Culmination of something awesome

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 2015)

Back in mid-00s when Marvel announced their intentions for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we quite honestly didn't believe they could pull it off. Five big budget blockbuster movies before a grande finale. Before that we had had trouble getting even two sequels, and even then they normally hadn't been all that great, with especially the third movie usually sucking something fierce.
But they did it. Somehow they went and did it. And yeah, you could argue that they had the advantage of being allowed to switch characters and subjects around freely and that the only "actual" sequel, Iron Man 2, was easily the weakest of the bunch, but still. This was a revolutionary movie, something we had never seen before. A phenomenon that changed film making.
Furthermore, it's not only a great idea, it's also one of the best superhero films ever made, one of the best action popcorn films as well, and one of my personal favourites. And it's actually easy to see why. You've already established all of your characters, you've built them up and given them clear identities. You also have an amazing ensemble cast of actors, most of them having risen to the highest echelons of Hollywood. You have Joss "God of Nerds" Whedon directing and writing. You've already created a need and want for this kind of movie, so you don't have to water it down. It can be an honest and direct superhero film, with quick wit, blazing action and phenomenal, state of the art special effects. No need to sell it to the big audiences by cramming it needlessly full of everything else. You can keep it pure.
And it works so well. It's a fast-paced movie, with every scene full of excitement, jokes and entertainment, but Whedon knows what he's doing. There's pacing, there are lulls in between the action, allowing you to re-acquaintance yourself with these characters and their individual story lines, all of which meet and intertwine in this colossus of a movie.
The Avengers is pure entertainment. It's only smart in a quick-witted street punk manner, so it's certainly not going to win over the worst of the high brow community, but what it has in spades is charm, entertainment value and pure, high-tuned, perfected action. Amazing movie.