Nowhere near what it's cracked up to be

Rating: 6/10 (20 August 2012)

This movie is the definition of being over-hyped: Hardly any aspect of it has escaped being hailed as among the best of recent years, be it acting, special effects, fighting scenes or plot. In my opinion, it falls far, far short of that benchmark. The visual effects are very good, sure, but then so are the effects in Battleship.
The acting isn't bad, but it's hardly impressive either. The few impressive performances are completely overshadowed by the very average writing. Platitudes, one-liners, soundbites and trailer lines are constant. Much of it makes no sense at all: Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is cautious about "the other one" and seems to dislike people knowing about it, yet he constantly references this. It's as if the writers thought "We haven't shown Banner as the Hulk yet; better make him allude to that in his every line so people don't forget."
The largest problem with the movie, without a doubt, is the plot. The bad guy never feels threatening, his plan is extremely inefficient and frankly stupid in many ways, and the plot holes are too many to count. For instance, in one scene we see the Hulk being a mindless beast, destroying everything in his path, but later we see him taking orders. Add to that that the superhero who apparently has the power of super-aim misses whenever the script calls for it making his on-screen superpower "is really good with a bow and arrow". In one scene he misses half a dozen shots from a distance of 12 feet.
On a related note, what is Captain Americas superpower compared to the others? Patriotism? Other Avengers are superiour in every single way. Ranged combat, close combat, mobility, intelligence, strength... Even his weapon is a worse version of Thors hammer. Not that Black Widow is any better, but at least she has some use in the plot.
This movie is like The Expendables, only it takes itself seriously and has better acting. It is thoroughly unimpressive and how it currently has a rank of #57 of all time movies is truly baffling.