Awesome and Amazing Avengers Assembled

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2012)

After years and years of anticipation, we finally get to see some of our favorite superheroes meet and fight together as a team. Creating a movie like this is difficult, considering that it would be hard to combine the different superheroes' story lines and merge them into one storyline. However, Marvel pulled that off easily by strategically releasing movies over the past four years about each of the heroes to serve as prologues and create anticipation for this amazing, awesome, action-packed "The Avengers".
In the first 45 minutes, we see what has happened to our favorite Marvel superheroes in their own respective lives. Iron Man is forced back into action when he was in the middle of a date with Pepper Potts. The star-spangled soldier Captain America has woken up from his 70-year-old frozen sleep and has a lot to explore in his new surroundings. The new fresh revamped Bruce Banner has been helping sick kids in India. Black Widow is taking a day off by taking another mission when a call from Agent Coulson requires her to return to normal business with Nick Fury. Thor comes a bit later on and we meet newcomer master archer Hawkeye.
So what's the danger this time? It's none other than Loki from "Thor". To answer some of your questions, No, he didn't die (the post-credits scene from "Thor"). So even if he didn't die, how did he arrive on Earth when the bridge connecting the different universes has been destroyed? Apparently, Loki was saved by another alien race called the Chitauri. He offers a deal with the Chitauri leader; he will command the Chitauri army in an attempt to subjugate Earth in exchange for the Tesseract. So Loki arrives through the Tesseract (which has the ability to build portals) on Earth and starts to execute his plan.
While Loki was doing fine in the early stages of his schemes, the heroes didn't get along so well in the beginning. As reality would suggest, the members of the team get into some fights (there's one action-packed scene where Iron Man fights against Thor with Captain America caught in between). There's a lot of dispute between the superheroes, much to Loki's favor, all due to either rivalry, jealousy, suspiciousness, or many other reasons. This gives the heroes more humanity and possibly some vulnerability which really make the movie more realistic. This is just one of the highlights of Joss Whedon's flawless script.
Joss Whedon also successfully blended the different universes of the different superheroes and made it into one film. This is rather difficult considering the natures of the superheroes. World War II to Captain America seems like yesterday and he still has a lot to catch up with (he doesn't know who Stephen Hawking is). Thor, who is of mythological nature, is still used to Asgardian lifestyle. Joss Whedon successfully pulled this off and so the interaction between the different superheroes seem sensible, not awkward. The dialog is perfect and natural.
Perhaps the best thing about this movie is the action. By giving the characters the sense of vulnerability, the fight scenes seem more risky and more heart-pumping. While it may be heart-racing, the action scenes are also fun to watch, especially when we see the Incredible Hulk in action. The Hulk is just a mindless monster (although he suddenly becomes aware of himself towards the climax) who wrecks havoc at anything that he considers a potential threat. His role in destroying the enemies during the climax was very entertaining. That said, the climax and finale of the film was one of the best and one of the most thrilling I've ever seen. It offers brilliant visual effects and conjures up enough awe to satisfy anyone seeking intense sequences of action. By the end of it, you'll be satisfied but will still be eager for more.
The performances were very convincing. Robert Downey Jr. played the role of the quirky Tony Stark to perfection. His dialog, his performance, everything about him was just perfect. Chris Evans also had a strong performance playing the role of Captain America. He was able to exploit the Captain's inner feelings. Chris Hemsworth also did justice with Thor, Samuel L. Jackson did a commanding job as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner played a determined Hawkeye, Scarlett Johansson played a sexy and deadly Black Widow, Tom Hiddleston portrayed a malicious and manipulating Loki. However the main star of the show was Mark Ruffalo as the incredible Hulk. He was able to portray a calm, tranquil Bruce Banner but also showed signs that Bruce Banner can, at any time, become the Hulk.
The humor is heart-warming and very well. Every now and then, there's always a little bit of humor to cheer up the audience. While one might expect that most of the humor would come from the charismatic Robert Downey Jr., actually the humor is divided equally among the characters including Loki. Why I love this is because every character has a chance to shine and steal the scene.
"The Avengers" is a must-see and a great movie to start the summer movie season. It's got the interesting premise, the operatic action scenes, the great jokes and many more to offer. This is absolutely one of the best, if not, the best superhero film of all time. It offers a great deal of fun for a broad range of viewers. Just get up from the couch, head to the nearest movie theater and watch "The Avengers". It's great and 3D is a viable option. Oh, and once the credits roll, don't leave yet. There's two post-credits scenes you don't want to miss, and one of them involves the Chitauri leader.
Rating: 9/10
Final Verdict: "The Avengers" is undoubtedly one of the best superhero films of all time and is guaranteed to blow audiences away with plenty of action sequences, outstanding visual effects, a powerful script, and solid performances.