Aside from a slightly baggy middle section, this is a very entertaining and enjoyable film (very minor spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2018)

In order to appease the gods from his planet, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) steals something known as Tessercat from a company called S.H.I.E.L.D. In the right hands, Tessercat can be used in a good way for the good of mankind, but Loki's plans are much more sinister and he intends to create a gateway from another dimension to Earth and plans to take over the world. Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D who finds himself having to call upon the best superheroes in the business (collectively known as The Avengers) to put a stop to Loki and his devastating plan...
As someone who is a general fan of superhero films The Avengers Assemble was always something that appealed to me (and gods knows why it's taken me so long to get round to seeing it). I have to admit that with a 5 star rating and the big draw of seeing several superheroes together my expectations were high and whilst the film didn't quite deliver as I expected it to it is still a very good film...
It cuts to the chase very quickly and wastes precious little time before it gets to the high octane action sequences (which is fine by me) and carries on in this manner for a good 45 minutes or so. The initial set-up shows us being introduced to the characters, but the introductions are generally met with either frantic fight sequences or cheeky banter - sometimes superhero films can introduce characters in a lengthy and dull way, but it doesn't play out in this manner here and for the most part the film is often exciting, fun and enjoyable.
Where the film does suffer slightly is in the middle of the picture; specifically where Loki is caught and imprisoned. Whilst I get that this section of the story ultimately served a purpose it does feel like it has been tortuously stretched out and feels out of place with what was otherwise a fast-paced and exciting film.
As is to be expected in a big film with lots of superhero characters the acting performances prove to be rather mixed; Tom Hiddleston does a reasonably good job, but I didn't find him all that intimating and his attempts at being threatening were at times somewhat laughable. Hemsworth is a good physical presence, but doesn't give much of an acting performance (I haven't seen any of the Thor films yet so will reserve my judgement on him till I seen those films). Johansson is OK, but doesn't have a lot to work with. Evans acting is generally OK, but he finds himself playing the straight-man to Downey Jr which doesn't really work that well; I much preferred Evans as the goofball character in The Fantastic Four. The true stand-out performance for me was Mark Ruffalo; he managed to give Banner a real human quality and sold it so well that I still saw a human being beneath the gruff green exterior - I thought that the Hulk was actually the best superhero character here, but his introduction is laborious and as a result of this he is a little underused.
Despite some of my objections, I have to give credit to Joss Whedon because to all intents and purposes the film has plenty of fight sequences, occasional moments of amusing banter and for the most part it is lively and fast-paced. Yes it isn't perfect and it's 5 star rating on Sky Movies and it's current 8.1 rating on IMDB seem a little out of kilter with reality, but The Avengers Assemble did entertain me big time and that's what truly matters when all is said and done.