Joss Whedon, thank you sir.

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2012)

The Avengers is a movie that could've gone wrong in a billion ways. I didn't believe this could actually work, even with Whedon on charge. I thought the balance between showing enough of every character, handling our heroes with the credibility they deserve, the whole story concept...I thought it was almost impossible to handle.
And it probably is almost impossible to handle. Guess what? Joss Whedon and the cast handled it. They nailed it. The Avengers is an excellent movie.
We've seen plenty of Marvel movies that do something well, something OK and something bad. Usually, there's something lacking. X2, for me, was nearly the best Marvel movie to date and I can't find significant flaws from it. Many Marvel movies are mediocre and some of them downright suck (Fantastic Four) beyond belief, so the Avengers could've gone wrong or been just "OK". I grew up with those comics, imagining these characters in action. It wasn't just action, you really got into the personal drama as well. It was part of my life.
Now, I'm a grown man. And never before has my inner child cried this many happy tears. Let me tell you why Avengers in simply a great movie.
1) Acting. Downey jr. is very good, sticking to his Iron man role, and yet having scenes that don't involve just cracking jokes. Mark Ruffalo - I simply loved him as Banner/Hulk. I've grown to like Ruffalo more and more, and he just nailed Hulk. What about the actors of Thor and Loki? In the movie Thor, I didn't...quite like them. Somehow, they do well. No one's a liability, I'm even satisfied with Chris Evans. Scarlett Johansson is as beautiful as ever, doesn't really do her best but she isn't your useless Megan Fox either. Everyone, every actor did at least OK, most of them good.
2) Contrast and structure. In Avengers, there is plenty of humor, and it isn't too forced. Even though you know the jokes aren't THAT great, you still laugh. You buy it. There are also a few sentimental scenes and they mostly succeed. Remember Wolverine crying "NOOOO" in X3 and Origins? Yes, that sucked. None of that crap here with Avengers. When it's serious, it's serious and you take it seriously. When it's funny, it's funny and just for the right reasons. Also, the plot. I'm not giving out any spoilers, but...you know it isn't THAT great of a plot, and you know it would be hard to make it work due to it's "scale". You know what? It works just fine. Somehow, Whedon is able to take something that seems stupid, cliché'd, out of place...and make it work. It's never that intelligent nor ingenious but it gives enough reasons for what's happening.
3) Handling the characters, our heroes. Every single one of them gets plenty of screen time. Every single one of them has at least a couple of amazing action scenes and a bunch of excellent ones as well. I can't stress this enough - you can see every one of them actually ENOUGH. Not kidding. Another thing - the characters are treated with respect. Whedon is a fanboy himself. He wanted to do these characters justice. He wanted to show and portray these heroes RIGHT. He succeeded. Oh yes, Hulk too. Especially him. You'll love him. Justice is served. None of the characters is an idiot, everyone gets treated with respect.
4) Action. Visuals. My mouth was open for the last 30 minutes. It literally was. I was cheering, I was pumped. I was a child again. The incredible action scenes, visuals, characters, everything. Absolutely everything clicked when it mattered the most.
This is what happens, when you give a capable fanboy a crapload of Hollywood money. You don't get sucky transformers sequels, no. You get quality. You get your inner child the satisfaction he/she never got before from these movies. You get the Avengers.
This is almost a perfect Marvel movie. I seriously doubt there are many filmmakers who could've nailed this so well. X2 is still my favorite superhero movie, but man...this is right up there with the best.
Excuse me while I watch my Avengers blu-ray again. And again.