Exactly what you expected probably.

Rating: 5/10 (7 May 2012)

In order to understand the situation of my review I'll clear some things up. I saw this on a regular movie screen, no 3D and no IMAX so maybe I wasn't fully engrossed in this film due to the medium I chose to view it in, but lets cut the crap, if a movie needs images popping at your face every other 30 seconds and IMAX sized screens to be "TOTALLY AWESOME, BRUH." it was never that solid to begin with. That being said lets analyze the film shall we? So here is the main problems with The Avengers as a whole, it relies too much action with too little meaning. What did I expect though, right? Well I expected something a little less cookie cutter than this.
If Transformers is a bad movie (which it is and far worse than this.) for lacking fan service of its original audience to connect to, The Avengers is stunningly mediocre for the exact opposite reason. God bless the man or woman that enters the theater with no prior knowledge of every superhero movie released in the last 7 years, because all this film contains is fan service upon fan service. There is nothing organic about this film and it shows in spades. Everything and everyone is merely glazed over waiting for there 12 minutes of solo screen time no risks are taking and there is so much Star Wars prequels-equse action going on that it kills any tension you might have the film almost runs 150 minutes 100 of which are unnecessary fights between the bad guys and good guys or the good guys and the other good guys not gelling as a team its just an obvious film.
The avengers isn't irredeemable though it has some solid performances particularly Colby Slomders of How I met Your Mother fame proves she can probably take a stab at being an action heroine on her own project and Mark Ruffalo's take on The Hulk impressed me. The action sequences while over abundant are masterfully crafted and the comedy is surprisingly what works the best in this film with several witty one liners strewn through out the film.
At the end of the day I think the film was too much Bang and not enough buck. As I was leaving a gentlemen was talking to his wife and said "I thought there would be a lot less talking." my inner monologue rebutted "Wanna just watch stock footage of things getting blown up and punched?" but this is what it is. If you are a fan of superhero movies you'll probably love this. If you are fan of things that blow up and implode you'll probably love this too. Fans of focused films with a little more story and character development, maybe a risk or two being taken will probably feel the same way I do about it.
My one sentence summary of The Avengers, "2 and half hours of non-specific escapism." I that sounds like something you like which there is no shame in then I recommend it. If not id pass or wait for a rental.
5/10