The Avengers Assemble Review

So yesterday I go to experience what might be the most anticipated movie of all time. Since September 1964 when the first Avengers team up took place, or in some cases over the last 4 years of Marvel movies the world have been waiting for a superhero team up to take place on the big screen.

The ambitious story takes substance from the last 5 Marvel outings to construct a large but faithful world that is sure to please fans everywhere. I suppose the real achievement here is that if any of the 5 previous films had faltered than there may never have been an Avengers movie for me to review now.

Of course, all that build up had to lead to something, and The Avengers itself was always going to be the most difficult part of the whole enterprise to pull off. With a rich, diverse and complex story following several legitimate ‘big characters’ the film could have come across very messy and the balance was very important. Josh Whedon has done a superb job of making sure all the players come off with enough integrity to support their individual futures and the slow building of The Avengers team sits well against the fast paced finale.

 The film opens with the re-introduction of S.H.I.E.L.D and agents Nick Fury, Black Widow and Hawkeye holdings the Asgardian Demi-God, Loki. In a quest to rule the Earth the maniacal Loki steals the Tesseract; an alien source of immense power, which forces Fury to unite the Avengers and basically save the day. Yes, the premise is clear and the story isn’t anything greatly above the norm but the ease in the main story allows the characters to really shine though; allowing us ample time to see the heroes play off one-another.

Although Tony Stark probably gets the most screen time as a character he never outshines any of the others, this is no doubt down to him being the lead in the two most popular films released so far. His wild and chaotic charisma plays through very well and the banter on screen with him and Captain America is very dynamic and something fans have been waiting for.

The only character without such a big impact is Hawkeye who generally just scowls at everything going on around him. Yes he has more to do on the main storyline aspect but as one of my favourite Marvel characters I’m a little disappointed that he wasn’t used more.

The scenes where the members of The Avengers interact with each other are some of the best moments in the whole film and really show Whedon’s typically clever, playful and interesting banter ensuring that each actor spars with the next both verbally and otherwise.

Actually my stand out performance comes in the form of Mark Ruffalo who seems to have been made for the role of Bruce Banner/The Hulk. He has great screen presence and played the character with just the right mix of nervousness and anger. It is suffice to say that a lot of the humour comes through him especially during the action packed finale.

The Avengers is pretty much set into two parts with the first half putting together the team and seeing them fight each other, while the second half focuses on the full squad taking it to Loki’s army as a unit.  The action sequences are well designed and play in some truly memorable moments including sections where the heroes really take their aggression out on each other. The climax of the movie finds The Avengers battling against Loki’s invasion force throughout Manhattan, giving each of the major players their big ‘awesome’ moments along the way.

The Avenger is not just a film about a group of superheroes fighting together but a movie that takes a lot of creativity to make all the characters concerns shine though; Captain America is still feeling lost in the modern era, Black Widow still suffers from the guilt of her past, Bruce Banner worries constantly about ‘The Other Guy’ and Tony Stark gets to rub everyone the wrong way. More importantly though the story finds a way for everyone to galvanise together for one reason or another in order to succeed.

Clever writing from Josh has allowed this to happen and I would find it very difficult to think of anyone else that would have pulled this off with such success. Each character plays out exceptionally well on screen and the bonds and giant personalities click together in a very fluid way.

Considering all the hype and build-up, it's wonderful to see that The Avengers not only lives up to expectations, but exceeds them on almost every point. It's funny, exciting and offers the kind of childish thrills that are absent from most current blockbusters. It even manages to engage the viewer on an emotional level while throwing dazzling destruction in front of them. Quite frankly it sets a new standard for what blockbusters should aim to be…

Go see this now!