The Avengers

Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, Stellan Skarsgard

Dir & Scr. Joss Whedon

Five minutes into this movie, I turned to my partner in viewing, held up my clenched fist, he bumped it with his in true ultra-cool (ie geek) style and we grinned. And I challenge any action film fanatic to not grin throughout this entire film. Whedon has taken on a beast; in fact, he has taken on several. And thank the movie gods for the safe hands of Whedon – he has managed to not only tackle what is arguably the most highly anticipated superhero movie in years (if not decades) and not only not ruin it, but actually produce awesomeness.

The plot of The Avengers is pleasingly simple: Colonel Nick Fury (Jackson) of S.H.I.E.L.D – the fictional agency Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, or some such thing – must bring together a team of superheroes and assassins to help save the Earth from the Norse god Loki (Hiddleston), who seeks to raise a supernatural army and bring humanity to its knees. As you’d imagine, there is much action, fight scenes, things blowing up and witty repartee. And a whole lot of comic book heroes – Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Downey Jr), Bruce Banner aka The Hulk (Ruffalo), Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Evans), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Johansson), Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Renner), and, of course, Loki’s brother and Earth’s defender, Thor (Hemsworth).

My praise for this film will flow freely, even though I saw it in 3D – the worst thing to happen to cinema since, well, the last time 3D was so prolific. I fully intend to see this film again in 2D and do not doubt that I will probably enjoy it even more. In my opinion, 3D alienates the audience from the movie-going experience, putting a manipulative barrier between us and the film. I don’t buy that it’s the future of cinema. Almost always, it is gimmicky and pointless. Here, Whedon doesn’t overuse the medium and I found it mostly immersive (like in Avatar) rather than distracting (like in every other 3D movie). End of rant, on with review.

This movie works for many reasons. The first is the cast – with the exception of Ruffalo, all these actors have spent time with their characters before, and it shows. They seem comfortable in their crazy skins. And in the case of Downey Jr, not only comfortable but downright transformed. Furthermore, I would argue Ruffalo is by far the best Banner/Hulk of the three actors to have played him in recent cinematic incarnations (Eric Bana and Edward Norton being the other two) – finally we have a Hulk with nuance and humour. All the acting is absolutely pitch-perfect. The second reason this movie works is balance – Whedon has given us a beautifully compelling and well-paced action film, while also delving just enough into each character in order to give them all time to shine and develop. There isn’t a point I can recall in which I felt that the plot was dragging or I was stifling a yawn. He has managed to bring humour and humanity into a crazy, action-packed concept, without either suffering. Being a huge fan of Whedon’s body of work, I was confident that he could pull this off. But his sublime handling of a complex cast of characters surprised and delighted even me. The last major reason this film succeeds is that it looks amazing. It’s like the best carnival ride you’ve ever been on, times a million. It’s slick and shiny and so very cool.


You will gasp and grin. You will laugh out loud. You will want to see it again. Without question, this is one of the best superhero movies ever to have been made. Whedon, you are the man.

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Tony Stark (to Loki): There is no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army will come, maybe it’s too much for us, but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it!