Whedon is an amazing assembler

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2012)

I went to see this with a few friends and one of them described it probably as well as can be. He called it probably the best comic book adaptation he's ever seen. Of course, what it's adapting is one of those all out action issues so there's not a whole lot of depth and significance to what happens. This is about good energetically punching evil in the nose while Joss Whedon's style of comedy flows in and out like a rapid tide. But while you can't put this on the same narrative level as The Dark Knight or even Batman Begins or Superman II, this is one kick ass thrill ride of a motion picture. It is stuffed to the gills with so much great stuff that Whedon deserves some sort of award just for keeping it all from collapsing in on itself.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the Asgardian god of mischief who was lost to the void at the end of the Thor movie, returns here in service to an alien horde. He comes to Earth and steals the tessaract, the glowing blue box from the Captain America movie, and seeks to use it to open a portal that will allow the alien army to invade and conquer the world. To stop him, super-spy Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) assembles a team of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson. Loki, meanwhile, uses his power to seize control of the minds of Professor Selvig (from the Thor movie) to construct his portal and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to assist him. A whole lot of fighting ensues, particularly on the incredible S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier and the streets and skies of New York City, as The Avengers try to defeat Loki and repel the alien threat.
Let me say again, Joss Whedon does a tremendous job hear managing all the moving parts in this script and the production. There's a very large cast of characters and they're all put to some use and there are a whole lot of special effects and action scenes, nearly all of which are spectacular. There's also likely more humor here than in any Marvel super-hero flick to date and while some of it is a bit much in that way Whedon always goes for a laugh just as the tension or drama is kicking into high gear, most of it is simply damn funny.
Unsurprisingly, Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark pretty much owns every scene he's in, but Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo prove to be excellent sparring partner for RDJ in their scenes together. Scarlett Johansson is also very effective in a surprisingly large role. Whedon is known for his female characters and he's taken Jonhasson's window dressing role from Iron Man II and remade her into a tough, smart woman who still blanches a bit at being normal amongst geniuses, super-humans and extradimensional gods. I do have to say that large doses of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury turns out to a better idea in theory than in practice, sort of like Mace Windu, but Cobie Smulders does a nice job as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Maria Hill and Clark Gregg is wonderful as Agent Coulson.
If you're looking for a good time, I'm not sure there's any way you'll be disappointed by The Avengers. If you are, maybe you need to stop going to see this kind of films. I wasn't that impressed with either the Thor or Captain America movies and felt Iron Man II was burdened with having too much stuff crammed into it. I am impressed with this film, even though it's packed to the brim with even more. It's made me excited about a possible Black Widow movie and hopeful of seeing Ruffalo in yet another Hulk film, as long as Whedon's involved.
Not that you need to hear this from me, but don't miss this.