Utterly flawless, though not quite a classic

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2012)

Let me just cut straight to the main point: Joss Whedon has made the impossible work. Not only has he made it work, but work well. Marvel Avengers Assemble is just as good as the hype would have it, though fails to surpass it.
To avoid confusion, this is the same film released in the US which is titled Marvel's The Avengers, but has been re-named in the UK to avoid any confusion with the classic 60's television series The Avengers. Despite its awkward title (I'll refer to it as Avengers), Avengers fulfils its very goal in bringing together the characters of the Marvel cinematic universe and making an incredibly entertaining action movie. The greatest challenge of this film, no doubt, was bringing these characters together and giving them all a fair amount of screen time whilst trying to make their relationships work. Not only does director Joss Whedon do this, but he manages to include a nice level of believable character development and emotion to a film that is first and foremost and action movie. Whilst the action scenes were undoubtedly entertaining, it was in the film's smaller moments, in which the characters share the screen (particularly the chemistry between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner) that make the film such a success. When these characters have their individual movies, they are learning how to deal with their personal problems. In this movie, they are learning how to deal with working together as a team, this being the main purpose of the film. It really is a marvel (sorry!) that Whedon has managed to make this work, let alone being as entertaining as it is. The film packs in humour, emotion and tension without becoming a clustered mess.
The special effects were all impressive, especially on the motion-capture used to create the Hulk, and the Iron Man armour. The final battle did admittedly remind me of Transformers 3, but unlike that film, this never regresses into chaos, and the film feels very in-control of itself and you always know exactly what is going on. The action itself is nothing special, but it's watching these characters work together as a team that is so much fun. The film is a little biased towards Iron Man action, containing more Iron Man than the last two Iron Man movies put together, but fear not, this is a good thing.
Performance wise, all performances were on top form, even from Scarlet Johansen who has vastly improved her 'Black-Widow' character from the wooden acting we saw in Iron Man 2. For me, the stand-out performances were from Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/ Hulk. I was initially biased against replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, but can safely say Ruffalo is the best Bruce Banner we have seen to date, and I love the fact that Ruffalo did his own motion-captured performance as Hulk. Tom Hiddleston steals every scene as the villainous Loki, evolving his character from the lost prince of Asgard we saw in Thor, into an utterly unstoppable and menacing force of hatred.
Unfortunately, just making a film 'work well' doesn't raise it to instant 'classic' status, but what is really incredible about Avengers is how utterly flawless it is. There's nothing particularly special about the film, but it's just fantastic watching these characters share the same screen. When appreciated for what it is, Avengers is an entertaining ride, not taking itself too seriously whilst focusing on thrills and fun, incorporating emotion and character development into the mix. I look forward to re-watching it.