Lived up to my expectations...and then some

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2012)

The Avengers (Or Avengers Assemble, as it's called over here) was MINDBLOWINGly awesome. It completely lived up to my expectations and then some. Son of Coul :( I loved that all of the characters had something to set them apart. That just made it so much more than your generic popcorn movie, it was funny, touching, exciting... Robert Downey Jr and Whedon are kind of made for each other. "Performance issues..." I was almost worried that, because of a few interviews I read where Robert Downey wanted Iron Man to carry the whole thing (seeing as the Iron Man franchise has done the best out of all of the other individual films), the Avengers was going to be Iron Man 2.5, but no. Oh Whedon. You'll never fail me. Despite Captain America being... the least interesting/least dimensional personality (IMO) of the Avengers, he came across brilliantly: a great balance of internal conflict/strong leadership. Thor was just... Brilliant. Chris Hemsworth doesn't play Thor, he IS Thor. That is all. The Hulk almost stole the entire show. After all the negativity and doubt I've seen directed at Ruffalo, he is hands down the best Banner so far. And the Hulk was just...incredible. Hawkeye and Widow worked really, really well. Much better than I'd expected. I friggin' LOVE Renner, and I love that he was part of a darker storyline, he's so good with dark. And Widow was definitely more substantial than I thought she'd be, that was a great scene with her and Loki. If the villain had been cheesy or one dimensional, the story wouldn't have worked. But Loki was amazing. Hiddleston (aka the nicest man in show business) just owned that role. And although Sam Jackson didn't get to say "I have had it with these motherfuckin' Chitari breaking motherfuckin' New York!", he did get to shoot a bazooka. Win. As well as adding his trademark wit and humour, there were dozens of other Wheonesque touches that really brought the film together, eg the news report at the end, where people were lighting candles for the casualties. That doesn't really happen in most superhero movies, either the entire city is miraculously evacuated, or the dead aren't acknowledged. Yeah, saw it twice this weekend. I am one happy fan :D