Film Review: The Avengers

Marvel’s latest big-screen blockbuster is hitting screens worldwide at the moment and I was fortunate enough to get a chance to see it yesterday. For those who don’t know, this is what Marvel’s last few films (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Incredible Hulk) have been building up to. We’ve been introduced to all these characters in what have mostly been very good films(the last Hulk film wasn’t as good as the others but certainly not as bad as Ang Lee’s Hulk, but then again, not much is).

Going in as I did having watched all those films (and having read comics about them for the last few years too), it’s hard to tell whether you need much knowledge of the characters beforehand, but it seems the film  assumes you at least have a rough knowledge of them (and if you’ve successfully managed to avoid hearing at least the most basic details about the characters from their last few films, then chances are this won’t be the film you’re looking for anyway).

The basic premise of the film is that this group of superheroes (consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye & Black Widow) has to unite to face a greater force than any of them could handle individually. It’s a pretty basic premise, and overall the plot is pretty straightforward, but with an ensemble cast like this, that’s pretty much necessary. Not to say that this hurts the film either, it simply leaves lots of space for the films real strength to show through, the character interaction.

That fact shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering the film is written and directed by Joss Whedon. Whedon is well known for handling casts of strong characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Firefly, Serenity, and his comics work on Astonishing X-Men among others. So unsurprisingly he handles the strong characters at play here easily. Everyone has an important role to play, and everyone gets their moment to shine. The only character that suffers slightly I felt was Clint Barton(or Hawkeye, but I’m not sure if they refer to him as that at all in the film). He seemed a bit underdeveloped, and I think I smoothed it over with my knowledge of his character, so it would be interesting to see what other people without that knowledge thought of him.

One of the major surprises of the film for me was the Hulk. This is by far the best version of the character we’ve seen on the big screen and he gets a great opportunity to shine. The character no longer solely revolves around rage, but it seems to be more focused around the idea of control. WE get the rampaging Hulk in this film, but then we also get a Hulk more in control, and this is what really makes this interpretation of the character stand out.

The characters are all in slightly updated outfits from their respective films , but the only one who suffers from this is Captain America. Something just felt off about the outfit, be it the overly exposed chin, or the overbearing blue-ness of the costume, it felt more like a costume and less like a uniform than the version in the first film did. But then again, I could easily put up with that when the character underneath was so well-handled.

The action sequence sequences are all well-handled, with some entertaining moments of interplay between the characters as they fight. There are a few rough edges around dialogue in a few places but the film is predominantly well-written with a good balance between humour, drama and action. I didn’t walk into this film with any ideas that it was going to be a life-changing film but it delivered everything I hoped and I came out more than satisfied.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars