, Star Wars, or others mentioned) that could adequately involve 4 super heroes, 3 heroes, 1.5 bad guys, and assorted support cast and come in under 5 hours. How could anyone possibly write a Batman-Joker-Dent relationship that applied to all of the Avengers? Just look at how much reel time it took to develop the Batman-Bane relationship in DKR. If I were to judge this effort solely on originality, I probably wouldn't give it a 10 either. However, I firmly believe that Mr. Whedon and company did an excellent job integrating all of the characters into an action packed story that still manages to touch (if not address) various flaws of numerous characters. I further dismiss the opinions that say there are no unexpected plot twists in the story (the death of Coulson stands out immediately to me - a beloved character from previous movies). Also, I think he manages to further develop Fury, Romanoff, and Barton despite the limited time in a movie such as this. Obviously, I think the movie was a great success and hope others will at least give it a look despite the more recent negative feedback. If I had one complaint, I think that the scenes cut involving Steve Roger's character should have been left in the original. Probably not something Mr. Whedon wanted left out either; but, the extra 5-6 minutes should have made it past the editors.