Flawlessly Assembled

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2014)

A lot of comic-book fans including myself have wondered how can having six larger than life superheroes in one film possibly work? Will they be distributed with the right amount of screen time? Can there be a cohesive story to tell? Will there be plenty of action and visuals? The list of questions goes on and on.
Fortunately I can tell you that the hardcore fanboys can put their pitchforks down as writer and director Joss Whedon pulls off a magnificent achievement by bringing the right amount of stability in this superhero circus, engineered to please the fanboys and nonfans alike.
The film has a simple storyline, but it's very well-paced filled with adrenaline and streams very nicely. However, it's not the story that makes the film so great, but rather the characters instead. The script written by Joss Whedon never forgets its heroes' humanity as the film explores each characters with a lot of depth with reasons for doing why they're doing what they're doing. The story reconnects us with each character but also finds the time to flesh out each characters strengths and weaknesses, with some wonderful moments of insecurity throughout.
Loki, the film's villain is brilliantly portrayed by Tom Hiddleston as a cunning, mischievous, and evil mastermind. Chris Evans solidifies his role as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth portrays a more noble, less arrogant Thor. Mark Ruffalo one of the characters I was worried about during the hype train of this film, went beyond my expectations. He delivers a new kind of Bruce Banner and I would argue the Hulk steals this film. There's also a lovely banter between Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye and Scarlet Johansson's Black Widow, Whedon treats them with respect and they do earn their place in the team. As for Robert Downey Jr., well do I really need to tell you he's awesome as always?
Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury is finally able to stretch his legs than being just the guy making surprise appearances as he is able to slide into the role quite effortlessly. Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson returns and provides sharp dialog in the film. Cobie Smulders also makes her Marvel film debut as Agent Maria Hill who is Nick Fury's second in command.
The visuals are great, as expected, the overall look of the Hulk is very impressive. I loved how ILM modeled it to look like a mixture of Mark Ruffalo, and Jack Kirby's interpretation in the comics.
We get a lot of action beats, and a good amount of time is spent on having the heroes talk trash and square off against each other to prove who's the toughest. There's Iron Man vs. Thor, Hawkeye vs. Black Widow, Thor vs. Hulk, and so on. These showdowns allow each character to have their time in the spotlight, and they do build genuine tension. The last 20- 30 minutes of this film is worth the ticket itself. Whedon provides plenty of jaw-dropping action sequences.
Though this is a comic-book film, there is a great sense of subtlety and the film explores that. Let's be honest, in many different ways, this movie should not have worked at all. There are too many larger than life characters to juggle and quite frankly it's ridiculous. Joss Whedon's brilliant script has a strong and unique theme of family dynamics. Ultimately these people don't belong together and the whole movie is about finding themselves from community. While doing so they not only realize that they belong together but they need each other. Obviously this is expressed through punching, but that essence is the heart of the film.
As a comic-book fan I went into The Avengers with unfairly high expectations, due to all the people who were involved in the project as well as the films that came before. Give massive credit to Joss Whedon and Kevin Feige. The Avengers is a visual spectacle, but it's also a film with brains and heart. At a running-time of two and a half hours, the film is well paced and time flies by. So in every regard, the movie fulfills its hype and raises the bar even higher for Marvel and other superhero films to come and my childhood is avenged.
10/10