The long-awaited party (not Bilbo's one-hundred eleventh birthday)

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2012)

Like Bilbo's one-hundred-eleventh birthday party, "The Avengers" is a "long-awaited" event, after four (not counting Hulk) major features on the ensemble of heroes which grossed a mind-boggling aggregate box office in excess of 2 billion dollars (well over half of which coming from the two editions of Iron Man).
The main plot is rather simple, and familiar: (a) Earth is fighting for its very survival against alien invasions and (b) there is an object/device of immense power sought by one and all, good guys as well as bad guys.
Assembling the ensemble of six is quite a challenge. Before we examine how cleverly this is done, let's try to catalogue the protagonists. How about into 3 groups? Least "human" are Thor and Hulk. Early in the movie, just before his first appearance, a cryptic remark is made about Thor to the effect of something like he is "basically a god". Hulk remains human, but only until "the other guy" (a term used repeatedly by our hero himself) takes over. Next come the "Six Million Dollar Man" category: human with so much done to their body that they become sort of superhuman: Iron Man and Captain America. Finally, there are Black Widow and Hawkeye (altered ego of "Green Arrow" of the other camp, the JLA?), Nick Fury's special agents who are one hundred percent human but trained to so excel in combat that they are almost superhuman.
The villains are quite unimpressive, serving as punch bags for our heroes, who provide vastly better entertainment by fighting among themselves. Let's see how cleverly this achieved by a plot that is nowhere near being convoluted and yet delightfully un-formulaic.
While everything evolves around Nick Fury whose brainchild "The Avengers" is, assembling of the team is mesmerizing, providing plenty of opportunities for fights among the heroes. Almost from the first minute, Hawkeye defects to villain Loki who wields a brain-control device. Black Widow succeeds in persuading Hulk to join, but only as a research scientist, not a superhero (they consider "the other guy" more a monster than a hero). Captain America, technically over 100 years old, is revived from his deep freeze while Iron Man is led into Fury's scheme much earlier on (off screen), almost like his partner.
Soon after Iron Man, with Captain America's assistance, subdues Loki (part of the villain's cunning plot) Thor who seems to have materialized out of nowhere claims his brother for a prisoner, setting off an exciting bout with Iron Man, eventually stopped by Captain America's mediation.
At Fury's headquarter (an invisible flying aircraft carries – this you will have to see for yourself), five of the six Avengers assemble, with Loki in captivity. The villain's plot is to have the defected sixth (Hawkeye) come to his rescue and destroy his captors. He tries, very close to succeeding, to manipulate the team member's different personalities to set them against each other. Even more damaging, Loki thinks, is a provocation to bring out "the other guy", unleashing Hulk's destructive power. It seems to work initially. The attack led by defected Hawkeye provokes the appearance of green monster Hulk. The ensuing combat between the physically two most powerful (Hulk and Thor) is something to behold. While this one is sheer brutal force, the fight between the two special agents is a show of beautiful yet lethal combat techniques. The result: Hawkeye breaks out of the brain control to which he has been subjected and comes back to his senses. As well, Captain American and Iron Man, whose personality conflict has been the biggest obstacle to their cooperation, finally work together as a team.
So in the last hour of the movie, while Loki brings out his alien army down on to Manhattan, The Avengers are finally cemented as a team, as you see in the most publicized trailer shot with the camera circling them in an undaunted spirit of solidarity, ready to face whatever enemy that dares to come to Earth.
This movie must be seen at least twice. The first time you are dividing your attention between following the story and watching the action. Only in the second time can you fully enjoy the excellent dialogue (rare for an action movie) which will be several times more meaningful than this first. At the same time, you are able to sit back and fully enjoy the action.
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth reprise their respective characters, adding a delightful new dimension on personality conflicts. All this is done mostly through crispy, witty dialogue. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner, who has made brief and briefer appearances respectively in Iron Man and Thor franchises, bring more complete realization to their respective character, as well as a half-told story of their past relationship which strongly suggests a spin-off prequel. Last but certainly not least is Mark Ruffalo whose soft-spoken, low-key interpretation of Hulk gets two thumbs up from me.
And of course there are all the others. Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson and Tom Hiddleston's Loki need no introduction, and not even reminders. From Iron Man comes Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts and from Thor comes Stellan Skarsgard's Erik Selvig, two more familiar faces. For a welcomed new face is Cobie Smulder's Agent Maria Hill.