First of all let's get this out of the way. The Re-naming of this film. Why Marvel thought the British public were so naive/stupid (delete as appropriate) that they would, because of the title 'The Avengers', immediately think that this was related to the 1960's TV show that, granted did share the name, most famously starred Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg in a spy-fi setting is beyond me. Surely the huge marketing and tv spot push starring characters from the effectively five films preceding this one would negate any connection to the 60's show. Additionally the fact that it is aimed primarily at people who were born at least 10 years after the original series was on screen and who wouldn't make that connection anyway would negate this connection.
Anyway, rant over, the film. The reigns of this are taken by Joss Whedon, a fan favourite to say the least, who has a proven track record of managing and delivering story based action with an ensemble cast on both the large and small screen. With directing experience of Serenity and various episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse, and writing credits on all of the above plus the likes of Toy Story and Alien: Resurrection to his name on paper he is golden. The good news is that he does deliver. His trademark style of managing moments with great emotion alongside big action set pieces and items of comedy gold is evident throughout the film and lends to the style and effect as a whole. With the, as previously mentioned, five films of backstory Whedon does an amazing job of reintroducing all of the characters in their various settings, also highlighting their respective different talents, with minimum fuss and without taking up too much valuable screen time in what is a perfectly balanced piece of cinema.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, the basic premise is that instead of their individual snafu's the Earth's greatest hero's are called together to defend us against a threat on the Global scale. Despite the actual threat against us seeming to be little more than cannon fodder for our heroes to despatch it works. With the grandiose battle sequences littered around the film, however the main battle at the end serving as the spectacle, and the little touches of seriousness, and infighting that fans of the comic would expect, combined with Whedon's trademark humour the film strikes an almost perfect balance.
Unfortunately the film does have it's inherent flaws that will come as no surprise to fans of the genre and the main one being it's real arch enemy Exposition. Because of the nature of supernatural and technology based films the explanations and furthering of plots based around the Macguffin (special object that does stuff key to the plot) does sometimes sag in parts and can lead to both snores and looks of confusion. However these are few and far between and usually littered with a dry numerous comment from one of the leads.
As a whole the cast works together superbly and anyone experiencing fear or doubt over the third recast of one Dr Banner and 'the other guy' can rest assured that Mark Ruffalo is probably the best incarnation of the the big guy on film to date and the character is portrayed as the perfect balance of Stephen Hawking and a guy that can flip at any given moment. Tom Hiddleston's Loki is the perfect villain, carrying subtext from Thor that helps establish his inherent evil and the backstory between the pair of them, he is believable as the deluded pawn of a greater evil and a tangible villain that the titular Avengers can focus on. Even the previously lesser characters of Black Widow, Hawkeye and Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson get their own moments of glory throughout the film. Despite one of them being a pawn for the bad guys for a good two thirds of the film. Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury gets a few moments to shine of his own and asserts his BMF status. Really the only main cast member that doesn't get a substantial input is Cobie Smulders', of How I Met Your Mother fame, Maria Hill. While she does get time to shine and prove herself at the beginning of the film, following that all she really does is play yes-man to SLJ's Fury.
The highlight if the film does have to be the closing battle sequence where, although mostly CGI, the camera follows each of our heroes in their own respective fights alongside each other and individually showing the part that each of them play in one singular sweeping motion. A masterstroke of direction that really portrays the scale and dimension of the climatic battle that closes with a real good laugh out loud moment for the audience.
In closing the film is a fitting end to the previous five films' build up to this point and provides a fantastic, yet challenging for future directors, stepping stone to build the future of this franchise and it's respective inclusive franchises upon. However if Whedon decides not to return to the direct sequel to this for any reason it could be a tough act to follow. Bring on Iron Man 3 (next in Marvel's release schedule for these characters).
I will be following the IGN (http://www.ign.com) review scale for my reviews in this blog. For more information and also to check out an awesome website please follow the above link.
9.5/10 - Amazing
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