Assembles all the right parts

Rating: 10/10 (1 May 2012)

A movie some four years in the making, from the post-credit teaser of 2008's excellent Iron Man and 2010 sequel, through last year's equally impressive though very different Thor and Captain America movies. The weight of expectation is often a tough one to bear, with the question being could the bringing together of these stories and characters hope to equal the sum of the parts? As a long time comic book fan I would have to say the answer is a resounding "yes". In fairness I did have good reason to hope - Joss Whedon is a long time Marvel comics writer, and his speciality is ensemble characters. As with the highly successful Buffy and Angel franchises he has a talent for gel'ing an aparrently incongruous group - exploring the conflicts between the characters with humour to bring them together. Even the relatively underdeveloped characters - Mark Ruffalo as the new Banner / Hulk, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, and Scarlett Johanssen's Black Widow are fleshed out and given fair screen time, each essential to the plot in their own way. Nick Fury and his team of Shield agents also play their part, while Tom Hiddleston's return as the arrogant demi-god Loki provides ample threat, with the feeling of something darker lurking in the wings - make sure you wait for the inevitable post-credit teaser for a clue as to what. True, the movie does rely heavily on super-powered set pieces, from the clashes of egos (and fists, hammers, shields and repulsors) within the group to the incredible city-wrecking finale, but what else would you expect or hope from in a movie like this? From the action-packed set-pieces and great one-liners through to the human interactions Avengers Assembles all of the parts and proves the whole to be greater than the sum.