Consistently enjoyable effects and noise with the right amount of fun mixed in

Rating: Null/10 (6 September 2012)

You could be forgiven for approaching this film with trepidation for many reasons. The most obvious is that it is a big superhero summer blockbuster film – a type of film that is popular but all too often disappointing (indeed an accusation that could be levelled at films featuring characters in this film). Secondly though, a common problem with all the various character films leading up to this joint effort is that they generally struggled to make all the characters fit and you had the constant feeling that all the positioning and introductions were hurting the individual tales just for the sake of this joint one; so I did wonder how it was going to cope with all these characters running around in one place.
Ironically enough though, the character balancing turns out to not be a massive problem in this case and I think it is partly because they do all exist as equals within the same plot lines, rather than being forced onto others. The plot is suitably overblown and involves an intergalactic threat rather than a man-made one; again this concerned me at first because I didn't particularly care for Thor and I did get the feeling that this would be more of the same, with gods and mythical creatures running around. To a point this was the case here because to the casual viewer (which I am), these aliens aren't really known or understood but the film does make it work because it allows it to be just about serious enough to avoid spoof but at the same time generating sufficient fun so that you go along with it. In some ways it is the polar opposite of the other big superhero franchise out this summer (Batman) because where one aims for darkness and introspection, Avengers really has no interest and instead focuses on delivering fun and action in an easily accessible and enjoyable package.
And this it does. Across all the characters we have good humour and banter which never undermines the action but rather adds to it, giving it a sense of fun that engages and helpfully prevents you questioning the detail too much or having things like specific comic banter stand out against the serious nature of the action. There are lots of nice comic touches and lines but for me Hulk randomly punching Thor was the high point (with the "puny god" moment being a very close second). The cast go with it and I liked that everyone did work together without any one specific character hogging too much of the screen. Downey Jr is fun as normal and he works well with Evans, who I thought was better here than he was in his own film. Likewise Hemsworth benefits from a bit of decent humour and fun (two things lacking in his own film) and Ruffalo makes for a good Hulk, again though he is helped by the lack of having to carry a whole film. Johansson and Renner are good in support and the rest of the cast features good turns from many familiar faces, none of whom get in the way but all contribute to the fun.
It is easy to turn your nose up at Avengers because it is basically an effects-driven summer blockbuster about superheroes, nothing something that always delivers, but to do so would be to ignore the fact that there are good and bad examples of this and that The Avengers is one of the good ones. Colourful, busy, fun and generally very entertaining – it delivers everything it sets out to do and I found it very enjoyable for this.