Worth the wait

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2012)

For we super-hero fans, this movie has been long time coming but the end result largely justifies the wait. We've had two Iron Man outings and separate films highlighting Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. Now these four - plus the lesser- known Hawkeye and Black Widow are assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D to combat Thor's evil brother Loki whom we have seen before. Balancing so many larger than life characters and featuring so many special skills must have presented a mega challenge but director Joss Whedon - who gave us another ensemble piece in the under-rated "Serenity" - has done a skillful job and as co-writer he has crafted a sharp script with plenty of wry humour.
No viewer will doubt that British actor Tom Hiddleston makes a wonderful super villain, but opinions might differ on who makes the best super hero. All six candidates - Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson - give fine performances and bounce well off one another in the early, competitive phases but, for me, Downey Jr is still the ace in the pack.
There is plenty of action and excitement and the special effects are well done, although it might make a change for a city other than New York to be smashed up and, in the 3D version I saw, the extra dimension only really worked in the final titanic battle.