"The Avengers" (2012)

Rating: 10/10 (9 July 2012)

As you well know by now, "The Avengers" is a large-scale superhero film that was four years in the making, with no less than four individual - yet inter-connected superhero films - feeding into this film's overall story. Joss "Firefly" Whedon was the director and co-writer on this highly ambitious project that is an adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero team co-created by Stan Lee (who also appears in a very small cameo, like almost every other movie adaptation of a superhero he had a hand in creating) and the late Jack Kirby. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff/The Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are the six misfits chosen by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) to defeat the traitorous Asgardian misfit Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his alien army from laying waste to New York City. And of course, six characters usually accustomed to working alone have to work out their differences and come together as a team to save the world. What gets "The Avengers" many points is that beside its big action sequences, fights and special effects, we never really lose sight of the characters (who are usually relegated to the background in a movie like this) and who they are. I liked that the movie actually spent time developing the individual characters so that we get to know them all over again - even though they've all already appeared in previous superhero films. It's all big superhero fun, with a knowing wink and an outstanding sense of humor that manages to elicit some strong laughs from anyone viewing this thing with an open mind. Sit back and enjoy!
10/10
P.S.: What happened to Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym/Giant-Man and Janet van Dyne/The Wasp? Weren't they part of the original Avengers team line-up (before "The Avengers #4" when Captain America became team leader, marking the character's Silver Age debut)? This was my only real complaint about "The Avengers."