Finally, a Film that Lives Up to Its Hype and High Expectations!

Rating: 9/10 (27 April 2012)

The anticipation for this film has been building up so many months since the showing of the solo movies about each of the heroes that comprise this superstar group -- Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and finally, Captain America. These individual films were all very good on their own, so very expectations are foisted on this special film that would unite all of them in one big adventure. Even though I am out of town now, that did not stop me from catching this film with some Marvel comics geeks. And for once, a film has come that fulfills it's advanced hype, and then some!
The film follows how these heroes were called together and assembled by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. to retrieve a blue high-energy cube called the Tesseract stolen by the Asgard god Loki. It was fun how the film depicted the clash of their individual big egos of the heroes, and they did not really get along with each other right away, as would be expected. There is humor along with the high-intensity action. I felt though that some "funny" scenes involving Tony Stark were too self- indulgent for comfort in a "team" film like this.
It was great to see all of these heroes get their fair share of screen time, even the lesser known ones, like the super-archer Hawkeye (the very busy Jeremy Renner) and the amazing fighter Black Widow (stunningly portrayed by the beautiful Scarlett Johansson). The others played their characters as they did in their solo movies, and amazingly, they all worked so well together here: the imperious Thor by Chris Hemsworth, the patriotic Captain America by Chris Evans and the haughty Tony Stark / Iron Man by Robert Downey Jr. People doubted if Marc Ruffalo could take Ed Norton's place as Dr. Bruce Banner and the Hulk, but Ruffalo actually imbued this character with a unique charm previously unseen in other incarnations. The Hulk received the loudest cheers from the crowd! Even the ever-loyal Agent Coulsen (Clark Gregg) gets his moment to shine.
This film is a definite must-see not only for all fans of Marvel comics, but for fans of action/fantasy films in general. This is real triumph for director Josh Whedon. Don't miss the extra scene included in the middle of the final credits for it will surely get you excited.