The Earth's Mightiest Buddy Cop Film.

Rating: 8/10 (22 May 2012)

I can't help but be a little reminded of Sergio Aragones' take on Marvel Comics where all the marvel characters had gotten together to face off against the Seagoing Soarer, only to be reminded that whenever Marvel comic characters assemble in large numbers they must always fight amongst themselves, regardless of the reason or the consequences.
Its the same with most buddy cop movies. Such introductory films require a little adversarial tension in order for headstrong individualistic alphas to come together and overcome the foe that is bigger than either could handle alone. Lethal Weapon. 48 Hours. Tango and Cash. The Last Boyscout. Red Heat. Etcetera. Etcetera.
This is the same basic formula that the Avengers follows. Its a buddy cop film with more explosions and the Hulk. The animosity here, however, tends to come from the machinations of Loki, and the general distrust of working with a secret organization, albeit one with our best interests in mind.
The characters are not two dimensional caricatures. Each with their own emotional weaknesses and psychological strengths. The development is meager, but adequate for an action film. One moment of blatant Chekov's Gun exists where a character's devotion is called into question and then takes on a "suicide" mission at the end of the final battle. I'm not quite willing to call it lazy writing at this point, but it is painfully reminiscent of the "you're a valued part of the team, too" episodes that every 80's cartoon series had. Multiple viewings may be needed to come to a final verdict on that minor and relatively unneeded subplot.
The only other minor gripe I had with the film is that there was very few scenes where the heroes worked together in a fight. A couple more well choreographed fight scenes involving multiple heroes would have been welcome, but its nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
The Earth's Mightiest Buddy Cop Film.