Marvel's Version of Justice League

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2012)

In the recent decade, Marvel studio's has triumphed over several competing movies with a wide variety heroes or anti-heroes all with different skill sets and abilities. But never has it been decided to make a film that unites the greatest Marvel characters of all time,...until now. It's an interesting concept because ideas this massive can either fail without recompense or it moves beyond the status quo. It's a high risk but with the right balance, things will pull through. As for this movie, the whole execution plays out well but there are still some things that could have been done differently.
Starting off with one of the bad things is that this movie is a super- sequel. It's not like Marvel studios just decided to go with this idea from the blue. This whole movie was built up through the story telling of all the Marvel characters that are at the center of this story. The problem with this is that if a moviegoer is one who doesn't like skipping films and watching sequels out of order, this could be somewhat frustrating. Because then, the viewer will want to know how all the other characters came to be and not focus on what is currently happening in the movie.
Back to the good, all the actors in this movie are phenomenal. Robert Downey Jr. still keeps his charm as the smart mouthed but yet intelligent billionaire Tony Stark. Chris Evans is still cool as Captain America. In some ways, he reminds of The Rocketeer (1991) because of his hairstyle and clothing that he wears. It screams out Cliff Secord every time Captain America was on screen. Mark Ruffalo was great as Bruce Banner. Even The Hulk was given some comedic parts in the film, which was great, because it shows he's not all brawn. Chris Hemsworth is also fun to watch, especially when he's whacking his hammer into everything.
I will not say what every other actor does in this film because in the end, it can be seen that every one of them, superhero or non-super hero, gave it their all in this film and it shows. One thing I wished was added in this movie, character wise, were some other anti-hero Marvel characters such as Ghost Rider and The Punisher. I know they don't belong to The Avengers but it would still be fun to see them beating up the baddies too.
As for the action, I'd say that there definitely was plenty of it and it wasn't overdone either which is good too. It truly is a sight to see how The Avengers coordinate their moves on how they take out the villains. And it's not like every scene was the same either. Every character had their own special moment to how they took out soldiers of Loki's army. The one that is the most fun to watch in my opinion is The Hulk just because it is a situation like this where Banner can run amok and tear apart anything he wants at any time. The musical soundtrack was composed by Alan Silvestri, which does not surprise me at all. Silvestri is good at this kind of material and there's nothing else that's needed to be said.
The only other flaw I have to confront with this movie is that the whole concept of allowing an alien race to come and take over the Earth through a time portal, is almost an exact replica to Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). Even the flying behemoth gunships that come out of the time portal resemble the Decepticon gunships too closely. Seriously, who hasn't seen this whole plot device before? But what makes this worth seeing is that the heroes in this film are not running from their enemies (cough cough* Sam Witwicky), and screaming like a woos. Again though, these flaws are so minor, no one will really care or probably even make the connection. There really isn't much to not like about this film.
Even though it bares a small resemblance to other major blockbuster films, The Avengers will hold its own as one heck of a comic book ensemble. Altogether, the action, comical dialog, music, and special effects help this movie excel to big heights that no other Marvel franchise has achieved.