Decent film, not as good as the 8+ ratings suggests

Rating: 8/10 (4 May 2012)

Better than other Marvel movies with the possible exception of Capt America. It has the look down! Heroes we grew up with are on screen together. It gets you stoked! But the action felt rushed and the story is suspect. However what is hard to figure out, is how Mr. Whedon could have made the film any better. I think 'Good' is probably the best you can achieve when making such a film as the Avengers. Too many heroes, not enough time to create a cohesive story, and not enough time to care about what's going on. So basically, surrender and enjoy a good summer film.
It would have been nice if it was 3 hours long. Then we could have enjoyed more story and possibly connected better with the characters, as well as had better, more complete action. There is another huge issue I had with the film. Basically its an action flick. So the action has to be tip top! But I think the action could have been much better. Thor v Iron Man, definitely should have been longer. Thor v Hulk should have been more of an isolated knock down drag out fight. The Heroes should have displayed their might more. Instead we got good looking scuffles that kinda felt out of place and cut short in most cases. The ending sums up how the action fell just a bit short. Hulk taking out Loki?! In the comics that would not have been easy. Loki is a magical demigod. No way could Loki have been easily approached and whipped like that. But it felt like Whedon needed to get the movie over with quickly. And at the time, I was ready for it to end.
Character development fell short in a couple of cases. When Hawkeye was compromised, it was like so what? The aliens Loki used were an unexplained bunch. The Chitaru felt like Darth Vadar's pawns from Star Wars. There was no way you felt like the Chitaru were a threat at all! The Chitaru were there to be killed until the heroes were able to take Loki down. I mean if I were a demigod, would I show up with the Chitaru? I think not!
The best thing about the movie, is the fact the movie finally made it to the big screen. I have waited 35+ years for this. I was an avid comic book collector as a kid, and the Avengers was always the comic book my friends and I wanted to see come true. So I truly enjoyed the visuals.
So here it is, finally on the big screen. Enjoy it!! But don't expect depth and emotional connection to the characters, like the Dark Knight franchise. Which, by the way, is a much better franchise. 7/10