Good fun but still rather disappointing

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2015)

The highest grossing entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one of the highest grossing films of all time, this is good fun but rather disappointing. I was hoping that the film would be as relentlessly enjoyable as "X-Men: Days of Future Past", my favourite superhero film of recent years and my second favourite overall after "Superman". However, it never really reaches that the level that he could or should have. That said, it has quite a good script by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon and it is well directed by Whedon.
As an ensemble film, it does not offer the same opportunity for the actors to shine as they did in their solo films but that is understandable, if again a little disappointing. Mark Ruffalo, replacing Edward Norton, makes a very impressive debut as Bruce Banner, a somewhat more neurotic character than in "The Incredible Hulk" in spite of the fact that he has far more control over the Hulk than he did in that film. There was certainly a sense of inner conflict in the character but I think that this has more to do with Ruffalo's performance than the writing. Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Hemsworth are as strong as Tony Stark and Thor respectively as they were in their own films but Chris Evans appears ever so slightly wooden as Steve Rogers in comparison. Downey certainly gets the best material of the four of them, which is unsurprising since he has the strongest and most interesting character. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner are perfectly fine as Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton but their characters are far from interesting and, honestly, made no real impression on me. Characters who can kick ass still need personalities.
Tom Hiddleston gives the best performance in the film as Loki, who on this occasion is merely the servant of a far greater power. Hiddleston is clearly having a whale of a time with the role and he gets many of the best lines in the film. Samuel L. Jackson finally gets more than a few scenes as Nick Fury and is as badass as you would expect. I did like the fact that they made him a somewhat morally ambiguous character. They tried to give Agent Coulson a personality in the film but he is likewise not a terribly interesting character, though Clark Gregg tries his best. I would have liked to have seen more of Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig since he was one of the best things about "Thor" but he was excellent in spite of his limited screen time. The film also features nice appearances in smaller roles from Alexis Denisof, Powers Booth, Jenny Agutter and Harry Dean Stanton.
The film is not structured terribly well and I felt that it spent a bit too much time on the petty bickering between the characters in the first half. It was a tad overlong. In terms of the action sequences, the attack on the Hellcarrier and all the associated scenes are certainly the most exciting. I thought that the Chitauri's arrival on Earth was left too late in the film's running time and, even when they arrived, it was not as exciting as I would have liked. Part of the problem that I had with them is that they are basically a faceless enemy. I would have preferred to have seen more of the Other or get a proper introduction to Thanos. I also wasn't too convinced by the ending. The special effects are certainly spectacular throughout the film. I loved the fact that the Hulk actually resembled Mark Ruffalo in the face!
Overall, this is a fun superhero team-up film but I preferred all of the characters' previous individual films.