A blast from Joss Whedon.

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2012)

So here it is. After nearly fifty years, The Avengers have finally made the transition from page to screen, and best of all, it does not manage to disappoint. Much of this is down to Joss Whedon and the pitch-perfect casting.
At first, the choice of Whedon as director surprised me somewhat. I really like Whedon, don't get me wrong, but with a background in television and his most notable cinematic efforts being the screenplay for the first 'Toy Story' and the unfortunately overlooked 'Serenity', he struck me as an odd choice. But make no mistake, that even with millions more dollars at hand, Whedon fortunately remains true to himself; keeping humour in sight, with plenty of instantly quotable quips and wisecracks throughout. He is confident and assured with these treasured characters, managing to juggle all these superheroes (and one super ego).
We're all used to (most of ) the cast members by now; Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Evans as Captain America, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, Tom Hiddleston as Loki; but we also have some new players in the form of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as Hulk. What is most brilliant is that all the actors impress. I was eagerly anticipating seeing Evans as Rogers again, after falling in love with his solo effort, but it was in fact Ruffalo who struck me the most. His portrayal as the tortured Bruce Banner was nuanced, believable and very human, applying emotion to a difficult role. Hiddleston was true pleasure as the villainous Loki, giving a fantastic performance and wonderfully delivering many great lines.
One quibble I had was Hawkeye's lack of screen-time, but that can be ignored as I suspect he will either get a spin-off or have a larger role in the sequel.
This is the very opposite to say Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy; instead of being dark, realistic and multi-layered, this is the very synthesis of a big, bright summer movie, a blast from start to finish with humour and large action sequences. While Loki's army were a bit too Transformers-esque for my liking, I still thoroughly enjoyed the film, and exited the cinema with a satisfied smile on my face. Overall, an excellent blockbuster which deserves the praise it's getting. All I want is for Whedon to the sequel.