Avengers Assemble - Movie Review

Who's in it?

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston & many, many more.

What's it About?

Samuel L Jackson is back as S.H.I.E.L.D's Fury to assemble the superheroes and form The Avengers, their mission is to ward off the nefarious Loki, his impending alien army assault on earth and to regain the Tesseract - an alien source of pure energy.

Any Good?

Four years in the build up and cruel teasers at the end of every adventure haven't been fair to serious Marvel fans or y'know lovers of all things Super Hero *raises hand sheepishly* but Joss Whedon as Director here has given all of us more than expected with Avengers Assemble. The film is OTT and absurd in the most delightful way. Despite a particularly drawn out and wordy first act, used to tie up the loose ends from each of the heroes' solo quests, Whedon has surpassed himself in combining all of these larger than life characters and presenting a balanced ensemble of super. 

The Avengers. Assembled. 

Even though there has been a staggering overload of clip and footage releases for this movie there are still surprises, such as the crossover of characters from previous super hero incarnations, Pepper Potts and consistent Marvel lurker Agent Coulsen's characters are fleshed out and add to the layered, cohesive story telling. The script, while not as rapier as some reviews have gushed, is clever, sharp and at times laugh out loud hilarious. Robert Downey Junior (by far my favourite character) is on form and again leads me to wonder if he and Tony Stark are actually one, his one liners and quips flow easily and serve to slice through some of the more absurd elements of the film. 

The Hulk himself is epic, in every sense of the word, Ruffalo brings a sense of self loathing and depression to Banner, which dissipates entirely when 'the other guy' shows up. This green beast provides two of easily the funniest moments in the movie, drawing an enormous rupture of laughter from the audience, a near choking by myself and a lot of appreciative chuckles even as the show went on. 

Despite the common misconception, he's actually incredibly likeable when he's angry. 

 I'll come right out and say that, to me, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow did nothing to add to the plot, it kills me to add that Hawk Eye (Renner) also seemed a little lost. In a cast of super heroes, their characters weren't very super is all - though I can appreciate the eye candy element each of them brought to the screen. Souped up Thor raised in my estimation though, following his wojus solo expedition last year and Captain America played his role with absolute conviction. Despite some shortfalls, they all amounted to a fairly kick ass assembly. 

If you're a fan of any or all of the Marvel characters you're going to love this. I found the beginning a little clunky but once the pace picked up, the 3D set pieces of mayhem were unleashed and the enormous CGI serpents roller coastered their way onto the screen spewing destruction I was in my element. To me, it's the popcorn, super hero blockbuster of 2012 to beat, that's said fully aware that the Dark Knight is poised to knock my socks off this Summer, but for now, grab your friends, grab your tickets and get yourself to see this!


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