The Avengers Assemble for One Heck of a Summer Blockbuster!

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2012)

After four years of anticipation, Joss Whedon's The Avengers hits theaters. And, of course, it is really good. There was no doubt in my mind that this movie wouldn't be good. And, if it disappointed, it'd still be looked back on as the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I think Whedon is the only one who is able to put a movie like this together. I'm not a huge fan of "Buffy the Vampire Hunter", "Firefly", or some of Whedon's other works, but he does have a knack for taking a bunch of different characters and making them all relevant. And he brings that trademark talent to this movie. Every hero is given just enough screen time. We see Captain America's struggle of pulling his team together, we see the regret Thor has for having to battle his brother, we see Hulk's desperate attempts to control "the other guy", and we see Tony Stark as the narcissistic playboy that's always equipped with a great one-liner.
One thing that sort of concerned me about "The Avengers" was Loki as the villain. I thought he was great in "Thor", but it seemed kind of weak to have all these great heroes teaming up against a re-used villain from a previous prequel. Fortunately, I was one hundred percent wrong; Loki is great as a villain. He's more intense and less whiny. Combine that with a lust for power and an army of aliens and you've got one of the greatest villains in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The effects are great, of course. You've seen the trailers for this, I'm sure, so you know that the movie's climax takes place in Manhattan. It was gripping, exciting, and even laced with a bit of comedy, with none of it being offensive or racist. The entire time I just kept thinking to myself that this is what "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" should have been. I can see who the heroes are and even identify with them, while the action is entertaining and not too long.
Final verdict: The summer movie season hasn't been kicked off this well since the first "Iron Man" movie. Ever since Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight", I've been waiting for another superhero movie to come along and do something new. And "The Avengers" has done just that. It takes a very basic, traditional story and amps it up. It's smartly handled, well made, and, most importantly, a lot of fun. I look forward to taking another trip to the theater to go and see it.