Wanted to hate it, ended up loving it

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2015)

I'm not really a comic book fan, so after hearing the constant hype about this film for a couple of years I really wasn't too fussed when it finally appeared on TV. I went into it expecting not to like it much, and indeed the first hour seemed to me middling at best: some mildly lame comedy, a whole lot of posturing, and a silly storyline involving silly characters.
Then things changed. They started to pick up, and the action started hitting home. Then all hell broke loose with a climax that felt like it lasted a whole hour, an hour packed with kaiju-style mayhem as New York found itself subjected to an alien invasion. And I was wowed. Never before has it been possible to depict such constant, wide-scale mayhem, but with the improvement of CGI technology it's finally up there on screen with all of its glory.
And yes, I ended up liking MARVEL'S AVENGERS ASSEMBLE. What's not to like, really? The whole feel is kept light and there are so many larger-than-life characters that you end up having a ball with it regardless. Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is my favourite character by far - Ruffalo is far better suited to the role than Eric Bana or Edward Norton - but Chris Evans's Captain America comes a close second. Sure, I see this film for what it is: a mindless piece of crowd-pleasing, overblown CGI mayhem, replete with a silly, buffoonish bad guy - but at the same time I can't help but getting caught up for the ride.