Believe the hype: The Avengers deliver!

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2012)

If you're looking for a fun time at the movies this weekend, look no further. There was just a tremendous amount of hype for the film (I mean I couldn't go anywhere or do anything without seeing some sort of ad). But I'm very happy to say, they met my high expectations and then some.
Firstly, the bad stuff. The first half of the film is a bit too slowly paced. I felt Whedon spent a bit too much time on ramp up and origin story (especially when each of the important characters had their own origin film for that purpose). Maybe he felt the need to do so because not everyone would've seen the other films. But as someone who made the time to see them, I felt this was unnecessary. Once things picked up in the second half, it was definitely a worth the wait.
There's quite a lot lot to love here. There are some fantastic action sequences and battles (pretty much the whole second half). A few moments where you just say "that was #$@&* awesome!". A surprisingly frequent number of laugh out loud moments. My crowd even had a few spontaneous outbursts of clapping as well. The script was very cleverly written and the story was engaging (albeit very simple). There's something for everyone here.
It's amazing the film was almost 2.5 hours long, because it didn't feel like it dragged (slowly paced start withstanding). And I felt that Whedon did a great job at allowing each character adequate screen time for you to be connected to them. This is a rare feet in films where there are so many characters as it's very hard to do, yet Whedon handled this perfectly. I didn't feel there was a single character who didn't belong or was just filler (see the X-Men films). Every character was necessary, every character played a pivotal role, every character meant something. Again, can't say enough of how much I appreciated this.
I loved the performances. Robert Downey Jr. was once again brilliant as Iron Man (and really is the most interesting character in the film, he steals virtually every scene he's in). Sam Jackson puts in a stellar turn once again as Nick Fury. Chris Hemworth and Mark Ruffalo were on point as well. But the surprise for me was Chris Evans as Captain America. I really was disappointed in last summer's Captain America and I felt he was miscast because he didn't feel as authoritative as I expected Captain America to be (and not as grizzled or mature). But he was clearly much better here as I actually believed him this time around than in the origin film. Combined with the other performances, I really felt this lifted the film.
Be sure to stick around after the credits (although really, you should have this figured out by now, it's a Marvel staple). There's not one, but two extra scenes to be seen (the 2nd of which is quite hilarious). While it's not at the level of The Dark Knight, it's pretty damn good as a "stuff gonna blow up" summer film. It's just a great way to start off the summer movie season. Hopefully the rest of the summer lives up this.
Head out to your nearest multiplex, get your popcorn ready and enjoy this action gem!
For more of my reviews and general movie discussion, check out my blog: http://andretms.blogspot.ca/