It's been five films in the making all leading up to this very moment, when earths mightiest heroes would assemble to do battle with a seemingly unstoppable force. Who could possible have the courage to step up and lead these heroes into battle, none other than Joss Whedon of course. If ever there were a man more capable of achieving the possibly disastrous, taking four wildly different and incredibly powerful super-humans with massive egos and sticking them into the same frame of a movie, there was never a better man for the job. Whedon masterfully balances each of these characters, jumping between the snarky self-obsessed Tony Stark and the honorable soldier Steve Rogers with such ease. It was never going to be easy taking a character who on their own can and have sustained their own films and franchises and thrusting them all together and watching what happens. But Whedon pulls it off while simultaneously showing everyone how to make a fantastic superhero movie.
So lets do a headcount; the billionaire Tony Stark/ Iron Man, the recently unfrozen WWII super-soldier Steve Roger/ Captain America, the God of Thunder Thor, the unstably angry Bruce Banner/ Hulk, the Russian super-spy Natasha Romanov/ Black Widow, the supernaturally accurate Clint Barton/ Hawkeye and the man with the plan Nick Fury. Yeah, that's a lot of characters and that still doesn't include the villainous brother of Thor and god of mischief Loki who descends upon Earth with the forethought to conquer and rule it with the help of an alien army. That's a lot to set-up and subsequently pay off within a single movie, but Whedon pulls it off with ease. Every character gets their moment in the spotlight, no one no matter how big or green is over shadowed or even highlighted, everyone plays their part and its what makes the idea of forming the Avengers that much more believable. Each has their strengths and weakness but together they stand a fighting chance at driving Loki and his army back to whatever hole they crawled out of.
As always Whedon's writing elevates things, specifically dialogue which capture the essence of each character wonderfully before thrusting them weapons loaded at each others throats. There is quite a bit of hero on hero action, which any self respecting comic book fan knows is half the fun of getting these characters together. Whedon does a fantastic job keeping the characters in line with their previous outings, Thor is still the fish out of water, Iron Man still gives a lot of guff, and Captain America is as noble and righteous as ever. Whichever character you like most you will undoubtedly come away satisfied that their voice remained true and that they got to kick some ass. The one person everyone without question will come out of the theatre cheering about and who completely steals the show is Hulk. This is the Hulks third attempt to capture audiences attention on the big screen and he handily wins over the crowd. Marvel should be proud they finally perfected the Hulk, and Mark Ruffalo is the best Banner yet mixing his immense intelligence with a constant melancholic view on his predicament he is world weary but has accepted his fate.
The Avengers is an incredibly fun ride, its a tad predictable but really aren't all movies. The Avengers at least doesn't kid itself with what it is and instead delivers what it should in spades. Your favorite heroes on grand display duking it out on an epic scale, hilarious dialogue and likable characters mean you'll be cheering on with the theatre as each fight commences. Joss Whedon should be given great credence in what he has achieved here, the immense talent it takes to craft a story with this many characters and making sure all of them serve the plot and are given significance is astounding and no one could have done it better. Whedon continues to prove everything he touches is immediate nerd gold, and I hope he comes back for the sequel.
(5 out of 5)
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