Most action-packed Superhero movie ever - but the plot's a bit basic.

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2012)

Well, for years Marvel Studios have been building up to this movie, teasing the fans, and providing a lot of solid entertainment flicks along the way. So does it live up to expectations? Well, for me at least, it certainly does. The movie is often jaw-dropping, exciting, funny, and full of those fan boy moments we've all dreamt about. Thor vs The Hulk? You got it. Thor Vs Iron Man? Yep, present and correct.
The actors all do well and have many moments to shine, but Robert Downey Jrs' Tony Stark gets a lot of the best lines, while Scarlett Johanssen's Black Widow gets a surprising depth to her character. Director Joss Whedon has skilfully avoided the Iron Man and the Other Guys movie this could have been - Avengers is a true ensemble piece with a script that skilfully blends the various heroes' backgrounds and personalities. Whedon has scored big time.
Boy do you really feel the power of The Hulk and Thor - this is on a different scale to those characters' solo movies. Mark Ruffalo is easily the best Bruce Banner ever, and The Jolly Green Giant has never been so awesome. And there's a surprising amount of screen-time for some of the "lesser" characters - Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye's is great and fan fave Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson is again top notch.
With all the awesome mayhem going on, poor ol' Steve Rogers must feel mightily underpowered when up against The Thundergod, O'l Greenskin and The Golden Avenger; yet Capt America gets some good moments, too. Tom Hiddlestone is again excellent as Loki - a bad guy with some weight always makes these movies work better. His confrontation with The Hulk is a sheer joy, the sort of thing which smacks you full in the face and makes you laugh out loud.
My only gripe is the central plot idea. Marvel themselves must have used it a hundred times at least in their comics, and if you're gonna do an alien invasion story why not use The Skrulls or The Kree - better known aliens? What you do get is a spectacular battle for New York between The Avengers and the aliens. The latter are just cannon fodder but it's terrific, stupendous stuff. If you want brooding introspection go to The Dark Knight. Want Wham! Bam! Kapow! go here!!!